Carrying capacity of pasture
Topic: Primary Activities: Gathering, Pastoralism, Agriculture and Mining · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 4 "Primary Activities"
Meaning
The carrying capacity of a pasture is the number of animals it can feed without the land being damaged. If too many animals graze there, the grass cannot grow back and the soil wears away. On commercial ranches, the land is split into fenced parcels (blocks). Ranchers keep each herd within the carrying capacity. Once the grass in one parcel is grazed, they move the animals to the next parcel. This lets the grass recover.
Example
On the sheep ranches of New Zealand, herders move flocks from one fenced paddock to the next. This keeps the number of animals within what the grass can support.
Don't confuse with
- Nomadic herding: herders move over open land inside a traditional territory, looking for pasture and water. They do not use a fixed, fenced system of grazing in turns.
Related concepts
- Pastoralism
- Nomadic herding
- Regions of pastoral nomadism
- Transhumance
- Gujjars
- Bakarwals
- Bhotiyas
- Commercial livestock rearing