Plains Pricklypear: Relation to Grazing Intensity and Blue Grama Yield on Central Great Plains

Abstract

Twenty-five years of light, moderate, and heavy grazing by cattle have had little effect on abundance of pricklypear at Central Plains Experimental Range. Pricklypear was removed from heavily infested sandy-loam and clay-loam soils; blue grama yields were measured in each of the five following years. Pricklypear removal did not increase blue-grama yield, but did make more forage available to the cattle.