posted 14 years ago
I'm curious about why the shearer thought cheatgrass is bad for sheep.
The US Forest Service has a writeup on cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) here:
<http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/graminoid/brotec/all.html>.
It says: "Prescribed domestic sheep grazing can be used to suppress cheatgrass density, growth, seed production, and mulch accumulations."
Also, it seems like at certain times of the year at least, cheatgrass is good grazing for sheep: "Livestock gains on cheatgrass diets in spring are comparable to those attainable from most spring rangeland vegetation," and it goes on to mention sheep specifically. The report notes that mature cheatgrass -- later in the season -- isn't nutritious, but there is no mention anywhere of it being harmful.
So you might be all right with just leaving the cheatgrass there, or maybe even trying to concentrate the grazing on it during the spring, if you want to keep it down.
You might also look up foxtail if you have the scientific name for the species you're looking at.