Re: RC: RE: Re: FW: Wild Horses Debunked!

[CMKSAGEHIL@aol.com]

<<Cattle selectively graze native plants over introduced annuals, which in
California has resulted in the nearly complete elimination of native grasses
and their replacement by European grasses. Before the Spanish brought cattle
here, California in summer used to be green; now it's "golden" because of
dead, dried European grasses.>>

Not so.  Cattle are among the least selective grazers out there--they eat all sorts of things (including rocks, fence staples, nails, etc.) as they graze quickly to fill large rumens, and then go lie around and chew their cud.  They are far more apt than horses to eat toxic plants, for instance.  Horses, on the other hand, graze much more slowly and constantly to maintain a steady supply of forage to a relatively small stomach, and are very adept at sorting plants, etc., with their lips.

<<Cattle displace native herbivores. There used to be herds of antelope and
elk in California grazing all through the hills and across the valley; now
there's cattle.>>

Can you cite actual references for this?  Or are you merely making an observation that B follows A, and then assuming that A caused B?  In our area in Idaho where cattle have grazed for many years, the elk are now moving in--and have nearly decimated many ranges that had been very well managed with cattle grazing.  I don't for a minute believe that the cattle caused the shift in the elk population--indeed, this is the sort of shift that is going on in nature all the time.  Furthermore, it is my understanding that the non-native grasses in CA have taken over because they are hardier in that environment than are the native grasses--and indeed, they have taken over in many areas that were NOT grazed, which would lead one to the conclusion that grazing is not the primary reason for the displacement of native species.

As to the issue of horses being hard on a range--the biggest difference is that horses are not regulated the way that cattle are--when there are poor range conditions, cattle have to go home.  When it is winter, cattle go home.  Horses are there year around, without very precise regulation of numbers.  And in starvation situations, they DO become less fussy about what they eat (indeed, all species do), and they have far better dentition than cattle to grub grasses right down to the roots, they can subsist on browse and reach higher than deer or elk (thus destroying habitats for them), etc.  Just like the European grasses, the horses can out-subsist just about every other ungulate species on a rangeland--and the rangeland suffers for it, as well as the other species whose food sources are decimated.

Heidi