Effect of Various Grazing Systems on Type and Density of Cattle Trails

Number and kinds of cattle trails may have a dram&c impact on relative l mouut of bare soil and subsequently on amount and rate of soil erosion. The objective of this study was to quantify the effect of a celldesigned, rotational grazing treatment (RG) on dens&y and kinds of cattle trails. Density of cattle trafls in the RG treatment w8s compared to those hr heavy continuous (HC), moderate continuous (MC), and deferred rotation (DR) treatments at 4 distances from water. There were no differences among the HC, MC, and DR treatments in density of trails. Trail densities ranged from 14/km near water sources to 9/km at the far end of the pastures. This compares to the RG treatment where trail densities ranged from 164/km near the cell center to 24/km at the far end of the paddock. The effect of increasing the RG treatment from 14 to 42~oels~rlsoinv~~.Subdi~onofpplddoelrsiwased trail densities near the center from 32&m to 57/km with no increase noted at the far ends of the paddocks. It is concluded that implementation of a cell-designed, RG system will cause a significant increase in density and number of cattle trails particularly near the cell center.