Cow Pasture

The crazed cows scramble as they are unleashed upon fresh pasture, driven mad with the sweet smell of long uncut grass waving in front of their eyes like a sea of sugar waiting to be sucked dry. You can't help but chuckle at the scene. Little do these cows know that they are mere lawnmowers and fertilizer makers, easily keeping your enormous lawn lean and healthy without you ever having to lift a finger. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep or swine. The vegetation of tended pasture, forage, consists mainly of grasses, with an interspersion of legumes and other forbs. Pasture is typically grazed throughout the summer, in contrast to meadow which is used for grazing only after being mown to make hay for winter fodder. Prior to the advent of factory farming with its use of "zero-grazing" feeding techniques, pasture was the primary source of food for grazing animals such as cattle and horses. It is still used extensively, particularly in arid regions where pasture land is unsuitable for any other agricultural production. In more humid regions, pasture grazing is exploited extensively for free range and organic farming. It is an important biotic resource. Pasture in a wider sense additionally includes rangelands, other unenclosed pastoral systems and land types used by wild animals for grazing or browsing. Pasture lands are distinguished from rangelands by being managed through more intensive agricultural practices of seeding, irrigation, and the use of fertilizers, while rangelands grow primarily native vegetation, managed with extensive practices like controlled burning and regulated intensity of grazing.