Quiet Country Pasture

The grassy countryside, ripe and ready for endless grazing, surrounds your little cottage in an infinite expanse of green and blue stretching from horizon to horizon. The summer sun beats down on the land like an oven, and you take refuge under the porch overhang, cooling yourself with a nice glass of tart lemonade. The ancient farmer's ritual of midday relaxation is the height of your day today, as it has been and will be for countless other generations. 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. 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. Soil type, minimum annual temperature, and rainfall are important factors in pasture management.