overgrazing
Livestock eating bare
Overgrazing is the damage to land caused by livestock eating vegetation faster than it can regrow.
The result is soil erosion, loss of plant diversity, and degraded pasture: Overgrazing turned productive rangeland into dust.
The term applies to any situation where animals—domestic or wild—strip an area beyond its capacity to recover.
Channels carved by erosion
- rillsSmall, narrow streams
- sedimentParticles settling in liquid
- runoffExcess water drainage
- compactionReducing volume through pressure
desertification · siltation · leaching · crusting · overcultivation · dust storms · aridity · barrenness
Administering territory and resources
- conservationPreventing waste or loss
- rest periodsPlanned recovery intervals
- reseedingPlanting again over ground
- destockingDepleting stored goods
Domesticated bovines kept commercially
- sheepWoolly farm animal
- goatsHorned farm ruminants
- browsingCasual examination of options
- ranchingOperating a livestock farm
trampling · paddock · carrying capacity · animal husbandry · feedlot
Reduction in species variety
- habitat fragmentationBreaking continuous environments into isolated patches
- invasive speciesHarmful non-native organism
Uncertain access to adequate meals
- water scarcityInsufficient freshwater for demand
- malnutritionDisease from dietary inadequacy
gullies
Channels carved by erosion
compaction · desertification · siltation · leaching · crusting · overcultivation · dust storms · aridity · barrenness · desiccation
land management
Administering territory and resources
- conservationPreventing waste or loss
- rest periodsPlanned recovery intervals
- reseedingPlanting again over ground
destocking · ecological balance · stewardship · carbon sequestration
cattle
Domesticated bovines kept commercially
ranching · trampling · paddock · carrying capacity · animal husbandry · feedlot
biodiversity loss
Reduction in species variety
- habitat fragmentationBreaking continuous environments into isolated patches
- invasive speciesHarmful non-native organism
food insecurity
Uncertain access to adequate meals
- water scarcityInsufficient freshwater for demand
- malnutritionDisease from dietary inadequacy
- environmental harmair pollution, water pollution, pollution, oil spills, acid rain
- Environmental problemsair pollution, water pollution, climate change, global warming, habitat loss
- environmental threatshabitat loss, deforestation, pollution, climate change, invasive species
- overdoingoverdoing, overindulging, overkill, excess, overreacting
- farm problemssoil erosion, soil depletion, water pollution, fertilizer runoff, crop failure
- land clearingbulldozer, clear cutting, chainsaw, clear-cutting, brush cutter
overgrazingland restoration
Reviving damaged terrain
revegetation · soil conservation · ecological restoration · permaculture
graze, grazing, grazed, grazes, grazer, grazers, overgraze, ungrazed, overgrazed