When of comes to the “debits and credits” of the idea…..here is something else to consider that has value…..

As you move this herd of cattle around from stand to stand, they’re taking a portion of this grass biomass and converting it to manure/fertilizer…….What is the value in having the landscape fertilized??.......And its not JUST the value of it as plant fertilizer……It also gives a big boost to the microbial community in the soil….it’s basically big piles of microbe stimulant….They break it down and turn it to available nutrients…..

AND…….if you look back in that research paper that Gobbler posted it talks about how their mowing treatment suffered from a buildup of residue on the soil surface which prevented seedling emergence and yada, yada as compared to the fire treatment……This is one of the variables about that situation I was referring to. If you have a grass dominated system with few forbs and legumes and you’re just throwing massive amounts of carbon down on the ground with no N to balance the cycle and efficiently decompose it…..then you ARE gonna get a build up of biomass that smothers the surface. The cattle are throwing down some of that N you’re needing to break that biomass down…. as well as balancing the grass/broadleaf/legume ratio…….which balances out that carbon/nitrogen ratio a little better…..as well as helping to stimulate the soil surface and “work” it a little through their hoofing action……There’s a lot of value hidden in managing in this manner that folks arent necessarily going to see on the surface.