Field Guide. cropping and pastoral grazing on flat to rolling country.

PLANT INDICATORSPasture utilisation Assess pasture utilisation by the proportion of pasture that has beengrazed, <strong>and</strong> by the proportion not smeared by or trampled into themud by <strong>grazing</strong> animals (see opposite).Assess pasture utilisation during the wet winter months after or nearthe end of a <strong>grazing</strong> cycle.DEGRADED SOILS have a low load-bearing capacity. As a result,pastures on these soils are easily trampled into the mud when wet. Thismakes them both inaccessible <strong>and</strong> unpalatable to stock. Trampling canreduce pasture utilisation by 20–40 percent.74 VISUAL SOIL ASSESSMENT: Volume 1