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<br />iAAAtY PLAINS RANGE SITF. <br />This range site is extensive in Adams County. Ttie soils are <br />loams to fine and very fine sandy loams. They are deep to moderate- <br />ly deep and have zones where lime has accumulated in the subsoil. <br />The soils take in water moderately well and have good available water <br />capacity. <br />Blue grams, the dominant grass on this site, survives well during <br />periods of drought, which commonly occur in the county. After drought, <br />when the soils arc once again moist, blue grams quickly recovers and <br />produces a quantity of good forage. <br />lJestern wheatgrass, the important decreases, is scattered in the <br />stand with blue grams, It decreases with heavy grazing, long droughts, <br />or other disturbances, but blue grams tends to increase and form a <br />tight sod, Also in the stand, though in much smaller camounts, are <br />buffalograss, three-awn, sand dropseed, prickly pear, and snakeweed, <br />all increasers, and four-wing saltbush, a decreases. Sunflower, <br />Russian-thistle, six-weeks fescue, and other annuals invade bare <br />areas or places where the cover has been thinned in advanced stages <br />of deterioration. <br />When [his site is in excellent condition, the total annual yield <br />of air-dry herbage ranges from as low as 500 pounds per acre in an <br />unfavorable year to as high as 1,300 pounds in a favorable year. <br />Nearly all of the total annual yield comes from plants that provide <br />forage for cattle. <br /> <br />