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<br />SHALE BREAKS RANGE SITE <br />The soils of this range site are clayey and generally steep. <br />The intake of caster is slow in these soils. The production of for- <br />age is low and is limited to plants best adapted Co grow under such <br />conditions. <br />4lestern wheatgrass is dominant in the plant cover, but it de- <br />czeases with repeated annual close grazing. Alkali sacaton, a de- <br />creaser, is a salt-tolerant bunchgrass that is scattered in the <br />stand over the site. Four-wing saltbush and wintcrfat provide browse, <br />and they too act as decreasers, as do side-oats grams and needlegrass. <br />Blue grams produces much of the forage on the site and reacts to <br />continued overuse by increasing. <br />omen this site is in excellent condition, the total annual yield <br />of air-dry herbage ranges from about 500 pounds per acre in an un- <br />favorable year to about 1,000 pounds in a favorable year. About 75 <br />percent of the total yield comes from plants that provide forage for <br />cattle, <br /> <br />