Can targeted grazing with sheep reduce cheatgrass levels?

In our latest story, we team up with Kelly Hopping, an Associate Professor of Human-Environmental Systems at Boise State University, to learn about her research study, evaluating the effects of targeted grazing with sheep on cheatgrass in Deer Creek canyon, near Hailey. Hopping is finishing up the 3rd year of a research study to see whether targeted grazing with sheep can reduce cheatgrass levels on the range. So far, she's finding that the effects are highly variable, depending on weather. But in general, sheep may prefer consuming cheatgrass in the fall, when there are not many other options for green feed vs. in the spring, when there are typically many options for sheep to eat. Sheep are a browsing animal that typically eat forbs, grasses and shrubs on rangelands. Most of the targeted grazing projects or research studies have used cattle as a tool to reduce cheatgrass, since cattle eat primarily grass. Hopping thought it would be good to learn more about how sheep could help reduce cheatgrass levels with focused targeted grazing. See more at http://idrange.org/life-on-the-range