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Does overgrazing cause soil erosion?
Overgrazing can occur under continuous or rotational grazing.  It can be caused by having too many animals on the farm or by not properly controlling their grazing activity.  Overgrazing reduces plant leaf areas, which reduces interception of sunlight and plant growth.  Plants become weakened and have reduced root length, and the pasture sod weakens.  The reduced root length makes the plants more susceptible to death during dry weather.  The weakened sod allows weed seeds to germinate and grow.  If the weeds are unpalatable or poisonous, major problems can result.
Under rotational grazing, overgrazed plants do not have enough time to grow to the proper height between grazing events.
When grass is being repeatedly grazed before it has reached a minimum grazing height, the roots start to decrease in size and ability to retain soil anchor-ability. Soil is exposed when these grasses are grazed very close to the ground, making it easy for wind and water to blow and wash the soil away, respectively.


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