Government of Saskatchewan ministries, Crown corporations and organizations are working to minimize the impacts of the postal service disruption.
Les ministères, les sociétés d’État et les organismes du gouvernement de la Saskatchewan travaillent à réduire au minimum les répercussions de l’interruption des services postaux.
Google Translate Disclaimer
A number of pages on the Government of Saskatchewan's website have been professionally translated in French. These translations are identified by a yellow box in the right or left rail that resembles the link below. The home page for French-language content on this site can be found at:
Where an official translation is not available, Google™ Translate can be used. Google™ Translate is a free online language translation service that can translate text and web pages into different languages. Translations are made available to increase access to Government of Saskatchewan content for populations whose first language is not English.
Software-based translations do not approach the fluency of a native speaker or possess the skill of a professional translator. The translation should not be considered exact, and may include incorrect or offensive language. The Government of Saskatchewan does not warrant the accuracy, reliability or timeliness of any information translated by this system. Some files or items cannot be translated, including graphs, photos and other file formats such as portable document formats (PDFs).
Any person or entities that rely on information obtained from the system does so at his or her own risk. Government of Saskatchewan is not responsible for any damage or issues that may possibly result from using translated website content. If you have any questions about Google™ Translate, please visit: Google™ Translate FAQs.
August 2025
Many producers can improve the health of their pastureland by improving livestock distribution. Livestock distribution refers to the spread of grazing animals over an entire pasture. Ideal grazing distribution occurs when proper utilization extends uniformly over the entire pasture. In reality, livestock often prefer to graze in the same area day after day, season after season. This repeated over-use of key grazing areas leads to deterioration while other areas within the pasture may hardly be grazed at all. Uneven livestock distribution can be detrimental to the health and productivity of pasture, however, there are common tools available to help overcome this problem.
Water is by far the most important distribution tool used on livestock operations. Livestock need water and as a result will spend most of their time near it. The loitering of cattle in wetland areas can reduce riparian health as these areas do not get a chance to recover.
Developing new water sources in areas that are underutilized will draw livestock into that area to graze more effectively. Numerous techniques can be used to develop alternative water sources such as installing solar or conventional pumps; developing springs, seeps or wells; and piping water to troughs to improve livestock distribution.
A cross-fence can help considerably in improving livestock distribution. Ideally, fences should be used to separate forage types. For example, tame (seeded) grassland should be fenced separately from native grassland, and sometimes it may be desirable to fence riparian areas separately from upland pastures.
Salt, mineral, and protein supplements are useful tools that can aid in distributing livestock by encouraging them to move into areas that they don’t regularly use. These supplements should be placed away from water sources to encourage cattle to move away from their preferred areas.
Herding is another method that can be used to improve distribution and facilitate uniform utilization throughout the pasture. However, it is labour-intensive and, in most cases, requires daily riding and herding. Herding combined with other tools such as strategic placement of supplementation (i.e. salt, mineral or protein supplement) can decrease labour costs and can be more effective than herding alone.
Generally, cow-calf pairs tend to be the most difficult to distribute as they tend to spend a large portion of their time near riparian areas. Yearlings and non-lactating cows however, often distribute themselves more widely throughout a pasture. A pasture manager on a community pasture recently said “Cows start grazing from the water sources and work outwards, while yearlings tend to start at the perimeter fence and work inwards”.
So, could grazing a different class of animal (yearlings) potentially help improve the distribution on your pastureland?
The Ministry of Agriculture offers two Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership (S-CAP) funding programs that may help improve livestock distribution on pastures.
For additional information related to improving livestock distribution contact your local range management extension specialist or call the Agriculture Knowledge Centre at 1-866-457-2377
We need your feedback to improve saskatchewan.ca. Help us improve
