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Arizona
Range Grasses Back to the Table of Contents
Growth habit: A small, fine-leaved sodgrass up
to 1 foot tall.
Occurrence Locally common in all counties except Apache, Navajo,
Mohave, and Yuma. It usually grows in heavy soils on dry, rocky hillsides
or in swales between 3,000 and 6,000 feet. Forage Value Curly mesquite is one of the most palatable and nutritious of the southwestern grasses. Its high grazing value and growth habit are indicated by one of the common names—southwestern buffalo grass. Like buffalo grass and blue grama, curly mesquite provides good forage when actively growing and when cured. As with grasses generally, its forage value is highest when green. The principal shortcoming of curly mesquite is its small size and consequent small volume of biomass produced.
Curly mesquite stands up well under grazing. The plant
spreads readily by short, curved runners that take root and develop
new plants where they touch the ground, or by seed. Under heavy grazing,
it is one of the last perennial grasses to go out. Solid stands of the
grass sometimes indicate long-continued heavy use. Even though curly mesquite is highly palatable and nutritious,
pure stands are seldom as productive as mixed stands of perennial grasses.
Mixed stands produce a greater volume and variety of forage. By the
time the other grasses have been grazed out, grazing pressure and trampling
will have also reduced forage production of curly mesquite. A range with an abundance of curly mesquite should be managed to maintain or bring back high-producing associated grasses, and to keep these grasses and curly mesquite in excellent vigor. Associated midgrasses should be the key management species, rather than curly mesquite. When the other grasses are abundant or increasing, management is sound; when they are largely lacking or decreasing, the stocking load should be lightened and/or grazing should be deferred occasionally during the growing season.
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Cooperative
Extension,College of Agriculture & Life Sciences, The University of
Arizona