Arizona Range Grasses
Their Description, Forage Value, and Grazing Management
Cooperative Extension,College of Agriculture & Life Sciences, The University of Arizona

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DEERGRASS
Muhlenbergia rigens (Benth.) Hitchc.

Description

Growth habit: Large, coarse, perennial bunchgrass, 2 to 5 feet tall.
Color: Cures to a gray straw color.
Leaves: Coarse, 4 to 20 inches long, the edges usually inrolled, growing almost entirely from the base of the plant.
Inflorescence: Flower head is a long and narrow spike, usually 4 to 15 inches long and 1/4 to 3/8 , inch in diameter.
Insurance: Warm Season
Origin: Native

Figure 49.—Deergrass (Muhlenbergia rigens). View Larger Image Click Here

Occurrence

Open wooded slopes at elevations from 3,000 to 7,500 feet in all counties except Navajo, Mohave, Greenlee, Maricopa, and Yuma. Most typical in open stands of oaks and along gravelly or sandy stream beds.

Forage Value

Because of its coarseness, deergrass makes poor feed for all classes of livestock. Cattle will graze deergrass while the plants are growing most rapidly but show a distinct preference for other grasses.

Grazing Management

Deergrass usually grows on ranges that are grazed during the spring, summer and fall. As other more palatable grasses provide most of the forage on these areas, the stocking rate should be designed to maintain these grasses. If use is heavy on deergrass, the better grasses will be heavily grazed.

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Document located http://cals.arizona.edu/pubs/natresources/az1272/
published 2002
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