The Tramping Animal

Effects of trampling by domestic and wild animals are briefly described and illustrated. Although cattle do not graze so closely as sheep or goats, yet they tread more heavily. Winter frosts, by heaving the surface, remedy the effects of excessive trampling in temperate countries. But in hot countries, where frosts do not occur, trampling by cattle may make the surface so compact that rain cannot penetrate the soil, and the pasture is ruined by “over grazing”. Under such circumstances, improved fodder supplies may give more benefit than improved pastures.