surpâturage

Surpâturage, commonly translated as overgrazing, is the degradation of grazing land caused when livestock consume vegetation faster than it can recover, or when stocking rates exceed the land's carrying capacity. It is a central concern in pasture, forage, and rangeland management.

Causes include high stocking densities, continuous grazing, insufficient rest periods, drought, poor plant diversity, and inadequate fencing or monitoring. Economic pressures and seasonal feed availability can also lead managers to keep more animals on a pasture than is sustainable.

The effects of surpâturage are ecological and productive. They include reduced forage production and diversity, invasion by unpalatable or invasive species, soil compaction, decreased soil organic matter and water infiltration, greater erosion, bare ground, and lower resilience to climate variability. Long-term degradation can reduce pasture profitability and habitat quality for wildlife.

Mitigation strategies center on proper grazing management: adaptive stocking rates, rotation or rest-rotation grazing, rest periods for regrowth, maintaining ground cover, diverse forage species, and targeted reseeding; supplementary feeding during drought or stress; and fencing improvements to allow controlled grazing. Monitoring grazing pressure and adjusting plans in response to forage growth and weather are also important components.

Surpâturage is used as an indicator of pasture health in sustainable agriculture and rangeland management; addressing it involves integrated land management, monitoring, and climate-adaptive practices.