Sheep Separated From Cows for Study

Cattle and sheep graze on a North Dakota State university research farm in Mandan where they test controls for invasive leafy spurge. They have found that sheep do like spurge and keep it mowed down in pastures. Pastures are divided into sheep and cattle plots and on the left, sheep have eaten the spurge leaving a pasture clear of spurge. But across the fence, cattle graze on grasses ignoring the spurge that makes them sick.
The Eurasian weed contains latex, which burns cows' mouths;...
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Cattle and sheep graze on a North Dakota State university research farm in Mandan where they test controls for invasive leafy spurge. They have found that sheep do like spurge and keep it mowed down in pastures. Pastures are divided into sheep and cattle plots and on the left, sheep have eaten the spurge leaving a pasture clear of spurge. But across the fence, cattle graze on grasses ignoring the spurge that makes them sick.
The Eurasian weed contains latex, which burns cows' mouths; enough spurge on pastureland will drive cattle away entirely.
Leafy spurge can be catastrophic to grasslands for both economic and ecological reasons. It is estimated that the plant reduces the productivity of grazing land by 50 to 75 percent. It
currently inhabits about three million acres of rangeland in the U.S.
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