Additional information on biological control potential will also be added. Other major enhancements will include multimedia to allow users to see and identify plant species, control equipment, application technologies, and post-treatment responses. Grazing managers face the difficult problem of balancing livestock forage demand with forage production which varies in response to environmental conditions. Animal demand also varies as animal numbers change, as animals grow, and as they change physiological status such as lactation and pregnancy. Once grazing managers have established base stocking rates for a given property or pasture, they must react to the environmental and market conditions imposed on the management environment.
Most managers use an intuitive approach to balance animal demand with forage supply.
TGM contains resource inventory, grazing plan, and monitoring components. Users develop an initial plan by entering number of acres in each pasture, an estimated average carrying capacity, monthly forage production coefficients, and the grazing plan. Deviation from normal profiles of production and use help the manager project future forage supply, allowing for early destock or restock decisions. One of the major issues facing resource managers today is dealing with a diverse set of resource planning tools which were developed independently of each other. Resource management agencies have struggled with linking various complex tools with spatial databases in GIS environments.