## Materials and Methods
### Experimental Layout and Site Description
#### 2.1.1 Pastures 13-16  
Pastures 13, 14, 15, and 16 are managed as a single group that are in a rotation of yearlong grazing by 50 cow-calf pairs. The cattle are grazed in these pastures for 30-day periods, separated by 90-day rest periods. These pastures receive a prescribed spring burn in mid to late-February on a 4-year rotation, as part of their normal management. Years of burning for the last decade are summarized in Table 1. The timing of these grazing-rest rotations changes annually, with all periods reset to May 1 for the pastures receiving a prescribed burn that year. This approach allows an adaptive form of management to all pastures, based on changes in number, timing, frequency, and intensity of grazing bouts, in a repeatable (and replicable) fashion over the 4-year cycle.  
Figure 2: Landscape features of pastures. The red borders represent the size of one Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) pixel at -500-m spatial resolution and black lines represent the boundary of the pastures.  
The cow herd splits during breeding seasons (June-July) with animals assigned to two different pastures of the rotation, based on weight and frame size (medium, and large) of cows. Roughly 1500 animal-unit-days (AUD) of grazing pressure are applied per 'normal' grazing bout, or \(\sim\)4500 AUD per year, assuming three bouts per year. This equates to \(\sim\)61,000 kg forage used per pasture per year, assuming an allotment of 13.6 kg forage per head per day. This translates to \(\sim\)18,250 AUD grazing per year for the entire set of paddocks, or \(\sim\)1 Mg\(\cdot\)ha\({}^{-1}\) forage removal per year. This level of grazing pressure was chosen as dry years may only supply 1 Mg\(\cdot\)ha\({}^{-1}\) forage for grazing, assuming total production of \(\sim\)2 Mg\(\cdot\)ha\({}^{-1}\) so that enough plant biomass was left to ensure health of the landscape. An extra pasture is included in management of these pastures to provide an extra area to aid in splitting into two herds during the breeding season, and for holding animals in February to defer the pasture being burned. Broadleaf herbicides are applied to burned pastures during late-April of the burned year and the following year to control a series of weeds [annual sunflower (_Helianthus annuus_ L.), mare\({}^{\prime}\)s tail (_Conyza canadensis_ (L.) [PERSON]), and musk thistle (_Carduus nutans_ L.)]. The grazing schedule for pastures 13 through 16 is presented in Table 2.  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c c c c c c} \hline \hline
**Year** & **Pasture** & **Jan** & **Feb** & **Mar** & **Apr** & **May** & **Jun** & **Jul** & **Aug** & **Sep** & **Oct** & **Nov** & **Dec** \\ \hline \multirow{4}{*}{2019} & P14 & & Burn & & & G & & & & G & & \\ \cline{2-10}  & P16 & & & & & & \(\frac{1}{2}\) G & & & & G & \\ \cline{2-10}  & P15 & & & & & & & \(\frac{1}{2}\) G & & & G & \\ \cline{2-10}  & P13 & & & & & & & & G & & & G \\ \hline \multirow{4}{*}{2020} & P14 & G & & & & & & & G & & & G \\ \cline{2-10}  & P16 & & Burn & & & G & & & G & & & \\ \cline{2-10}  & P15 & & & G & & & & & G & & \\ \cline{2-10}  & P13 & & & G & & & & & G & & \\ \cline{2-10}  & P14 & & & G & & & & & G & & \\ \cline{2-10}  & P16 & & G & & & & & G & & G & \\ \cline{2-10}  & P15 & & Burn & & G & & & G & & & G \\ \cline{2-10}  & P13 & & & G & & & & & G & & \\ \hline \multirow{4}{*}{2022} & P14 & & & G & & & & & & G & \\ \cline{2-10}  & P14 & & & G & & & & & G & & G \\ \cline{2-10}  & P15 & & & G & & & & & G & & G \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular} Note: Grazing periods are shifted to another extra pasture when assigned pasture to be burned. The timing of grazing reset to May 1 for the pasture receiving a prescribed burn that year.  
\end{table}
Table 2: Planned timing of prescribed burn treatments and 30-day grazing (G) bouts for next four years for pastures 13 through 16.