Pasture

Pasture. Land covered with various grasses and used for livestock grazing. The grasses, predominantly cereal grasses, can be natural or sown, and the soil is usually poor. Pastures are an important part of the feed base in Ukraine, although their importance has diminished as more feed crops have been introduced. Most pastures are now found in marginal farming areas, such as the Carpathian Mountains, and in the steppe, especially in the Crimea. In the forest-steppe, pastures account for less than 4 percent of all arable land. In the late 18th century pastures accounted for as much as one-third of all arable land, but as the steppe was brought under cultivation, the figure decreased drastically. In 1965 pastures covered some 4.7 million ha, or 10 percent of all arable land, in Ukraine.