ScienceNOW wrote about a study on the effects of grazing on grasslands. The researchers reviewed millions of published and unpublished plant surveys. They found that grazing animals can keep small pieces of land rich in number of species by removing the tops of plants, which allowed more species to have access to light. Meadows in Argentina, Czech Republic and Romania displayed meadows with the highest number of species. In a mountain grassland in Argentina the researchers found 89 species in a single square meter. These botanical hotspots, which are now rare but used to be more common, have declined with the decrease in free-range livestock.
Read more at ScienceShot: Grazed Grasslands Are Biodiversity Hot Spots – ScienceNOW.
Natural History Wanderings 
We see that a lot here in California. One of my favorite places for flowers is Table Mountain, near Oroville, and they graze cattle there. Helps the wildflowers quite a bit…
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By: CCRussell on May 20, 2012
at 3:34 PM
Thanks for the comment. Bear Valley would be another area where controlled grazing benefits wildflowers. I have come along way from thinking all grazing was bad for wildflowers.
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By: Sandy Steinman on May 20, 2012
at 4:03 PM