...helping to make them so rich, fertile and healthy with the "deepest topsoil recorded" in the world. In his book, Salatin also points out that, "we now know that North America contained nearly three times as many pounds of herbivores (bison, elk, antelope, deer) five hundred years ago as it does today." Meaning, even the "mass" of cows we have now wouldn't be a problem if they were appropriately managed.
Harmony is a wonderful way of putting it, because the symbiotic relationship itself is nature's harmony (which is simply nature itself). It reminds me of the the concept of mutualism, which denotes the bee's relationship with the flower:
"Mutualism is the association between unlike organisms that is beneficial to both. Bees can't survive without the flowers and the flowers' existence depends on the bees."
Rather than a "bee" here and a "flower" there, it's a total inseparable "bee-flower" movement (almost like rather than space and time, it's the space-time continuum). It almost seems the same way with herbivores and forage - it might be better thought of (or, at least, understood) as the herbivore-forage continuum. As Salatin explains:
"In a very practical sense, grasslands are the lungs of the earth. They are the rapid cycler, the rapid breather, if you will. Without herbivores, grasslands are lethargic and anemic. Some argue that grass would not exist without herbivores because it is the periodic grazing that freshens up the plant. If not for periodic pruning, the grass plants implode and gradually wither away. <...> The symbiotic relationship between herbivores and forage is one of the most powerful ecological principles we know. New evidence even suggests that when the animal tugs at the plant to shear off the grass tillers, it excites the roots into renewed productive activity. Kind of like exercise builds new muscles."
(And thanks for your response!)
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