<Li> 1,575 mules or burros; </Li> <Li> 1,711 goats; and </Li> <Li> 1,164 swine . </Li> <P> All these grazing animals were originally brought up from Mexico . A great many Indians were required to guard the herds and flocks on the mission ranches, which created the need for "...a class of horsemen scarcely surpassed anywhere ." These animals multiplied beyond the settler's expectations, often overrunning pastures and extending well - beyond the domains of the missions . The giant herds of horses and cows took well to the climate and the extensive pastures of the Coastal California region, but at a heavy price for the California Native American people . The uncontrolled spread of these new herds, and associated invasive exotic plant species, quickly exhausted the native plants in the grasslands, and the chaparral and woodlands that the Indians depended on for their seed, foliage, and bulb harvests . The grazing - overgrazing problems were also recognized by the Spaniards, who periodically had extermination parties cull and kill thousands of excess livestock, when herd populations grew beyond their control or the land's capacity . Years with a severe drought did this also . </P>

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