Livestock keeping has been the essential source of livelihood in Babati District for many hundreds of years. The traditional ecological knowledge about this semi-arid environment has influenced the general view on livestock management. This essay discusses the measures that are, or could be taken in Babati District to prevent overstocking and overgrazing in the woodlands. With the continuing population density increase also the livestock population grows. More houses and roads are built and the grazing lands diminish. To avoid overgrazing forest management programmes restrict grazing in forests. This additionally decreases availability of grazing land. My conclusion is that minimizing number of livestock is necessary to not exceed carrying capacity of pasture during drought. Hence this is not free from problems since it is traditionally rooted to have a large number of livestock as a buffer of energy and wealth. One solution for both how to prevent overstocking and how to survive with small number of livestock is to practise zero-grazing. Zero-grazing is to keep a small number of healthy big cattle e.g. exotic cows or crossbreeds in stables or tied up. However, when tying cattle on the spot the fact that cattle have four legs is disregarded.