22 



Partial resting, or resting during different seasons of the year, a system 

 which may be designated the alternation of pastures, secures the same 

 result at much less expense. Thus a range might be divided up into 

 a number of small i>astures provided with water, in each of which the 

 cattle would be allowed to run for not more than two or three mouths 

 at a time and then be transferred to another. In this way the succes 

 sion of grasses which normally occurs in nature can be fostered and 

 improved. Let us suppose a range of 100,000 acres in extcMit divided 

 into ten pastures of 10,000 acres each. At the average carrying capac- 

 ity for the State this body of land will produce forage enough to iSus- 

 taiu 10,000 stock cattle throughout the year. These divided up into 

 their various classes — beef steers, two-year olds, and yearlings, cows 

 and calves — could be held three months in one pasture and then trans- 

 ferred to another which had been kept free from stock during that 

 ength of time. A rest of two or three months during the growing- 

 season in early spring would enable the early grasses to ripen and shed 

 their seeds, thus perpetuating the early species. After the seed had 

 fallen, the cattle could be turned on the grass for two or three months 

 and again transferred to a fresh pasture. In the same way autumn 

 and winter pastures can be secured. Several stockmen who have 

 employed this method on a large scale for a number of years say that 

 their ranges are continually improving, in marked contrast to the dete- 

 rioration that had occurred through bad treatment of neighboring 

 properties where the old methods were practiced. It is also claimed 

 that pasture land thus treated will carry more head of cattle through 

 the year and bring them out in better condition than where the herd 

 has access at all seasons of the year to all portions of the range. 

 Where winter feeding is practiced in connection with alternation of 

 pastures, the very best results may be obtained at the least cost, 

 and the owner will find that with judicious care the value of his prop- 

 erty will constantly increase and the annual i)roflt as represented by 

 the increased number of marketable steers will more than compensate 

 for the cost and labor of changing cattle from oue pasture to another. 



ADDITIONAL AIDS TO RANGE IMPROVEMENT. 



In addition to the methods of improving the range by cultivating 

 the surface of tlie grouiul, raising native grasses, plowing occasional 

 furrows to arrest the wind-borno seeds, and scattering the seeds of 

 native and introduced forage plants on the unbroken sdd, the cultiva- 

 tion of the ranker and buUvier forage crops should be encouraged. 

 On aliiu)8t every ranch there are strips of valley lands, or often exten- 

 sive meadows, which are naturally well watered, or Avhich are so situ- 

 ated that they may be inigated from artificial tanks. These lands 

 should be put into cultivation. The rancher is often loath to incur the 

 expense and trouble necessary to gi-ow and cure a patch of sorghum 

 or of some hay grass, but the i)ossessi(m of a sulluiient amount of 



