184 ANNUAL REPORTS OP DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE. 



the National Forests in first-class condition. Never were lambs and 

 sheep fatter or more fully ready for market. Steers weighed well, 

 and the prices offered for all meat animals were high. The one 

 drawback, and it was a serious one, was the shortage of stock cars 

 to carry the animals to market. 



The sheep men fared fairly well, as their product was marketed 

 early, before the shortage became acute ; but thousands of beef ani- 

 mals fresh from the Forest ranges and fit for the block were held 

 for weeks at shipping points where hay was not only high but de- 

 cidedly scarce. Numbers of them fell off so seriously in condition 

 as to be fit only for feeders when cars were finally secured. Thou- 

 sands were returned to the winter ranges to be held over' for an- 

 other season. 



Officers of the Forest Service and other bureaus of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture cooperated heartily with the Food Administra- 

 tion in efforts to secure cars and improve the situation. 



At the close of the grazing season of 1917 the outlook for winter 

 was extremely unsatisfactory. Grass and forage of all kinds were 

 short. The hay production for the summer of 1917 was below nor- 

 mal, prices of all kinds of feed were high and constantly advancing, 

 and stock men were generally inclined to sell down as closely as they 

 could, rather than attempt to winter stock under such prospects. The 

 winter, however, was surprisingly favorable. Snowfall was not ex- 

 cessive, but general enough to admit of u-sing desert winter ranges 

 to the fullest extent; there were no heavy storms or long periods of 

 low temperature; only very moderate hay feeding was necessary, 

 and live stock of all kinds came through the winter in excellent con- 

 dition. 



In general throughout the western range country the spring and 

 early summer of 1918 were highly unfavorable to stock on the open 

 ranges adjoining the National Forests. On practically all the For- 

 ests, however, the feed was about normal. 



The returns from live stock sold, especially lambs, were unusually 

 high. For the shipping season of 1917 the average weight of over 

 22,000 Forest lambs from the Madison Forest, in Montana, with a 

 12-hour shrink before weighing, was 74.4 pounds. This was 6 

 pounds less than the average for 1916, which was a record season. A 

 shipment of 1,000 lambs from this Forest averaged 90^ pounds and 

 sold at 15| cents at loading point, netting $14.02 each. Another 

 shipment of 2.341 lambs averaged 80-|- pounds, and brought 15 cents 

 at loading point, netting $12.03 each. A 4-year-old steer in a ship- 

 ment from the Custer Forest, in Montana, brought its owner $225.70 

 on the Chicago stockyards. Twenty yearling steers from the Medi- 

 cine Bow Forest, in Wyoming, weighed an average of 590 pounds on 

 the St. Joseph yards, and sold for $9,40 per hundred, bringing an 

 average of $55.46 each. 



During the season of 1917, in round numbers, 59,000 head of cattle 

 and 350.000 head of sheep, not counting lambs, used the ranges of the 

 Humboldt Forest, in Nevada. From these herds and flocks the stock- 

 men sold a total of 11,000 steers and 285,000 lambs. It is estimated 

 that the average gain in weight of each steer while on the range was 

 fully 200 pounds and of .each lamb 25 pounds. On a basis of 7-;^ 



