186 ANiSrUAL REPOETS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



owned b}^ iiobocl,y and are even more difficult to capture and handle 

 than the "vrild horses. 



The shipment of sheep to and from the Forest ranges is now be- 

 coming more and more frequent. This has been forced upon sheep 

 owners, owing to the rapid settlement of the open ranges adjoining 

 the Forests and across which they have been heretofore accustomed 

 to drive to and from the Forests in the spring and fall. From the 

 standpoint of conditions within the Forests, shipping is very de- 

 sirable. Upon many of the driveways established across Forest ranges 

 for stock in transit the pressure has become so heavy as to make it 

 absolutely necessary to cut down very materially the number of stock 

 using them ; for the drivewaj's were fast becoming denuded of all 

 vegetation and the sheep found little feed on them while crossing. In 

 the final analysis it is believed shipping will be cheaper than trailing, 

 taking into consideration all the losses and difficulties encountered in 

 moving stock over drivewa3^s, some of them more than 150 miles in 

 length. 



Advances in the methods of range utilization and stock management 

 on the Forests are being made along manj^ lines. Continued success 

 in the eradication of poisonous plants is reducing the losses of live 

 stock from this cause. Many forward steps are made possible by 

 the organization of range users in associations with which the Forest 

 Service can cooperate for the introduction of improved methods with 

 which all the users of a given range must comply. 



Thus, on several ranges the permittees- have agreed through their 

 advisory boards, representing the local associations, to keep the 

 yearling heifers separate from the other stock on a special range, 

 so that they will not be bred until they are of suitable age. On a 

 number of Forests the associations are maintaining special bull pas- 

 tures in which the bulls are held until wanted on the ranges. On other 

 ranges, where steers are numerous and interfere with calf production, 

 separate ranges are set aside for steers only and all permittees grac- 

 ing steers above 1 year old must hold them on this especial range. 

 Usually this is done through a regular hired herder. 



Open range branding, that long-standing source of loss and injury 

 to the cattle and friction among the permittees, has been stopped 

 on many Forests through the adoption of a special rule prohibiting 

 the branding or rounding up of the cattle except at certain definite 

 times or in the owners' own home corrals. Then all the interested 

 stockmen are on hand, the range is worked systematically, and the 

 calves are branded up, after which the stock is allowed to remain 

 undisturbed for the rest of the season instead of being constantly 

 milled and chased about by men who are more often looking for mav- 

 ericks than for their own stock. 



All of these things mean better returns to the permittees from their 

 investments, decreased cost of handling, increased calf production, 

 a reduction in losses of many kinds, and an improvement in the gen- 

 eral forage conditions over the ranges, together with more harmoni- 

 ous relations among the permittees. Such methods can not be worked 

 out on the open public domain, and this fact adds to the value of 

 the grazing privileges on the National Forests. 



