332 GRAZIXG CAPACITY AND PASTURE INSPECTION 



these investigators found that on good grass range 14 gross 

 acres was ample to support a cow unit for a year. 



Various miscellaneous data prompt the writer to estimate 

 the average grazing capacity of the public-domain lands re- 

 maining in the far Western States in 1923 as between 25 and 35 

 acres for a cow unit per year. The grazing capacity of these 

 lands on a yearly basis is variously estimated from about 18 

 to considerably over 100 acres per cow unit (Fig. 122). 



Fig. 122. — winter DESERT RANGE OF SAGE AND SHADSCALE IN THE GREAT 



BASIN REGION. 

 Here approximately 60 gross acres are required to maintain a cow throughout the year. Compare 



this cover with that of palatable grassland (Fig. 114), where 14 acres are ample to maintain 



a cow in good condition for a year. 



In contrast to the large acreage requirement for the annual 

 support of a cow unit in the drier regions of the West, no more 

 than 1 1 gross acres is required to support a cow for a 5 -month 

 period, or the equivalent of 3.6 acres per year on the better- 

 irrigated farm pastures in the far West or in those middle West- 

 ern States where the rainfall is such as to stimulate the production 

 of a continued luxuriant growth of forage. Intermediate con- 

 ditions between the arid West and the humid areas of the middle 

 West are found in Kansas. Hensel's ' studies at the Kansas 

 Experiment Station show that for the eastern half of that State 

 from 10^ to about 12 acres of native pasture land is required 

 per year for a cow unit. 



1 Hensel, R. L., Unpublished report, Kansas Agr. Exp. Sta., Manhattan, Kans. 



