IRRIGATED FARMING 



31 





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Sugar Beets in Yellowstone Valley 



Other livestock that come from the nearby ragnes. Perhaps the most frequent 

 mistake in irrigated farming is the attempt to farm too much land. More labor 

 per acre is required in this than in other kinds of farming and it is justified by 

 the increased yields, but if the labor is distributed over too many acres or 

 applied at the wrong time (as irrigating too late) the crop yields oftentimes are 

 no larger than on the non-irrigated lands. A tract of eighty acres is large 

 enough for the beginner. An irrigated farm is especially adapted to the turning 

 off of concentrated products, but if a farmer does not intend to convert his 

 cereals and forage crops into beef, mutton, wool, dairy and poultry products, it is 

 questionable if general farming, with the higher land values and labor costs on 

 the irrigated farm, will be as profitable as on the well-managed non-irrigated 

 farm. 



Though the range cattle and sheep industry is still important in many dis- 

 tricts of eastern Montana by reason of grazing lands on Indian reservations or 

 bad lands on the public ranges that the homesteader passed up, 

 The Livestock the region of its greatest concentration and developujent is at 



Industry present in the mountainous and hill districts along the eastern 



slope of the continental divide, and particularly in south- 

 western Montana. There are a number of reasons for this. Extensive grazing 

 areas on the national forests are in close proximity to the irrigated lands of the 

 agricultural districts. In proportion to the tillable area, there is more irrigated 

 land in this region than in any other in the state. Many of these irrigated lands 

 are found in mountain valleys, at elevations ranging from 4,000 to 5,500 feet, 

 where, because of a comparatively short growing season, forage crops are the 

 most profitable. There are a million and a half acres of public domain in this 

 region, which, because of its rough nature, probably will not be filed on. Na- 

 tional forests and public lands furnish summer grazing and the irrigated lauds 

 winter forage. The formation is chiefly limestone, a feature which is char- 

 acteristic of all good livestock districts. Numerous streams of good water 

 abound. 



A bird's-eye view of the stockraising industry in Montana appeared in The 

 Breeder's Gazette December 21. 1022. in an article by Will C. Barnes, assistant 

 forester in charge of grazing for the National Forest Service. "In my judgment," 



