*4o,"u! S. DEPAETMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



best would -be restricted to range in the immediate vicinity of the 

 irrigated areas and would not provide emergency feed for the larger 

 portion of the ranges of the Southwest, where losses have been heavy, 

 and where breeding herds established through years of effort have 

 been sacrificed. 



In the hope of meeting the problem on such ranges, at least to an. 

 extent which will make it possible to maintain the breeding herd 

 over critical periods, the Department of Agriculture for a number of 

 years has been cooperating with a practical stockman on the Jornada 

 Range Reserve 1 in southern New Mexico in working out a compre- 

 hensive plan of range management and supplemental feeding. For 

 several years this plan has included investigation of the use of native 

 vegetation as emergency feed. The results of range management 

 with supplemental feeding, and of the initial tests to determine the 

 value of soapweed as ensilage, were reported in Department of 

 Agriculture Bulletin 588. 2 Later investigations, including extensive 

 experimental feeding, have shown conclusively that soapweed, if 

 properly utilized, is of great value as an emergency stock feed. 



SOAPWEED AS RANGE FORAGE. 



Soapweed (Yucca elata) is recognized as a valuable forage plant 

 in its native state- on the range. The green leaves' are eaten during 

 winter and spring, especially when a shortage of other forage exists. 

 Ordinarily, the sharp points of the leaves discourage grazing, but 

 where other forage is scarce cattle learn to chew the leaves from the 

 center or base toward the sharp end. It is very. difficult to estimate 

 the exact food value of each plant, but where from 170 to 300 plants 

 per acre are found no small amount of forage may be obtained from 

 them. In the fall of 1917 a herd of cattle in southern New Mexico 

 was maintained for at least two months on a range where the green 

 soapweed leaves furnished 50 per cent or more of the forage. On 

 an overgrazed pasture at a distance of 2 miles from water 47 per 

 cent of the soapweed plants were grazed; and on closely grazed 

 range 3 miles from water about 30 per cent were grazed. In many 

 cases the entire leafage of soapweed plants was utilized. 



The soapweed blossoms are of especially great value. The panicles 

 of large white flowers appear on stalks commonly from 4 to 10 feet 



1 The Jornada Range Reserve is located in Dona Ana County, N. Mex., about 50 miles 

 north of the Mexican boundary. It includes a range unit of approximately 200,000 acres. 

 The average rainfall is less than 9 inches and varies from 3.5 inches to 15 inches. 



Mr. C. T. Turney, the cooperating stockman, originated the idea of using the soapweed 

 as a supplemental feed on the Jornada Range Reserve and was principally responsible for 

 getting manufacturers to develop the machines which are now used successfully in chop- 

 ping the soapweed. 



2 Jardine, J. T., and limit, L. C., Increased Cattle Production on Southwestern Ranges, 

 Bulletin 588, U. S. Department of Agriculture, 1917. 



