202 WESTERN GRAZING GROUNDS AND FOREST RANGES 



The same holds good of bucks and a $50 buck at seven 

 years of age may be said to have passed the period of 

 his usefulness to the rangeman, and is to be sold for 

 whatever he will bring. 



Right here is where many a sheepman has found his 

 figures on the profits of' the business sadly at variance 

 with the final results and he never knew just where it 

 went. 



Investment Necessary. Twenty-five years ago the 

 total investment of a New Mexico sheep outfit running 

 20,000 'sheep on the open range, apart from the initial 

 cost of the sheep, was not more than $2,000 all told, and 

 consisted of a few burros, a wagon or two and the neces- 

 sary camp equipment. The owner did not own an acre 

 of land or even a corral. When he sheared he threw up 

 a brush corral somewhere on the range as close to the 

 shipping point for his wool as possible, and the rest 

 of the year they were at home wherever the pack burros 

 were. 



In the Northwest the large land grants belonging to 

 the Pacific railroads rent readily to stockmen for graz- 

 ing purposes at an average of about $40 per section of 

 640 acres, or close to 7 cents per acre. In the South- 

 west, in Arizona, New Mexico and Southern California, 

 the average is about $20 per section. A striking exam- 

 ple of what grazing lands will bring when put up for 

 competitive bids is found in the prices received by the 

 Reclamation Service for the grazing upon what is 

 known as the "Strawberry Valley Project," in Utah. 

 The matter is fully discussed on page 222. 



Other Cost Factors. But because it only costs $2 a 

 year to run cattle on the ranges, it must not be assumed 

 that a three-year-old steer has cost his owner but $6. 



