2 BULLETIN 588, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



made by the Forest Service on the Jornada Range Reserve, a unit 

 comprising some 200,000 acres in southern New Mexico. The prob- 

 lem involves: (a) Finding the system of management that will best 

 bring about natural reseeding of the existing forage plants ; (&) find- 

 ing new plants suitable for seeding on the ranges of the Southwest; 

 (c) determining the number and distribution of stock-watering 

 places necessary for efficient use of the range, taking into account 

 cost of construction and returns expected; and (d] determining the 

 carrying capacity of the range as a means of preventing its being 

 overstocked. 



Other and related range problems also have been studied on the 

 Jornada Reserve. One of these has to do with improving the average 

 grade of stock and the average calf crop under range conditions, the 

 possibility of which is generally recognized. Another is how to 

 reduce the losses of stock from lack of feed and water in times of 

 drought and from disease and straying that ordinarily occur in the 

 Southwest. Such losses are a big drain on the profits of the stock 

 industry and often retard, or even prevent, the development of 

 desirable breeding herds. ' 



The studies on the Jornada Reserve are by no means completed: 

 when the length of time during which they will be carried on is con. 

 sidered, it might be said that they are hardly begun. The results 

 so far secured, however, seem to have an important enough bearing 

 on the problem of increased meat production to justify their pres- 

 entation in a bulletin, to constitute a progress report. They may 

 be modified, of course, by study over a longer period. In estimating 

 the possibilities for improvement, therefore, every effort is made to 

 be conservative. The results are discussed in detail in the body of 

 the text and are summarized at the end. 



Naturally, in working with so large a range unit the results are 

 lacking in the degree of refinement obtainable in feed yards and 

 small-scale experiments. This, however, is more than offset by the 

 fact that each experiment, when completed, constitutes its own 

 demonstration on a practical scale. 



JORNADA RANGE RESERVE. 



The Jornada Range Reserve is located in Dona Ana County, N. 

 Mex., in the Rio Grande trough, about 50 miles north of the Mexi- 

 can boundary. It is typical of a large territory in the South- 

 west which, owing to natural and climatic conditions, will probably 

 always be best adapted to the production of live stock on compara- 

 tively large holdings. The Reserve was created by Executive order, 

 May 3, 1912, at the request of the Department of Agriculture, with 

 the idea of securing a complete range unit for conducting experiments 



