INCREASED CATTLE PRODUCTION. 23 



from feed and water can not be expected, after dropping a calf, to 

 breed as soon again, or in as large proportion, as those which are 

 kept in thrifty condition. Unless the range is supplemented by 

 concentrated food, a large percentage of cows, especially those 

 suckling young calves during the winter, are very thin in flesh and 

 low in vitality by the time green grass comes on southern New 

 Mexico ranges. 



The biggest possibility for increasing the calf crop lies in keeping 

 these cows, not fat, but strong and thrifty enough to enable them to 

 breed promptly, and in feeding the bulls so that they will be able to 

 do the work expected of them. Although the one year's results at 

 the Jornada Range Reserve do not justify final conclusions as to the 

 results, over a period of years, from better care and the use of sup- 

 plemental feed, they do justify serious consideration by stockmen of 

 employing this means to increase the calf crop. 



Beginning in 1917, from 50 to 75 of the least desirable cows orig- 

 inally selected for the 500-head special breeding herd will be culled 

 out and replaced by heifers selected from the 1915 calf crop of this 

 herd. These heifers will be kept from the bulls until approximately 

 20 months old, since it is believed that the general practice in the 

 Southwest of breeding yearling heifers has a tendency to decrease 

 the average size of the stock and to increase loss, without increasing 

 the number of calves produced over a period of years sufficiently to 

 compensate for the disadvantages. This point will be carefully 

 observed. Each year part of the original 500 head will be replaced 

 by selected heifers, with the idea of building up the grade of the herd. 

 The cows taken out and the surplus of heifers from the increase will 

 be used to replace less desirable breeding animals in the main herd 

 of the Reserve. 



PREVENTION OF LOSS. 



All things considered, the biggest hazard of the stock industry on 

 the desert and semidesert ranges of the Southwest is the occurrence 

 of heavy losses during years when there is little or no rainfall. In 

 the past such losses often have wiped out in one season the accumu- 

 lated profits of years. The southwestern range stockman is con- 

 fronted constantly with the possibility that next year may be a bad 

 one. 



HOLDING RANGE FORAGE FDR USE DURING CRITICAL SPRING MONTHS. 



In average years the most dangerous period is from February to 

 the beginning of the summer rains, usually in July. When no rains 

 come and the dry period extends throughout the year, the situation 

 is critical. The first step in providing for both the average and the 

 emergency year should be to save a good portion of the grama-grass 

 range for use from February to July. Some range must be available 



