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



upon the percentage of tobosa flats which receive flood water. Such 

 areas are of higher forage value than the average for this class of 

 range as a whole. 



The mountain range of the Jornada Range Reserve will support 

 stock at the rate of approximately 60 acres per head in its present 

 stage 'of development. 



All of the foregoing estimates are on the basis of carrying the stock 

 through average or slightly less than average years in fairly good 

 condition. If loss from starvation is to be eliminated, a small per- 

 centage of the poor stock will have to be fed cottonseed cake or 

 other feed to supplement range forage. 



INCREASE 'IN CALF CROP AND IMPROVEMENT IN GRADE OF STOCK. 



From 500 selected cows and 20 bulls, held in pastures away from 

 other stock since August, 1915, an 81 per cent calf crop was branded 

 in 1916. It is expected that this figure will probably be an average 

 one over a period of years. From the remaining cows of breeding 

 age, amounting to 1,522 head run "together in one pasture of 74,714 

 acres, a 69.2 per cent calf cr&p was branded. The average calf crop 

 for the Reserve was 72 per cent. It is doubtful whether the average 

 calf crop on adjoining unfenced range in 1916 reached 60 per cent, 

 and this figure is believed to be a high average for the calf crop on 

 these ranges for a period of years past. 



A total of approximately 50 pounds of cottonseed cake per head 

 was fed to the 500 cows and 20 bulls of the selected breeding herd 

 on the Reserve. The work of caring for this herd took half of one 

 man's tune. AH of the bulls and perhaps 75 per cent of the cows were 

 fed cake. To this special care and the fact that they were unmo- 

 lested by other stock is attributed the large calf crop. In the herd 

 having 1,522 head only 2 per cent of the cows and only 75 per cent 

 of the bulls were caked. This and the fact that so many animals 

 were run in one large brushy area, making adequate bull service 

 difficult, are believed to be largely responsible for the difference of 

 11.8 per cent in the calf crop of the two herds. If so, the extra 

 calves in the special herd far more than pay for the extra feed and 

 labor. 



The big opportunity for increasing the calf crop is to keep poor 

 cows in thrifty condition. This can be done by not overstocking 

 the range usecj. by breeding stock and by feeding a small quantity of 

 cottonseed cake or other supplemental feed to the cows that need it. 

 Indications are that this is a good business proposition. All bulls 

 should be fed during the whiter and early spring. 



By avoiding overstocking and by uaing supplemental feed the 

 improvement of the average animal should pay, at least in part, for 

 the decrease in number of stock and increase in cost of care. The 



