44 BULLETIN 947, U. S. DEPARTMENT OE AGRICULTURE. 



Allotment of range to animals not affected by II. Jioopesii. — It has 

 been shown that cattle are seldom affected by H. Jioopesii and horses 

 rarely if ever. A partial solution of the difficulty may be made 

 in some cases by allotting sneezeweed ranges to horses or cattle 

 rather than to sheep. 



Management of range to secure abundance of forage. — H. Jioopesii is 

 not eaten because of its attractiveness to grazing animals, but is 

 taken after the supply of other forage plants has been exhausted. On 

 ranges where H. Jioopesii is abundant, but accompanied by a sufficient 

 supply of other plants, sneezeweed poisoning seldom or never occurs. 

 It is on overgrazed ranges, when little is left but H. Jioopesii, that the 

 sheep are injured. Such ranges, because of the thriftiness of the 

 plant, grow rapidly worse. It is obvious that an attempt should be 

 made by proper management to restore the range. Theoretically 

 this can be done by so restricting grazing as to permit an abundant 

 growth of desirable range plants and natural reseeding. Unfortu- 

 nately, as shown on pages 41-43, this is a long and somewhat dis- 

 couraging process. Yet it seems clear that it is the only way by which 

 the ranges can be made safe. Experience has shown that little can 

 be expected from artificial reseeding. The practical question of so 

 reducing allotments as to permit a range to become lestored and re- 

 main in good condition is a difficult one to handle, but it does not 

 appear that there is any other way of handling the problem success- 

 fully. This means that it is desirable that a range should never be 

 stocked to its full capacity, but that a generous margin of safety 

 should be left. It is appreciated that an ideal management of the 

 range might work hardship on existing permittees, and that the 

 handling of the problem demands not only trained ability and expe- 

 rience to recognize the needs of a particular range, but a high order 

 of tact to bring about desirable changes. 



PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS FOR STOCKMEN ON THE RANGE. 



From the standpoint of the owner handling sheep on H. Jioopesii 

 ranges the question of greatest importance is what practical methods 

 he may use to eliminate or reduce his losses. His interest is in the 

 deductions which may be made from the results of an investigation. 

 It must be recognized that there are some things that man can not 

 change, and that a thorough investigation of a subject may some- 

 times simply show that under a given set of conditions nothing can 

 be done in the way of relief. It is a decided advantage, however, in 

 such cases to know positively the facts and the conditions controlling 

 the poisoning, so that one can combat the trouble intelligently and 

 not waste his energies in attempting to do impossible things. 



By management of the flocks so as to avoid poisoning while on the 

 range very much may be accomplished. Herders should be taught 



