EAISTGE AND CATTLE MANAGEMENT DURING DROUGHT. 



27 



Table 8. — Rate of stocking during year, percentage of reduction of stocking 

 during growing season, percentage of utilization of forage, and reduction in 

 forage stand in pasture 2, 1913 to 1919. 









Percentage 











decrease 







Actual 



Percentage 

 reduction 



or increase 

 in grazing 



Percentage 





acres 



m average 



during 



of forage 



Year. 



per cow 



yearly- 



growing 





year 



stocking 



season 



of grazing 

 season. 





long. 



from 1913 

 rate. 



compared 



with 









yearly 











average. 





1913 



26.6 

 47.0 

 33.1 

 43.9 

 44.3 

 90.2 





-35.3 



-62.1 



-30.8 



02.6 



44.6 



36.1 



100 



1914 



43.5 

 19.8 

 39.3 

 40.1 

 71.5 



57 



1915 



80 



1916 . 



90 



1917 1 



125 



1918 



90 







1 82,900 pounds of cottonseed cake were fed to stock in this pasture in the spring of 1918. While this 

 feeding served largely to keep cattle from getting too poor it allowed utilization approximately 25 per cent 

 above estimated proper rate of stocking. 



Table 8 shows that this pasture was stocked at approximately the 

 annual yearlong rate during the growing season of 1916, but that 

 during 1917 and 1918 stocking was considerably heavier during the 

 growing period at this season than for the 3^ear as a whole. 



PASTURE 5 OF THE JORNADA RANGE RESERVE. 



Pasture 5 of the reserve is an area of 2,815 acres primarily of good 

 grama-grass range. In the spring of 1915 this area was about 44 

 per cent below what it should have been, and deterioration was at- 

 tributed largely to overstocking during the main growing season for 

 several years previous. In 1916 the average number of stock in this 

 pasture was reduced 35.5 per cent, with a slightly greater reduction 

 during the growing season ; in 1917 the average number of stock was 

 reduced 33.8 per cent from the rate during 1915, and 54 per cent 

 during the growing season; in 1918 the average for the year was 

 again heavier than the 1915 stocking, but during the growing season 

 grazing was less than 50 per cent of the average for the year. 



RESULTS OF THE VARIOUS DEGREES AND PERIODS OF GRAZING. 



The effects of the condition of drought prevailing and different time 

 and degrees of grazing practiced on the various areas are shown in 

 Table 9 and compared graphically in figure 7. 



Under the conditions of drought and grazing prevailing during 

 1916 the outside range about held its own as compared with 1915, 

 but it deteriorated 21.5 per cent in 1917 and 39.9 per cent further 

 in 1918. In 1919 there was a slight but real gain in conditions, so 

 that the total deterioration during the drought period was about 60 

 per cent as compared with the condition of this range in 1916. The 



