RANGE AND CATTLE MANAGEMENT DURING DROUGHT, 



59 



State since 1917, obtained from the Cattle Sanitary Board of New 

 Mexico. 



Table 21. — Arerage nmnher of calves for each 100 coics. 



Year. 



Southern 



New- 

 Mexico. 



Whole 



State. 



1916 55 





1917 



1918 



1919 



35 



25 

 35 



133 

 30 

 25 



Average 



37.5 



29.1 



1 50 per cent of usual calf crop. 



The results obtained on the Jornada Range Reserve up to 1915 

 were no exception to the other ranges of New Mexico. The calf crop 

 on the reserve in 1913 was approximately 48 calves per 100 cows; 

 in 1914, 62 ; and in 1915, 52. The period 1913 to 1915 includes three 

 good years, so that the average for the reserve prior to 1916, when 

 a period of drought is included, did not, in all probability, reach 

 above 50 calves per 100 cows. 



Breeding stock on Arizona and New Mexico ranges are, for the 

 most part, handled on the open range or in large pastures, making 

 ]Droper bull service difficult. Little or no effort has been made in the 

 past to care for stock during the winter and spring, and cows very 

 often go into the breeding season in poor condition. In the other 

 States breeding stock are handled in smaller herds, thus facilitating 

 bull service. Breeding stock are fed during winter and early spring 

 and go into the breeding season in good condition. These differences 

 in methods of handling stock in the Southwest and in other States 

 are, no doubt, largely responsible for the yearly average of 16 calves 

 less per hundred cows in Arizona, 23 less for the southern part of 

 New Mexico, and 7 less for the whole State than the average for the 

 other nine States. 



CALF CROP ON THE JOENADA RANGE RESERVE SINCE 1915. 



Investigations into the possibility of increasing the calf crop have 

 been an important feature of the studies at the Jornada Range Re- 

 serve since 1915. The original plan was to study the comparative 

 calf crop from a herd of approximately 1,500 cows run together, a 

 herd of 500, and a herd of 42, all three under fence on the reserve, 

 and the calf crop from range herds on similar range under prevail- 

 ing open-range practice. The 500-head special herd and the 1,500- 

 head herd were the same used in the general investigations, as well as 

 in the demonstrations in improving the grade of stock, and have 

 already been discussed under the latter heading. The large herd 



