42 Western Live-stock Management 



a certain district two or three times during the fall; in 

 other cases, there will only be one round-up at this sea- 

 son. It is usually necessary for several men to get to- 

 gether in order to collect their cattle. When the round-up 

 is over, the cattle which are not to be sold or taken into 

 some other range or pasture are turned loose again. The 

 round-up also gives opportunity for each man to separate 

 his cattle from the others and for branding the calves. 

 When winter comes, the cattle are worked down on to the 

 lower lands where there will perhaps be some bunch-grass 

 saved up for fall and winter range, or they may be put on 

 the meadows after the hay has been cut. On the gov- 

 ernment land it is practically impossible to save any grass 

 for winter use, but a little may be saved on the land which 

 belongs to the stockman and which is under fence. This 

 grass which has grown up in the summer and died down in 

 the fall makes an excellent feed when abundant, and when 

 the snow is not too deep provides a good and economical 

 method of wintering cattle. The inability of cattle-men 

 to control the range, however, usually makes it difficult 

 to save any considerable amount of grass for winter use, 

 and thus the stockman is obliged to feed a large amount 

 of hay, even when there is little snow on the ground. The 

 feeding of hay is put off until as late in the winter as 

 possible, since the cattle will not rustle for grass to any 

 advantage after they have once had a taste of hay. The 

 amount of hay used, in any case, is comparatively small. 

 One ton a head is the usual allowance. Most of the 

 hay used is wild hay, grain hay, or alfalfa. When spring 

 comes the calves are branded and the cattle turned out 

 on the lower ranges. The steers are ordinarily kept until 

 they are three years old, although some stockmen who 

 have sufficient hay for fall pasture to fatten them in the 



