10 CIECULAK 17 8, TJ. S. DEPAETMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



THE VALUE OF THE INCREASE IN FORAGE PRODUCTION 



Where a stand of highly palatable grass occupies 60 per cent of 

 the ground surface and is attaining good height growth and foliage 

 development, the reseeded range should carry livestock at the rate 

 of 3 or 4 acres for a grown cow or three-fourths to 1 acre for a 

 grown sheep for a grazing season of three months. Where good 

 pasturage is worth as much as $1 per head per month for cattle and 

 $0.25 per head per month for sheep,* the forage on the more pro- 

 ductive range lands thus seeded would yield an annual return of 

 $0.75 to $1 for each acre. Obviously^ however, forage production 

 will vary with growing conditions and will be lower on thin, rocky 

 soils or where climatic conditions are not the most favorable. Fur- 

 thermore, the value of the forage will depend upon the market price 

 of livestock in each locality and the use to which the forage is put. 



EXAMPLES OF PROFITABLE RESEEDING 



With so many factors contributing to the determination of whether 

 or not artificial reseeding is profitable, it is impossible to state offhand 

 the exact localities where reseeding will or will not pay. This can 

 be done only after careful analysis of the conditions obtaining in 

 each case. The following three examples are indicative of the time 

 required to liquidate reseeding costs under diverse but typical 

 western range conditions. 



In each of the following examples no charge is included for taxes 

 or interest on the investment in land, since the areas were on Federal 

 land not subject to these costs. These items may often be left out in 

 computing the costs on privately owned range. On range lands are 

 many small areas, depleted from some cause or other, that are not 

 being reseeded naturally from the native vegetation on adjoining- 

 range. The owner already has his money invested in this land, and 

 no distinction is made in taxing the depleted areas as compared with 

 areas in good condition. Often such clepletecl areas are the choicest 

 parts of the range and may be expected to respond well to artificial 

 reseeding. In such cases the owner is justified in going to a greater 

 expense for seeding than where it is necessary to figure taxes and 

 interest on the investment in land as part of the cost of the operation. 



A badly denuded area on sheep range in the Wasatch Mountains of 

 central Utah was sown to Kentucky bluegrass in the fall of 1914. 

 Practically all the native palatable plants had been destroyed by 

 heavy overgrazing prior to that time, and the carrying capacity had 

 been reduced to a point where it was not profitable to graze sheep. 

 The planting was done for $4.50 an acre, which included seed, trans- 

 portation, sowing, and harrowing the ground. By 1917, the third 

 year after planting, a stand vigorous enough to be grazed had be- 

 come established. The yield of forage sufficed to carry sheep at the 

 rate of 31/3 acres per head for the 96-day grazing season. By 1920, 

 the stand had increased sufficiently to support a sheep on each 2 acres 

 for the season, and at the end of nine years 1 acre was sufficient to 

 support a sheep for the 3-month grazing period. Here the value of 



4 These are approximate average maximum commercial fisrures. Pasturage on national- 

 forest land is admittedly at a rate considerably below a commercial basis, 



