UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



jjjfe BULLETIN No. 745 



Contribution from the Forest Service 

 HENRY S. GRAVES, Forester 



Washington, D. C. 



January 29, 1919 



CHOPPED SOAPWEED AS EMERGENCY FEED 

 FOR CATTLE ON SOUTHWESTERN RANGES. 



By C. L. Foksling, Grazing Examiner. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



The need of emergency feed 1 



Soapweed as range forage 2 



Cut soapweed as emergency feed 3 



The collection of soapweed 7 



The preparation of soapweed 9 



Feeding the soapweed 10 



The cost of soapweed feed 10 



The cost of a maintenance ration 11 



The time required for cattle to learn to eat 



soapweed 11 



The amount of soapweed cattle will eat 12 



111 effects from eating soapweed 12 



Fattening on soapweed and cottonseed meal . . 13 



Growth habits of soapweed 13 



Necessity for conservative, selective cutting. . 15 



Use of related species 17 



Summary 17 



THE NEED OF EMERGENCY FEED. 



Heavy losses of stock resulting from long periods of drought are 

 the greatest handicap of the stock industry on the ranges of the 

 Southwest. Such droughts have occurred at intervals of from. 3 to 

 10 years. When these droughts continue for more than a year the 

 situation becomes critical because of lack of range forage or other 

 available feed. 



Cottonseed products serve well as supplemental feed in times when 

 enough range forage is available to provide the necessary roughage. 

 During prolonged droughts like the present one, which began early 

 in 1916 and continues unbroken at the present time (June 15, 1918), 

 the range forage crop may be so small as to require other roughage 

 as well as concentrated feeds. 



The problejn may be solved in part in some of the less arid regions 

 by raising fodder crops by dry farming. The ranges where this is 

 practicable at present, however, are not extensive. On a few ranges, 

 adjacent to irrigated districts, the necessary emergency feeds might 

 be furnished by crops from such irrigated areas; but this supply at 



81176°— 19— Bull*. 745 1 



