PROTECTION OF PASTURES. 21 



Many of the stockmen, especially cattlemen, seem to think that when 

 they have excluded the outside stock, sheep in particular, from their 

 land, it will carry whatever stock they may have, and they are dis- 

 appointed if it does not. While it is true that some kinds of 

 stock do more damage to a given range than others, the injury is 

 caused not so much by the kind as it is by the number of stock and 

 the methods used in handling it. Just because the stockman has 

 fenced his range and excluded all outside stock he must not lose 

 sight of the fact that he has not in the least changed the carrying 

 capacity of his range. 



To illustrate this point, the writer, during the season of 1904, had 

 an opportunity to study a number of pastures that had been newly 

 fenced. One of these pastures, owned by a stock company, was pur- 

 chased in the summer of 1903 and fenced during the spring of 1901. 

 This pasture was in a region where there is a great deal of scab land, 

 which meant that the carrying capacity was naturally very low, and 

 in a locality where the vegetation had previously been nearly de- 

 stroyed by numerous bands of sheep. The owners, having eliminated 

 the sheep and all other stock, did not estimate its carrying capacity, 

 but turned all of their cattle into the pasture without further atten- 

 tion. In the autumn, when they came to gather in their stock, they 

 found that every bit of feed, including all the browse the cattle could 

 get. was gone, and that the stock were in very poor shape, some of 

 them being in a half -starved condition. These men by overgrazing 

 their pasture lost heavily, as they will have to feed a great deal of 

 hay to bring their cattle back to the condition they were in when 

 turned into the pasture. Not only did they lose heayily on the 

 cattle, but they also did the range a very serious injury, for, instead 

 of supporting more stock another year, its carrying capacity has been 

 greatly lessened. 



Another range adjoining the one just mentioned has also suffered 

 heavily from overstocking. In this case the owners, at the time they 

 turned their cattle in, belieyed that their range would actually im- 

 prove with what stock they had on it. Howeyer, they miscalcu- 

 lated, and not only will it take considerable hay to bring the majority 

 of their stock back to good condition, but it will also be some time 

 before the damage done to their range can be made good. While 

 these two pastures were the only ones observed that were so over- 

 grazed that the stock were really poorer when taken out than when 

 put in, several other pastures Avere noticed in which the carrying 

 capacity will be lower another year than it was during the past 

 season, owing to the fact that the native vegetation has been too 

 closely grazed. 



The first step that the stockman should take after his pasture is 

 fenced is to make a careful estimate of the number of stock it will 



