FOREST AND RANGE RESOURCES OF UTAH 45 



when stock are first turned out. The only successful way to prevent 

 loss under such conditions is to feed the stock until grasses and other 

 forage plants have made sufficient growth to insure a food supply. 



Overgrazing or too early grazing has another harmful effect, in 

 addition to causing actual loss of stock. If the range is stocked to 

 the point at which animals are forced to eat poisonous plants, the 

 good forage will be grazed so heavily that it will be eventually killed 

 out. It is very evident that under such conditions poisonous plants 

 will continue to spread over the area until, if the practice is con- 

 tinued, the area will contain nothing but poisonous plants. On the 

 other hand, if the good forage plants are not grazed too heavily, and 

 a small percentage of them is allowed to go to seed, they will keep 

 the range fully stocked, as under ordinary circumstances the grasses 

 and other forage plants are hardier than the poisonous plants. 



Losses from poisonous plants may be reduced by keeping a suffi- 

 cient quantity of salt out on the range, as lack of salt sometimes 

 causes animals to develop a depraved appetite so that they will eat 

 the bitter poisonous plants in preference to the better forage. Salt 

 also helps keep the animals in a healthy condition so that they can 

 offer greater resistance to the effects of poison. 



HANDLING STOCK ON THE RANGE 



If range areas were all on level country, with plenty of streams 

 of fresh water and with an even stand of good forage plants, the 

 proper handling of stock on the range would be a simple matter. 

 The surface, however, is very broken, the quantity and quality of the 

 plants vary considerably, and watering places are often very poorly 

 distributed. 



If stock are turned loose without management, they go on the high 

 areas in the spring, they graze on areas covered with poisonous 

 plants, they leave forage on the steeper, drier areas, or areas some 

 distance from water, and overgraze such places as flats, basins, and 

 canyon bottoms. 



The ill effects of overgrazing and too early grazing have already 

 been discussed. Losses of stock from poison or other causes mean 

 loss of profit to the owner and loss of an economic commodity to the 

 country. A waste in forage on part of the range means either that 

 less stock can be carried or that some other portions of the range 

 must be overgrazed to compensate for the feed not used. Good 

 management is necessary to get full use from a range and to avoid 

 injury to the stock and to the plants. 



THE FUNCTION OF A HERDER WITH SHEEP ON THE RANGE 



Sheep need constant care to protect them from predatory animals, 

 to prevent them from straying, and to keep them on good feed. 

 (Fig. 23.) The shepherd moves the sheep as necessary. He starts 

 them in the direction in which he desires them to graze in the morn- 

 ing and gathers them at night, keeping ever on the alert for bears, 

 coyotes, and other animals. He places salt where the sheep can 

 have access to it. He lets them go to water as often as he considers 

 necessary, or as often as circumstances permit. 



Although handling sheep on the ranges is an age-old occupation, 

 much improvement in methods has been made within the last decade. 



