FOREST AND RANGE RESOURCES OF UTAH 11 



century of millions of acres of public lands, which, for 50 years had 

 been used by western stockmen without let or hindrance. 



At first many of the stockmen did not take kindly to this new 

 scheme of supervision. Gradually, however, they saw the benefits 

 possible from such a system and rendered splendid cooperation in 

 aiding the Government officials to work out the difficult problems 

 that naturally arose. Gradually a system of range use has been 

 evolved on the national forests that has improved the ranges and 

 at the same time has secured full utilization of the forage crop. 



LIVESTOCK ON UTAH RANGES 



The livestock industry is among the largest in Utah. In 1929 there 

 were 363,000 beef cattle, 100,000 horses, and 2,866,000 sheep in the 

 State. (Fig. 5.) The sale of livestock and livestock products brings 

 in about 43 per cent of the gross farm income. More stockmen than 

 in any other State, 6,300 in all, have permits to graze livestock on the 

 national forests, and in 1929 the forests furnished summer grazing 

 for nearly 31 per cent of the beef cattle and 26 per cent of the sheep. 



The cattle and sheep in the State obtain 77 per cent of their feed 

 by grazing. Of this 14 per cent comes from farm pasture and con- 

 trolled range, 18 per cent from national forests, and 68 per cent from 

 the open public domain and other ranges. 



Unscientific use has reduced the productivity of much of the un- 

 regulated public range and some of the State and private range until 

 it now yields less than one-half as much forage as it did originally. 

 Since to feed an animal harvested crops costs from four to eight 

 times as much as to graze it, and since 83 per cent 8 of the State is 

 range land, it is of the utmost importance to Utah that the depleted 

 areas be restored, the remainder protected, and the whole made as 

 productive as possible through the practical application of scientific 

 methods. Proper management of the ranges is also essential to 

 watershed protection, timber reproduction, wild life, and recreation. 



PLACE OF CATTLE RAISING ON FARMS 



Cattle raising fits in very well with other farm activities in the 

 State. The practice of crop rotation on farms is well established as 

 a means of building up or maintaining soil fertility. This calls for 

 a diversity of crops, among which alfalfa, clover, and other forage 

 crops have prominent places. The success of the diversified-crop 

 plan depends upon livestock to utilize the forage. This does not 

 mean that the man who raises the crops must own the livestock, but 

 somewhere within a reasonable marketing distance must be stock- 

 men who need to buy forage. 



Some parts of Utah, as the vast Uinta Basin and many of the 

 southern communities, are long distances from the railroads. The 

 production of such crops as beets, fruits, potatoes, and the like, 

 means many long trips by truck or wagon to market the product. 

 Many people in these communities have solved the problem by raising 

 forage crops which they feed to livestock. The stock can be driven 

 to the railroads, thus furnishing their own transportation to market. 



8 Includes 5,000,000 acres of timberland mostly used for grazing. 



