ie 
INCREASED CATTLE PRODUCTION. ib; 
1. The stand of forage is rarely uniform over any considerable 
acreage of range lands. 
2. Different amounts of forage are produced on the same area in 
different years. 
3. Forage plants vary in power to resist grazing. 
4. Other things being equal, the carrying capacity of dry ranges 
over a period of years is influericed materially by the extent of grazing 
during the growing season of the vegetation. 
5. If there are not enough well-distributed watering places to 
insure even distribution of the stock and even grazing over the 
whole area, the range is depleted around water and undergrazed 
away from water. This may reduce considerably the number of 
stock the area will carry. 
6. The number of stock carried will depend somewhat upon the 
condition in which the animals are kept—whether merely carried 
through the period, kept in good condition, or fattened. 
7. Reliable data are not available as to the comparative amount 
of range needed for dry stock and cows with calves, or for yearlings 
and mature stock. 
Where so many variables are involved, it is obviously difficult to 
work out figures for carrying capacity which will insure 100 per _ 
cent efficiency in utilizing large areas of range. It is_ believed 
possible, however, to work out figures for the more prominent 
types of range which will serve as a safe guide in stocking a 
given unit and in deciding the comparative value of different. 
range areas. 7 
Within the Jornada Range Reserve was found range varying from 
that which will furnish yearlong feed for one mature animal on 
about 20 acres to that which will barely support a mature animal 
on, perhaps, 100 acres. Further, the different types of range are 
somewhat intermixed. To determine the comparative grazing value 
of the different types, a range survey was made of approximately 
150,000 acres. As a result of this, the area has been divided into 
eight more or less distinct types and an estimate made for each of 
the stand of vegetation the stock will eat. This type classifica- 
tion, along with pasture divisions and watering places, is shown in 
figure 2. , 
For each of the 13 pastures of the Reserve record has been kept 
of the number of animal days’ feed furnished each month and year, 
and of the percentage of the vegetation left unused or the percentave 
of overstocking. From these data and the data secured by the 
classification and grading of the range, tentative figures of carrying 
capacity have been worked out. They will, of course, be amended 
when necessary to conform to results over a period of years. 
