RANGE MANAGEMENT IN NEW MEXICO. 29 
The necessity of allowing feed to mature.—It is a well-known botan- 
ical fact that in order for ordinary green plants to grow they must 
have leaves, since the food from which new growth is made is elabo- 
rated mostly in the leaves. This point has been emphasized by 
various writers, but no definite data as to the exact effect of pas- 
turage upon the quantity of feed produced have been obtained till 
recently. Studies carried on by Drs. Briggs and Shantz have given 
some very definite data for alfalfa. From their work it appears 
probable that whenever range land is closely pastured during the 
growing season its total productivity is automatically reduced 
approximately two-thirds, or possibly more. Or, stated generally, 
close grazing during the growing season reduces the carrying capacity 
about two-thirds. 
One way to diminish this effect is to divide the range into a number 
of relatively small pastures and give each pasture a rest in turn. 
Kach pasture must be given as long a time to grow its crop as is 
possible, keeping in mind all the time the fact that the stock must 
grow as rapidly as possible. It is probably better to put a large 
number of animals on a relatively small acreage for a short time, 
thus giving the plants a long period of growth. This procedure makes 
a larger number of watering places necessary. 
The utilization of summer feed.—Subdividing the range is beneficial 
in another way. In many places there are areas that produce forage 
which is good feed only while it is green. On other near-by areas 
forage which cures standing occurs. The latter is the natural winter 
feed of the region, but these plants are usually preferred by animals 
while they are green. Thus, if the animals are allowed to range 
freely and select their feed they eat the winter feed in the summer 
time. From the standpoint of sustenance the summer feed is all 
right in the summer, but poor in the winter. Hence, good manage- 
ment requires that it be eaten while at its best. Similarly, the winter 
feed should be saved till the winter time. Without fences such 
management is impossible, and the selective action of the stock is 
always operating to destroy the best feed on the range, for they 
always graze it more closely, even when the range is properly stocked. - 
In the higher mountain country some of the range is available only 
in the summer, because it is covered with snow in the winter. There 
is some tendency for. free-ranging stock to go to the higher levels in 
the summer, which is advantageous to the stockman. While cattle 
will climb the hills if they have to, they will congregate in the 
open valleys and parks as long as the feed lasts, unless they are 
fenced out. But the valleys and parks may be pastured earlier and 
later than the mountain sides and should be fenced. Many such 
treeless areas are capable of cultivation or may be turned into 
meadows where a good crop of hay may be grown. 
