RANGE AND CATTLE MANAGEMENT DURING DROUGHT. DD 
were branded with a special brand for the herd, dehorned, and placed 
in a separate pasture. 
Tn order to improve the grade of. the herd as rapidly as possible 
the plan was to cull 10 to 15 per cent of the least desirable cows each 
year and replace them with good young heifers. Sixty-nine head 
were culled in the fall of 1917. These included a few cripples and 
two barren cows, while the rest were light-boned or otherwise lackk- 
ing in desirable qualities or were past 11 years of age. They were 
replaced by an equal number of the best two. and three year old 
heifers on the reserve, partly selected from the 1915 calf crop of 
this herd. It was thought best not to cull more heavily because of 
the possibility of decreasing the calf crop through introducing too 
many heifers. Sixty additional cows were culled in 1918, but no 
replacement was made at the time because of forage shortage and the 
prevalence of drought. 
THE MAIN HERD. 
After the selection of the 500 special cows, the remainder of the 
breeding herd consisted. mainly of native or common stock and 
grades.° (PI. V, fig. 1.) No less than 600 head, however, were 
off-color and Mexico stock.17 Following the selection of the 500 head 
the main herd was worked over and 325 of the off-color and otherwise 
undesirable cows were cut out and marketed. In 1916, 101 head, and 
in 1917, 318 head of the least desirable cows were disposed of. These 
were replaced each year by 2-year-old heifers from the natural in- 
crease of the two herds. No culling was done in the fall of 1918 on 
account of interference with plans by an outbreak of scabies and the 
possible demand for breeding cows to restock ranges after the 
drought. 
Average culling for the three years 1915 to 1917, inclusive, was at 
the rate of 12.6 head per hundred cows annually. By 1918, culling 
at this rate had resulted in marked improvement in grade and type 
- of stock in the main breeding herd, aside from the improvement due 
to adding 2 and 3 year-old heifers. All the Mexico stock had been 
removed, as well as other off-colored, extremely lght-boned, or 
otherwise undesirable cows. Approximately half of the herd con- 
sisted of white-faced stock, characteristically Hereford, the breed de- 
sired, and the rest were red and red-mottled-faced. 
16 “* Common” or “ native’”’ stock, as here used, is applied to offspring whose parents 
were of very poor breeding and uncertain origin. In “grade” one of the parents was 
pure bred and the other common or native; or both parents were well bred, so that off- 
spring had over 50 per cent pure blood of a single breed. 
17 ** Mexico stock,’’ the long-legged, long-faced, slim-bodied, various colored stock com- 
ing originally from Mexico and the one-time characteristic range animal for northern 
Mexico. 
