62 BULLETIN 1031, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
larger than in outside herds where little or no special attention was 
given to avoid loss from starvation. 
Bulls, number and distribution—Four bulls per 100 cows have 
been used in both these herds each year. All were strong, vigorous 
bulls, ranging from 2 to 7 years of age, and all those brought from 
other States were acclimated to the range for six to nine months 
before being turned into the herd. Each winter and spring all bulls 
not in good condition were fed cottonseed cake, with pasturage and 
other feed if necessary, to have them in what was considered good 
breeding condition for the main season. The amount of feed varied 
with the condition of each animal, but an average of 14 to 3 pounds 
of cottonseed cake per day was fed each bull for five or six months 
while on good dry pasturage. 
The main breeding season occurs from late in July until October, 
and all the bulls were with the cows during this period. At other 
times of the year, however, a few of the more thrifty were left with 
the breeding herd. There is some question as to the advisability of 
leaving bulls with the cows yearlong, especially as more feed and 
better care in general is given the breeding herd; but there has been 
less question in the past, since stockmen operating under old methods 
felt that the growing seasons were too erratic to confine the breed- 
ing season to any one period of the year. 
Except in 1918, special attention was given to distribution of bulls 
among the cows in the special herd. During the breeding season of 
the other years the 500 head of cows and 20 bulls were run by them- 
selves in a pasture of 17,000 acres where there were four watering 
places. Besides being in this comparatively small pasture, a cowboy 
spent about three-fourths of his time during the main breeding sea- 
son seeing to it that there was the proper number of bulls in propor- 
tion to the number of cows at each watering place. 
The drought interfered with the regular procedure in handling this 
herd during the breeding season of 1918. The cows were moved to 
a brushy pasture of 74,714 acres, and no effort was made to keep the 
bulls distributed by riding after them. To this poor bull distribu- 
tion is attributed the exceedingly low calf crop in this herd in 1919, 
for the cows were 1n excellent condition at all times and other factors 
were favorable. 
The large herd was kept in a large, brushy pasture of 74,714 acres 
during the breeding season of each year except in 1918, when, owing 
to drought, they were removed to a much larger area of outside range. 
No effort was made at any time to keep bulls distributed by riding, 
and with 12 watering places in the pasture and more on the outside 
range, bull distribution was not as good as it might have been. Plate 
IX, figure 1, shows what may happen if no effort is made to keep 
bulls distributed. At that, however, there was some advantage in 
