66 BULLETIN 1031, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
business foresight in not keeping a supply of water ahead of the 
daily requirement for use in an emergency. — 
Adjusting livestock production to the amount of forage produced 
over a period of years, as already discussed in preceding chapters, is 
expected to guard against the serious losses in time of extended 
drought. Within each year, however, from February or March to the 
beginning of the summer rains, is a period when there is great 
danger of loss from starvation. The available dry forage is low in 
nutritive value and the point of full utilization of the year’s supply 
is being neared. Stock are normally in their poorest condition at 
this time of the year. In any herd on a fully stocked range there 
will always be a number of unthrifty cows among which losses will 
be heavy unless steps are taken to prevent it. Measures to prevent 
such losses are essential in addition to the plan for maintaining the 
permanent herd over a period of years, and constitute a secondary 
step in the whole plan to guard against losses from starvation. The 
principal measures taken to avoid loss from starvation on the Jornada 
Range Reserve have been reserving a supply of range forage for use 
by needy stock during the critical period of the year, proper distribu- 
tion of water, early weaning of calves, supplemental feeding, and care 
in handling stock. 
Reserved range feed.—The first step in providing for the critical 
period of the year has been to reserve a sufficient portion of range 
that is suitable for winter use for poor stock during the period 
January to July, as previously stated. Pastures 3 and 8 and part 
of pasture 7, all of which are principally grama grass and browse 
range, are held until winter and then used by poor stock from the 
main breeding herd. Pasture 2 is held for use by the main breed- 
ing herd in time of drought, and also for needy cows in this herd 
during spring. The animals in the large pasture are watched dur- 
ing winter and spring, and needy ones transferred to the small pas- 
tures where there is better forage. In the springs of 1916 and 1917 
about 4 per cent of the cows in the main herd were transferred to 
these pastures. During the same period in 1918, the worst of the 
drought, these pastures were utilized for carrying the poorest stock. 
Having this supply of reserve forage available for use by the poorest 
stock played an important part in reducing losses in this herd. 
The special herd on the reserve is provided for in pasture 18 dur- 
ing summer and fall. Beginning in early fall, the cows were care- 
fully watched, and as soon as one began to get poor she was trans- 
ferred to the winter range in pastures 10 or 7. This gave the poor 
cows the advantage of having fresh range and shorter distance to 
travel to water, which avoided much of the danger of loss. Com- 
plete utilization of the summer range by the stronger cattle was 
then obtained. 
