70 BULLETIN 1031, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
extensive use was made of this plant as feed in the spring of 1918. 
Complete details for handling and feeding this plant are given in 
another bulletin.?? 
A total of 353 tons of chopped soapweed and 47,090 pounds of cot- 
tonseed meal was fed in feeds of 15 to 20 pounds of soapweed and 1 
to 14 pounds of meal per day, to a total number of 845 head of cows 
from the main breeding herd between January 20 and June 11, 1918. 
Some of the stock were on feed the entire period, and others were 
fed only a part of the time. Poor cattle fed this amount of soap- 
weed and cottonseed meal daily were maintained with very little 
loss, and part of the stock gained slightly. 
The cost of feeding soapweed and meal was $3.23 per head actually 
fed, or $1.84 per head when the entire main herd is considered. The 
cost of preparing the soapweed was $3.72 per ton,?* and cottonseed 
meal, including labor in feeding, cost $60 per ton. The average daily 
ration of prepared soapweed and cottonseed meal cost approximately 
7 cents per day. 
The slow growth of this plant and the time required to replace 
a stand of soapweed, once it has been cut, however, warrants its use 
only as an emergency ration, at least until more definite informa- 
tion is available to determine the actual time required for replace- 
ment. 
The use of forage from irrigated farms will depend upon the 
availability of such forage and the cost of feeding. During 1918, 
873 weaned heifer calves were fed ensilage on a farm in the Rio 
Grande Valley, adjacent to the reserve, at the rate of 14.3 pounds of 
ensilage and 0.8 pound of cottonseed saree per day for a period of 
opieneemaaclin 85 days. The ensilage cost $7 and the cottonseed cake 
$60 per ton. This was at the rate of $2.22 per month for a calf. A 
grown cow would require at least 17 to 20 pounds of ensilage and a 
pound of cottonseed meal per day, which would cost $2.70 to $3 per 
month for feed alone, on the basis of prevailing pftices of ensilage 
and cottonseed meal in 1918. Under southwestern range conditions, 
such high prices for feed are warranted aus in case of extreme 
emergency and for short periods. 
Dry-farming forage crops have been raised under conditions 
of slightly better rainfall than prevails in southern New Mexico, 
but little or no success has been obtained where the average annual 
rainfall is as low as at the Jornada Range Reserve. Raising forage 
crops in southern New Mexico in the average year is a possibility 
22 Forsling, C. L., Chopped Soapweed as Emergency Feed for Cattle on Southwestern 
Ranges, U. S. Dept. of Agr., Bul. 745, January, 1919. 
22 The cost of converting soapweed into fecd was $2.27 per ton in 1918, when equipment 
and labor were operating satisfactorily. On account of imperfection and difficulty in ob- 
taining skilled Jabor there were often long delays and loss of time which resulted in an 
average cost of $3.72 per ton. 
