CATTLE RAISING ON THE PLAINS 
*3 
Tiie range cow-man is accustomed to seeing large numbers of 
cattle very poor and is not surprised when several of the poor 
ones die. He takes the hide and philosophically remarks that 
“the old cow’s time has come.’’ When cattle are high in price 
the range man buys cattle to the limit of his credit instead of the 
limit of his pasture and winter feed. The rule is, the more cattle 
a man has the less winter feed he gets stored for them. Then 
after running all summer on an overstocked range the cattle start 
into winter poor. In buying the cattle it is likely that the man 
has bought a goodly quantity of mange and contagious abortion. 
If to this combination is added an unusually cold winter with 
much snow evenly distributed so as to cover what little grass is 
left, then the greatest factor in “range improvement’’ under pres¬ 
ent conditions, thinning out by death from starvation, gets to work. 
After the winter is over the creditors take what is left and the 
range is allowed a few years of comparative rest, while the same 
man or others gain the “ nerve ’’ to restock it to its capacity. 
Eras of extremely low prices for feeder steers work the same 
beneficial results in range improvement as in the above case. 
Methods of range improvement have been suggested in 
another paragraph. As yet we have found no grasses better than 
our native grasses, so it seems that the best way to improve is— 
rest and time for recuperation. 
Wintei' Feeding. Twenty-five years ago a cow man in west¬ 
ern Kansas remarked “If there was a hay stack on my range which 
my cattle could get to, I’d burn it and pay the owner for it rather 
allow my cattle to eat it.’’ That kind of talk has been very pop¬ 
ular among the cow men on the plains. But during the past few 
years the sentiment in favor of feeding during the winter has 
grown rapidly. Chief among the factors which have brought 
about this change of sentiment is the Humane Society which 
now has agents who travel over the plains looking for cases of 
cruelty to animals. Some say that most cattle men are subject to 
fines if the strict letter or spirit of the law was enforced. Some 
make no attempt whatever to provide feed for their cattle, even 
for times of storms. Some prepare to feed during storms and 
very few put up enough to feed all winter, practically none do 
this. Usually six weeks feeding would exhaust the feed of the 
man who has put up the most feed. In ordinary winters it 
is only necessary to feed all cattle during storms and the weak 
ones all the time. The feed which can be raised consists of rough¬ 
ness such as corn fodder, Kaffir corn, sorghum, wheat, barley and 
rye hay and millet. I have found sorghum and some varieties of 
flint corn to be the surest crops tried on the Plains. These pract¬ 
ically never fail to produce fodder. Many find spring rye the 
most economical crop to raise and some stick to millet as best for 
