14 bulletin 87. 
their conditions. I would not advise anyone to try to raise any of 
these crops by dry fanning on adobe soil, but on sandy loam or 
the lighter clay soils these crops are fairly sure to pay in a series 
of years. Sorghum fodder can be produced at a cost of $2 per ton 
in a series of five years on sandy loam land. This will certainly 
be cheaper feed than shipping in feed, hay and corn. 
When cattle are pastured during the summer on adobe land 
it is necessary to get them to some other place for wintering. 
Those who pasture the adobe soil near Horse Creek usually take 
their stock to the Arkansas Valley to feed during the winter. 
Hundreds of cattle are wintered now in the little nook of farming 
country about Wray, Vernon and Idalia. In the winter of 1902-03 
many took their cattle to that country to winter and thus saved a 
large per cent of them from starvation. Some of the cow men 
have not fed a cow for so long that they have no idea how much 
feed an animal needs. Some men feed such a small amount that 
it will not sustain life, while others feed so much at the first feed 
that often animals are foundered and never recover. Many feed 
grain altogether when they feed during the winter, and allow their 
cattle to get their rough feed from the prairie. The way rough¬ 
ness is usually fed, strong cattle will not rustle for grass after hav¬ 
ing been fed a small feed of fodder, but will if fed a small feed of 
grain. I have seen fodder fed by scattering it over the range. 
Those who fed their cattle in that way claimed that the cattle 
would eat the fodder and then go on eating grass the same as they 
would if they had happened upon a few bits of grass which grew 
taller than the ordinary grass. This method can be used when a 
man can keep stray cattle away from his herd. 
It has been the experience of cattle men that after they have 
begun feeding an animal the feeding must be continued until the 
grass comes. It is also better to feed the weak animals full feed 
instead of trying, to make them rustle for a part of their living. 
If given a partial feed they die and all that is given them is lost, 
while if well fed and sheltered they get through the winter in 
good shape and are soon equal to the stronger cattle that rustled 
all winter. 
Skelter. This is one of the most important factors in stock 
raising. Cattle kept warm and dry do not need as much feed as 
those exposed to the rain, snow and winds of winter. A cow cov¬ 
ered with an overcoat of frozen snow soon loses abilitv to eat and 
her owner is lucky if he gets even her hide. If both food and 
shelter cannot be furnished, shelter should be chosen, because 
cattle in warm quarters, like a sod-sided shed covered with a 
water-proof roof, will go out on the range after a three days’ storm 
and soon fill up 011 the dry grass, while without shelter cattle can 
eat very little during the storm. Fodder and hav cannot be fed 
