Show SD1TERING STOCK One of the Most Severe Winters Ever Experienced Ex-perienced The present winter Is the most severe on stock ever experienced in Nevada says an exchange Though the snow is perhaps deep as it has been at any time since the settlement of the country by the whites the loss of stock is not wholly attributable to that cause but to the dry seasons of 1S8S and 1889 In 1808 the winter was as severe as the present one and the snow nearly if not fully as deep yet cattle wintered well and emerged from the valleys fat enough for beef Then the plains In many places were covered with white sage and rye grass which afforded excellent winter feed for stock Now there is nothing of that kind in this section of the state for the reason that cattle and sheep not only eat up all the rye grass and white sage in the country during the summer and fall but also much of the browse on which they usually winter and many of them must necessarily perish This winter teaches stockmen a lesson which they should always remember It shows the folly from a business standpoint of letting cattle cat-tle run at large In the snow when the range Is pastured bare and trusting to luck to take them through In no other country is such shiftlessness shiftless-ness exhibited Everywhere else provision is made for feeding stock if there is nothing on the range for them to eat and the present winter win-ter demonstrates the necessity of making sum liar provision In Nevada Next summer there will be an abundant hay crop as water will be plenty and stockmen should lay up a supply of the article to feed in case of necessity If stacked well it will keep for several years and in an emergency like the present could bs used to great advantage People must get rid of the notion that stock will winter In Nevada without feed when there are such winters as the present pres-ent one Though every hoof should die of starvation star-vation this winter Nevada is a good stock country coun-try and unless the range is crowded or there is a dry year cattle and sheep require very little hay to get them through the winter The Losses in Idaho Experienced cattlemen and ranchers estimate that unless a Chinook or warm rains come pretty soon the loss to cattle this winter will be in the neighborhood 75 per cent while if the snow and cold last much longer the loss will be almost total Reportsfrom snake river are very discouraging dis-couraging One man claims to have seen nearly one hundred head of cattle going down the river on floating in one day It is presumed they would go out on the ice to the air holes to drnlc and their weight would break up the Ice and it would float off with them Of course they will all drown before going very far Parties from Camas prairie say there will be hardly any stock left there in the spring |