Show Grazi Grazing ng Issue S Raises Row RowIn In West WestBy Area By George Thiem Chicago Dally News Service LAS CRUCES N N. M. M M. Over Over Overgrazing grazing the grazing the pasturing pasturing- of too man many cattle and sheep on the range range has has been one of ot the cardinal cardinal cardinal cardi cardi- nal sins of the west This concerns every ery housewife and every consumer who eats meat because much of the beef and lamb in city butcher shops originates in the western states Whether the vast publicly owned lands are grazed graced too much or too little currently is the subject of ol ofa a heated argument among western stockmen the forest service and big game hunters The evidence is clear for tor instance In Instance instance in- in stance that when livestock or big game eat black grama grass too close to the ground jt It eventually dies The producing meat-producing grasses are driven out and replaced by worthless worthless worth worth- less or inferior plants such as snakeweed eed c cacti act a c t i yuccas and the mesquites mes- mes quites See Depletion Between Del Rio San Angelo I and El EI Paso in southwest Texas a party of easterners saw a million acres or more of ot depleted grass grass- lands Drouth and overgrazing had killed the choice grama grams and buffalo gras grasses es Their place was taken over by mesquite cedar and brush and by an assortment of low value weeds Meat production definitely has been slowed down by such abuse At Sonora Fred Earwood successful successful successful suc suc- rancher and former president president president dent of ot the Texas Sheep and Goat Raisers estimated that 75 of the west Texas range had been overgrazed He gave credit to his father for the excellent condition of his own pastures saying Dad Was Vas Right Dad was ahead of his time He warned against heavy grazing 50 years ago As a young man lean I thought he was wrong that he was letting a lot of grass go to waste Now I know he was right On the Jornada experimental range a acre cattle ranch I owned and controlled by the U. U S S. S Forest service just north of here ou see the results of good of good management man man- The cows are plump and the calves fat despite the third year of the worst drouth in 50 years There is a fine stand of ot black grama grams grass On similar land outside the ranch overgrazing has all but killed the grama grass Worthless snakeweed has taken over Approves Policy Polley Asa C Christmas h r I t mas year old rancher who owns the stock and has been managing the government government govern govern- government ment station since 1937 says if he owned the place he would do as the government is doing His cow herd Is down to around today where at one time it was more than 1500 Only 65 of the cows had calves when the I range was more heavily stocked stocked With the lighter grazing since I 1937 the calf crop is up to 83 and the ranch actually has produced produced produced pro pro- I more beef annually than it did in the previous decade Christmas has averaged approximately approximately approximately ap ap- ap- ap I proximately net annually since 1937 while paying the government gOVernment government gov gOV- considerably more rent than it collects on similar land outside the Jornada i W. W R. R Chapline chief of ot the forest for j for 1 est services service's research division says he has seen three distinct waves of bankruptcy among southwestern southwest southwest- ern ranchmen since 1912 because of at drouth overgrazing price declines declines declines de de- clines and forced liquidation of livestock The Jornada experiment is proving that ranching can be made to pay through good times and bad The forest service he insists has the best interests of the ranchers at heart and favors maximum meat production for consumers on the public lands But these objectives objectives tives can best be realized by moderate moderate mod- mod erate crate use of ot the public grazing lands |