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Show H LIVESTOCK INCREASE 1 4 ON FOREST RANGES H ft A marked increase in the H "i quantity of livestock grazed on M i ational forest ranges during H' Hie past fiscal year is reported H bv the forest service. Nine and H i half million domestic animals ' have been occupied during the m summer in converting one of M the by-products of the forests m into meat, hides, and wool. In M addition, there were in round m numbers three hundred thous- M I and calves and colts' and five M million lambs and kids exempt M from permit and therefore not m enumerated. m According to the figures m i gathered, the amount of stock m grazed under permit during the M year is over four per cent m , greater than for the previous m t year, while the number of per- H mittces using the forests for H pasturage purposes was in- WM creased from 26,501 to 27,466. M The total receipts by the govorn- m ment from grazing fees for the m twelve months ending June 30, 1913, were $1,007,739, and the H portion of this applied to schools m and roads on the states in which B ttie national forest are situated, is about $352,708. y H Grazing is second only to H v hmbering as a principal use of H the national forests. Practicallv H all of the nationl forests used H extensively for grazing purposes H sire within the eleven states ex- M tending east from the Pacific B Coast, known as the "far west- M irn group." These states con-B con-B , ) r tin, according to latest reports, , 8.546,000 cattle, 2,310,000 horses H and mules, and 28,366,000 sheep. H The national forests support in M tnese states 17 per cent of the ( total number of cattle grazed,, 2.48 per cent of horses and mules, and 27.5 per cent of the dheep. It is estimated that the annual product of these animals js 300,-000 300,-000 head of beef cattle of various var-ious ages and grades and 5,000,-000 5,000,-000 head of lambs and mutton sheen. Since the average net meat weight of a beef animal is 515 pounds, of a lamb 37 pounds, and of a sheep 52 pounds, the stock grazed on national forests in the eleven far-western states produce annually about 155 million mil-lion pounds of beef and 312 million mil-lion pounds of mutton, (n addition, addi-tion, it is said the wool grown totals 55,000,000 pounds, hides 300,000 in number, and pelts 5,000.000. This output, according to the forest service, does not involve any material sacrifice of forest watershed protection or permanent perma-nent forage productivity on the national forests. The system! of range management applied by the government has proved, it claimed, effective and simple, and the quality and quantity of the national forage crop is said to be improving each year. |