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Show ' ' ' TO IMPROVE THE STOCK RANGE. m (' To Make the Feed for Ani- H mals Better will Increase H ' Mho Meat Supply. M Salt Lake City, January 1G. H - Albert P. Potter, Associato For-m For-m ester, U. S. Forest Service, made M an address before the National H Woolgrowers' Association here today and said that iho question M of meat supply is involved in M the methods of grazing used on m the national forests. Ho also H made the statement that over-uwJ over-uwJ ' grazed ranges can bo improved M quicker through uso than they H could be if they were left idle. H ( He points out that the forage B resources on the national forests B i r represent a voluble asset upon H which not only the welfare of H . ? the stockmen depends, but that H - of a large proportion of tho peo-H peo-H j pie. The task' o? the govern-H govern-H , Y mont has been to work out a H 5 '- plan which would , develop this BB ,. v . reosurco and promote its uso to H " v . the fullest extent .without harm-H harm-H ing. tree growth. L During the fp'st three years of H administration, from 1005-7, the H problem of the service was to H take care of areas which Had H" been badly overgazed, and a H - material production had to be H made in the number of stock H grazed before the damage could H be stopped. From tho very be H ginning, tho forest service in-H in-H vitod the co-operation of tne H stockmen and consumed with H them regarding the practicabil-H practicabil-H '$ ity of the plans which wore to H be adopted. This co-operation H was secured through the various H stockgrowers' associations and H it was so successful that similar H associations have grown up H ' among otr nr users of tho nations' nation-s' al forests. H, Before range control was put H into effect, tho feed belonged to H - tho man who got his stock on H the land first, though there was H no way by which he could hold H it except ' by physical force. Wk Under such a system might H ' made right, and the only, thought H was to get what feed thero was H while it lasted. This condition H led to serious controversy and H A out of it grow the ran go wars H which often resmltod in loss of H life and property. Under the IPJ present control, right prevails, jJH , and had nothing olse boon ac-ffl ac-ffl complished Mr. F6tter says, the mm removal of this one evil alone H would have made tho work S i worth while. m J But he goes still further and m 1 states that the systematic use of W the ranges has stopped loss of forage and that the feed former- ly wasted has been putting the II I stock in better condition, with $; the result that, in many oasea, M tho stockmen have bnen able to H; sell beef and Aiutton direct from S the ranges where they were be-w be-w fore producing only animals W which had to be fed and condi-A condi-A tioncd before they .could' be put H on tho marlc-et. H He called attention to the ox- H BJ J BBB-b. -' periments of tho government in j artificially reseeriing the grazing areas to cultivated grasses, and showed that in some cases the forngo crop has been increased as j much an 400 per cent. He main- I tained, however, that this method is both slow and expensive expen-sive and said that the great part of the range land must be improved im-proved by protection and natural raseeding, for tho next 20 years at least. He says, too, that in-ve in-ve ligations have established beyond a doubt that natural re-seeding re-seeding can be accomplished best by a rotation system of grazing based upon the simple principle that grazing aids in scattering and planting the seed after the seed has been given an opportunity to mature. Reports show that areas protected until after seed maturity and then grazed, as compared with areas absolutely protected for thp whole year against grazing, arc aproximately 50 per cent better, and probably 200 per cent better than range which ha not been protected at all. This' means that rapges can be improved faster in uso than they can be in idleness and the principle is being adopted on many tif the forests. He also spoke of tho new open system of handling sheep, which is simply quieter herding during the day and bedding the sheep where night overtakes them. He contrasts this with tho old plan of herding sheep close by the uso of dogs and returning them each night to a fixed bed ground. The old plan, of course, rendered certain areas absolutely bare and tho going from and' returning to the bed grounds trampled a great deal of forage. He estimates that an increase of 10 to 25 per cent had been added to the Carrying capacity of the ranges and that 5 pounds weight has be'en added per lamb, be cause they have not been har-rassed har-rassed by herding or forced to trail long distance to apd from bed grounds. On 5,000,000 lambs this means 25,000.000 pounds added to the sheepman's salable product, and to the country's meat supply. In conclusion Mr. Potter mentioned men-tioned other studies and experiments experi-ments which the forest service .is undertaking' to. help stock growers secure a better utilization utiliza-tion of the forest resources and said that the success secured in the work has been duo largely to the hearty co-operation of the stockmen. . |