| Show P T wy V w A i g an Re seeding data told by forest director PY by albert albertson super visor dixie national forest one of tile the main b bottleneck in Ilves livestock tock production in utah Is spring range a place to take care of livestock economically between liay hay in the feedlot and grass on the summer ranges summer range la Is at the higher elevations and Is used by livestock from early juno june to october tile the feed supply for foi the winter season december to april is secured from the desert range langes s or from harvested feeds located between the winter and summer langes a are aie the springtail spring gfall g tail fall grazing lands and croplands crop lands 0 of f tile the and valleys the spring season tor for the livestock industry front from april to june Is th tiro the e most critical period of the year calving and lambing the culmination of the years breeding opera eions require ample range of 0 good quality to assure strength for parturition and to provide su sufficient milk for foi newborn ca calves ives and lambs range re seeding of the vast sagebrush a areas of utah seems to offer at least a partial solution to this problem we are interned informed by research men mea that there are fro from it five million to six million acres of this type of land in utah that offer good possibilities for 01 range re seeding to some of 0 the more drought resistant species I 1 such as crested wheatgrass Wheat grass rye or michels Ml chels grass considerable pioneering in ili the field of range lange re seeding has already been done by the various government goen govert ment agencies and by private individuals A high percentage of the plantings made by various agencies and individuals have been successful ne and are considered to be well past the experimental stage to date in utah the forest service has haa re seeded approximately acres to various types of grasses including crested wheatgrass Wheat grass smooth brome tall oat mountain brome and other species adapted to the different elevations and topography covered of this amount approximately acres Is on the dixie national forest and 7 BOO acres Is la in garfield county other agencies such as the grazing service soil sell conservation service and individual stockmen stoc kmen have also re seeded areas of eon considerable sid erable size the cost of this re seeding has averaged from to per acre according to tho the location and type of range lands worked prom from these figures it will be noted that re seeding range lands Is somewhat of an expensive solution to the problem and that the surface has only been scratched so tar far even though it la Is expensive it Is belles lieveld ed that it will pay dividends in the long run and that it Is a program that should be carried forward b by y every agency and stockman having land that lends itself to this type of treatment the grazing capacity of many ranges has been increased from eight to ten times through re seeding and livestock gains on re seeded ranges have been nearly doubled over gains on adjoining ranges which have not been treated at present pi ices fees of beef and larrib lamb it take long to malce make projects pay out sportsmen sportsman should be interested in this program due to tho fact that the additional forage that is provided by re seeding on ranges langes tint that are aie not now producing to their full capacity means more moie feed for game in congested dreas areas where there Is competition between livestock and game for the available forage supply |
