Show Fertilizer aids mountain pasture lands An acre of average mountain meadow or has the nutrient value to produce about worth of beef at 20 cents a pound plus good water and management can increase this figure to SO worth of beef an acre- I B gain of SO an acre These remarkable productivity figures resulted from Intermountain area studies sponsored by United States a leading western fertilizer working with ranchers and agricultural agencies throughout this region Many of these studies are pre-j in the U S Steel on the THESE AND MANY other current research studies are being motivated by a growing concern among mountain slate agricultural experts about the competitive forces which today face ranchers and beef growers in this Salt Lake City agronomist Ray C. in a talk before the Intermountain Range and Fertilizer Conference at Fort late in pointed up this problem when he said is being grown cheaper and cheaper as other sections of the country find that well managed grassland and profit are synonymous On the other in many parts of the Intermountain I of declining range and meadow yields and grazing allotment reductions or According to most the solution to this problem can only be found in more modern techniques of range ment which can sharply increase the tonnage of beef per unit of Among the various manage-ment practices cited for land give a bigger return at the lowest adequate tion heads the list of effective steps that can be taken in the nitro- gen is the fertilizer most often needed in a range or grassland improvement TYPICAL OF Increased yields that can be realized through the use of nitrogen is a ease study reported from Idaho January by John district forest After applying about 40 pounds of nitrogen per acre to test plots of seeded he reported that the fertilized grass produced pounds of air-dried hay per acre while the I fertilized produced pounds per acre he was times greater on the fertilized area and the production of protein was even slightly I greater In another typical using correct harvest and proper nitrogen boosted hay yields at the first cutting from three tons per acre to four tons per When the was also treated with it yielded an additional one-fourth ton of hay per acre a total increase of l V j tons per heavy nitrogen applications have actually increased hay yield three tons per RESEARCH has repeatedly shown that a program of along with water control and two-crop can boost the carrying capacity of the average mountain meadow or pasture by four This means that an acre of land under conventional range supported one cow only a hunched can pro-duce enough to carry foul cows for the length of assumes that water is trolled and correct harvesting practices are Through such a farmers and ranchers can boost production per acre by three or four times ami their profits even |