Rocky Mountain husbandman. [volume] (Diamond City, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1878-06-20
LIVE STOCK.

tihle. Stock roam 0 hills and valleys
from howery spring until: spring again,
without care to their owners, save the
whooping of them into a corral during :.the
summer and the marking and branding OF
the increase. ,TEe same range which
has been fed upon the entire, year through
for the past ten years, still grows a~heavy
crop and shows no signs of wearing -rout.
There are thousands of cattle, horses and
sheep on our valley, yet the necessity has
not. occurred for the. utilizing of our high
mountain ranges which are tar the best
when not covered with snow. Although
scarcely y, half of the pastoral lands
of our settled valleys have not been brought
into use, and many valleys are wholly, unoc-
cupied, there ARISES murmurs in some
quarters as to the encroachInent of one
branch of stock husbandry upon another.
Now, this is all imagination there u.s. plen-
ty OF room-yes and will be room and. feed
tor all the herds and tlocks of Montana that
are now here, or will be for twenty years
=, to come. .
There is one thing, however, in which
g.. many of our herdsmen make. d. mistake. 1t
is in not using some effort to choose loca-
tons where they are not liable to be crowd
ed, and when such a place is settled upon
they should 60 to work to improve it in a
substantial manner. The idea of keeping
in advance of civilization and leading migra-
tory lives is wrong, for the end must be
reached soonercor later. xOf the vast num-
Der of cattle men on our frontier valleys few
have pre-empted or homesteaded homes and
b built substantial improvements as though
they expected to remain, but are contented
. with a log cabin, and when a %neighbor YEN
= lures within three or four miles they are
ready to pull up stakes and push further
ahead. It is this class generally who do the
most murmuring. They laugh at the no.
> ton of people. wanting society. Neighbors
10 or II miles distant is near enough tor
them, and it is remarkable how quick they
are ready to fly from the approach of wool
growers. The song of the shepherd and
the bleating lambs fills them with terror.
The progress of the t1ockmaster is differ
ent he, too, wants elbow room, likes isso-
lation, and the more land he can survey UNI
occupied, the greater monarch he feels him
self to be, but when he stops he buys lands,
builds a residence, pastures, large sheds,
stables, wool barnes, ETC., and becomes the
possessor of the country. And thus those
who follow in his footsteps, seeing his per-
manency, 90 further on. Now, if our cattle
men, as a rule, went to work in the same
manner, they would find flockmasters stear-
Ing clear of their possessions, and respecting
their claims to a reasonable portion of terri
tory. But when the cattle map makes no
improvements other than a temporary
.camp, buys no land, builds no fences or 9TH
er improvements, save %corrals, and barely
root enough to cover a few herders' heads,
he can make but a poor plea, as he has but
little claims upon the domain. We can see
no necessity tor any difficulty between
sheep and cattle owners. Each have tile
same rights under the law. 1t is true that
sheep cut vegetation closer than cattle, and
If confined to a range will cut it so close
that cattle cannot feed upon it. Though ;
sheep do not necessarily kill out a range on t
the eo~ntrary-as has been proven by actual
cxperiment-they improve it. Cattle Craze S
with sheep as long AS there is grasstor them (
to feed upon, and when this is short they c
60 elsewhere. Sheep Craze down a range L
than cattle as they are always un- |
Ter herd but the notion that the hoof of S
Ihc sheep is poison to vegetation has long ii
since exploded. il
Now, we have no favorites when it comes n