The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1890-06-25
DYING 81 TnCUSANC.
New Mexico Cattle Starving TO Death~No !
Rain for Six Months.

SLyER CITY, y. NJ, June l4-Stoch-
men in New Mexico Lave never be
fore suffered anything lfEe the losses
which arc now being borne OF &C.
count OF the extreme shoGtness OF
feed, which has been brought partly
on account Of overstocked ranges,
but mainly on account Of the long
continued dry weather. There mas
been no rainfall fol' moro than SIX
months in the southern portion Ct
the Territory, and the consequence
is that the ranges arc bare and brown
ana cattle arc dying by the hundreds
daily. The Lyons & Can lpbell Cat
tie Company, one Of the ialGo ccnpa-
MES OF tGis county, reports an average
loss Of about forty head per day:
This company has shipped several
thousand head o. cattle within the
past two months, as many other
companies and individual owncrs
have done. but tie ranges viii not
support the stock ROW on themuniess
there arc heavy rams befole many
days to start the grass.
Some of the oldest ranchmen 10
this country say that Ii the dsT
weather continues a month longer
they will lose onc-fourth OF their
herds. Fcw cattle die out on the
ranges. The grass has been eaten
1oyv,, close 10 the ground in the VI
ciinity Of all the water courses and
watering places, and the herds IN
some instances go miles into the loot
hills or out on the mesas, wherethere
is better grass to feed. They re
main out until thirst drieves them II
and they drink their fill OF water at-
ter which they invariably lie down.
The weaker ones never get up,
Thousands OF bloated carcasses OF
dead cattle lie rotting IL the scorch-
ing sun in New Mexico, but the stock
ncn are bearing their losses phnoso-
pl,ically. Good prices are being
obtained for cattle shipped North
for feeders. Steers which are now
selling here for from SIS to $50 per
head would not have netted shippers
more than S6 to IS per head two
years ago. As long as such low prl-
ces prevail there were very few cat
Ito shipped from Southern New Mex
ico. consequently the ranges became
overstocked. Stock shipments IRON
this Territory this spring have been
unprecedented. For more than two
months the Atchison, Topeka & San
ia Fe railroad has been taxed to It's
utmost to move stock North, and al
though extra crews have been put
on and the motive power has been
made to do extra duty, the company
has been unable to furnish transpor-
tatien for stock as fast as it has been
brought in from the ranges. Over
$4,000 head of cattle have been ship
ped over the Santa Fe IN the past
two months from this county alone,
but the shipment Of this large mum
ber of cattle has made no apprecla-
BILE improvement in the condition OF
the ranges, ana losses Irom aSinS
stock viii continue at the rate OF
thousands of dollars daily until there
is good rain fall. In the northern
part of the territory there has been
rain, and cattle are not suffering, but
The losses of stock sustained by
ranchmen during the blizzard last
November were about as heavy as
they are in southern New Mexico
now. During the past eight months
more stock has been lost IN New
Mexico than had been lost in as
many years previous to last October.
Notwithstanding the unusual losses
of the past eight months, the average
percentage of loss in New Mexico for
ten years has been less than that OF
any other stock-raising section OF
this country.