The Athena press. [volume] (Athena, Umatilla County, Or.) 18??-1942, 1907-10-18
RESTOCKING The RANGES.
Serious Problem as Viewed by State
Veterinarian of Washington.

veterinarian of Washington.
During the past few weeks DR.. s. B
Nelson, state veterinarian of Washing
ton has spent considerable time il
Walla Walla, Columbia, Garfield anC
Asotin counties, examining man.
bands of sheep that are kept in thes,
counties, as to their general health
with particular reference to "scab. >
Recently, in discussing things of In
terest he had observed In going from
one sheep camp to another, DR.. Nelson
came to the problem of restocking
the ranges" which is now so absorb b.
ing to stockmen.
Zone OF the serious problems now
confronting the stockmen OF this state
is the question of restocking the ranges
with the original bunch grass" he
said. '0ld settlers tell as that when
they came here forty years ago, the
bunch grass was from two to three feet
tall, and very heavy. The promiscu-
GUS grazing Of the stock over the ranges
has put them in their present bare, CT
semi bare, condition The reclaiming
OF these vast tracts of grazing land is a
problem to which the agricultural de-
partments of various institutions have
given great deal of attention.
"Some seven or eight years ago l
rode over these same ranges and found
the bunch grass practically all gone in
many places. This condition could
be observed for miles and miles as the
ranges we're ridden over. Recently |
was very much astonished is passing
through these same regions to find that
thousands Of acres had been fenced,
while equally large tracts were not
fenced, but we're held as summer range
by sheepmen who practically controlled
them. I observed that these ranges,
bare several years ago, were, at the
time of my visit, covered with luxur-
liant growth of bunch grass, standing
from eighteen to thirty inches high. In
places the grass was so heavy that 1t
could not be moved for hay. l was
also much surprised to see that in
places that had been protected for a
less number Of years, the heavy punches
OF grass were scattered, and between
the big punches, punches from two to
three years old were we'll started. 1t
was very easy to pick out a bunch of
bwo-year-old grass from among num-
Der of the older punches. In looking
into theis question l discovered how it
was that these ranges had been re-
stocked.
"The sheep are kept on these winter
'anges from the time they come out of
he mountains In the fall, during Sep
ember and early October, until after
and a short time the follow
ng spring. Early in the spring the
heep eat the young, tender bunch
,rass, but the sheep are we'll scattered
a good herder nearly always keeps his
'heep scattered) the bunch grass as it
gets older becomes tougher, and the
sheep do not like it so we'll. By the
after part of April and early in May,
-he sheep prefer the many weeds, espe-
,ially sunfowers, never touching bunch
grass at all. Many, many times dur
ng my trips through these counties, I
saw bands Of from fifteen to twenty
Ave hundred sheep grazing in bunch
grass from one foot to eighteen inches
high and never touching it. They were
picking out the little weeds in between
ihe punches of grass, and wherever
here were areas of sunfowers, they
would eat the flowers perfectly clean
wherever they went.
"From the first to >e fifteenth Of
Tune the sheep are taken into the
and kept until the latter
part of September. Now when the
he yp are brought back in September,
he bunch grass has seeded, the seed
,eing scattered over the ground. The
all rains seem to soften the bunch {
,rass, making it tender so that the
heep eat it greedily. In this way, by
'ating the early shoots before the grass
'oes to seed, and then eating this ma
ure, semi-cured grass after it has gone
o seed, the seed is saved on the ground
nd resown, and the etand of bunch ,
rass is continually increased.
This has demonstrated to me very '
trongly, that If men owning large !
Ireas of grazing land expect to keep
heir ranges up to the present stand
rd, or even increase the stand Of
,unch grass, that they must Of neces-
ity protect the bunch grass at least
very other year, during it's seeding
ime; that is, from the time the seed
,egins to form until the mature seeds
ire shattered on the ground. I am
that the problem of restock-
ng the ranges may to very large ex-
ent be solved by fencing the grazing
ands, and, at intervals, resting them"