The Parma herald. (Parma, Idaho) 1903-1917, 1907-09-21
RESTOCKING THE RANGES
''''Ou' Problem as Viewed BY Stat.
Veterinarian of wasblog,o,

'',n~risn OF Washington.
1i'ng the past few weeks DR. & p
seiSon' state veterinarian Of Wasbin.,
W. SS.' n's spent considerable time n
. "aila, Columbia, Garfield and
H t counties, examining MAJ 49,,
s Danos Oh sheep that are kept In tGs.s
.Vun1ies' IS 10 their general be,lth
p plsn particular reference TO "scab .
recently, in DISCUSSING things If in
80, ne mad observed in going from
one sneep camp to another. DR. NeIson
came 70 the problem Of "restockin,
s ranges" which is now 50 absorb
ing to stockmen.
que Oh The serious problems now
confronting the stockmen Of This &c.
Il me question Of restocking the rance,
with the original bunch grass y h
SAID "Oid settlers tell Us that when
sney came here forty yeats ago. The
punch grass was from two to three Zee,
'ail, and very heavy. The prorniscn.
Gus grazing 81 the stock over the ranges
mas put them in their present bare, on
senl-nafe, condition The recIsiming
Of these vast tracts Of grazing land Il :
problem to which the agricultural d.
partments Of various institutions have
gwen a great deal Of attention.
Some seven or eight years AGO
rode over these same ranges and found
the bunch grass practically all gone IN
many places. This condition could
Dc observed Tor miles and miles as tbe
ranges we're ridden over. Recently I
was very much astonished il uassino
through these same regions to find that
thousands Of acres had been fenced
while equally large tracts were not
fenced, but we're held az summer range
oy sheepmen who practically controlled
them. l observed that these ranges
bare several years ago, were, at The
time OF my visit, covered with a luxur-
liant growth Of bunch grass, standing
from eighteen to thirty inches high. In
places the grass was 60 heavy that It
could not be moved for hay. was
also much surprised to see that in
places that had been protected for
less number Of years, the heavy bsrches
OF grass were scattered, and between
the big punches, punches from two to
three years old were well started. II
was very easy TO pick out bunch Of
two-yeaI-old grass from among a num-
Der Of the older punches. In looking
into theis question I discovered how il
was that these ranges had been re-
stocked.
"The sheep are kept on these winter
ranges from the time they come out Of
the mountains Ia the fall, during Sep
TENDER and early October, until after
lambing, and a short time the follow
icg spring. Early in the spring the
sheep eat the young, tender bunch
grass, but the sheep are well scattered
Ia good herder nearly always keeps bis
sheep scattered) the bunch grass as it
gets older becomes tougher, and the
sheep do not like it so well. By the
latter part Of April and early in May,
the sheep prefer the many weeds. espe-
cially sunhoweIs, never touching bunch
grass at all. Many, many times dur
ing my trips through these counties,
saw bands Of from fifteen to twenty
five 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
the punches Of grass, and wherever
there were areas Of sunhoEers, they
would eat the flowers perfectly clean
wherever they went.
"From the first to the fifteenth Of
June the sheep are taken into the
mountains and kept until the latter
part Of September. Now when the
sheep are brought back in September,
the bunch grass has seeded, the seed
being scattered over the ground. The
fall rains seem to soften the bunch
grass, making it tender so that the
sheep eat it greedily. In this way, by
eating the early shoots before the grass
goes to seed, and then eating this ma
ture, semi-cured grass after it has gone
to seed, the seed is saved on the ground
snd resown, and the stand OF bunch
grass is continually increased.
"Ihis has demonstrated to me very
strongly, that if men owning large
areas Of grazing land expect to keep
their ranges up to the present stand
ard, or even increase the stand OF
bunch grass, that they must Of neces-
sity protect the bunch grass at least
every other year, during its seeding
time; that is. from the time the seed
begins to form until the mature seeds
are shattered on the ground. am
convinced thst the problem Of restock-
inc the ranges may to very large ex-
tent be solved by fencing the grazing
lands and. at intervals, resting them.