Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1914-11-28
HOW RANGE WITH
Inadequate Water Can be Utilized is Told
by Department of Agriculture In
Farmers Bulletin.

How range which ordinarily can not
be grazed because of inadequate water
facilities can be opened up for stock. is
told by the Department of Agriculture
in Farmers Bulletin 592 on the develop
ment and improvement of stock water
ing places upon national forests.
No stock range can be said to be prop.
erly utilized, the department AYERS, if
there is an uneven distribution of wa
ter. On some areas the water supply is
not sufficient for the number of stock
the forage will support. On others the
water supply is sufficient but is not per-
manent, making it necessary to remove
the animals before the season is over.
Still other areas are made practically
worthless for stock purposes by the alb.
sence of water except at rare intervals
during winter.
Range cattle need from eight to ten
gallons of water day, says the depart
ment, and sheep from ope-half to two
gallons, unless there is heavy dew and
an abundance of succulent feed. No
matter how good the forage on a given
area may be, animals must have all the
water they need or they will not thrive.
Cattle. moreover, should not be required
to travel on an average more than two
miles to reach water, if they are to be in
marketable condition in the fall.
The flow from ordinary springs, and
even from seeps, can be increased by
digging them out and curbing the sides
with cement, the water being carried in
pipes to conveniently situated troughs.
Swampy spots cen often be made to fur.
nish water supply by cutting an open
channel from some spring in the middle
of them, perhaps cutting other channels
across the main one, and drawing the
spring and surface water to some stor-
age point outside. Streams flowing
through deep canyons may be made
accessible to stock by constructing trails
over which the animals can reach
them, CIR by raising the water to the
surface of the canyon by mechanical
means.
When natural water supply is some
distance from the range, small dirt flood
water reservoirs can be constructed al
most anywhere to supplement the nat
ural supply. If low place with a
heavy adobe clay soil is selected in the
middle of some opeu park with sloping
hills about it, comparatively little work
with plow and scraper will construct a
reservoir which, when trampled and
puddled by use, will hold enough wa.
ter for many head of stock for some
time. Burrows running diagonally
across the slopes will collect the rain
fail or melting snow waters and carry
them directly to the reservoir for stor
age.
Artificial reservoirs permit the stock
to be scattered out over a larger area
than ordinarily, and remove the need
for them to concentrate at permanent
watering places.
Where the natural water supply is
more than fifty feet below the surface of
the ground the best way to reach it, says
the department, is by drilling or boring
a well and raising the water by means
of windmill or pump. A deep we'll OF
from l50 to 800 feet, such as is common
in the Texas Panhandle region, COM
plete with windmill, truck, troughs, ETC.,
represent an investment of about 81 900,
and should easily supply between $50
and 500 cattle daily. No we'll is COM
plete, claims the department, without a
reservoir with a capacity large enough
to carry the stock dependent upon ii
over long calm spell. The cost of a
reservoir holding approximately 100000
gallons of water should not exceed
$4,000.
The best kind of trough for holding
water derived from wells and springs,
thinks the Department, is the ordinary
metal one used by stockmen. 1t Is
light in weight, will last long time,
and costs little. However, where the
materials are readily available and the
cost of cement is not prohibitive, the
Department recommends concrete as
better than any other trough material.
Work has been done on the national
forests to improve the water facilities on
the range lands. In all total of 67t
separate water improvement projects
have been developed, 329 by the users
of the range themselves, 172 through
cooperation between the forest service
and the users, and 175 by The service
alone. OF these 676 improvements, 37s
are springs or seeps, 2S6 are reservoirs
or tanks, while the rest are wells, trails
and the like.