The Cordova daily times., 1916-07-24
PRODUCTION OF RANGE MEAT
 COSTLY

hereafter there should be a slow in crease in the output of beef and nut ton in the range states of the west, but that this increase is likely to be accompanied by an increase in the cost of production, are the chief con clusions of a report on Live Stock Production in the Eleven Far West ern Range States" which the depart ment of agriculture has just pub lished. The report discusses the req sons for the long decline in meat pro, duction in the west and explains why there is reason to believe this is now a thing of the past.
 Between 1910 and 1914 the year in which the investigations on which the report is based were made, the num- Der of live stock in the eleven states of Trizona, California, Colorado, Mon tana, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Ore gon, Utah. Washington and Wyoming, declined about 13 per cent. For this reason the report holds the settle ment of public lands and the conse- quent reduction of the range primarily responsible. Other causes have con tributed to the downward movement, but it is pointed out these have been more than offset by high prices and, therefore, more profitable range ami mals, and the general agricultural de- velopment which have favored pro duction by leading to more wide spread adoption of the practice of winter feeding and winter pasturing on alfalfa and cultivated crops.
 The prediction that this decrease will give way to an increase Is based upon the belief that the amount of live stock on farms and homesteads will be greater in the future, that the stock ranges in the national for ests will continue to improve, that the carrying capacity of the stock ranges on the public domain may be increased by legal regulations, and finally that high prices of range ami mals and better methods will result in more efficient utilization of the available forage, or, in other words, a greater production per unit of for age.
 Other factors, though less import ant, that should tend to increase the future production of live stock are greater economy in the use of for age, both on the range and the farms. the use of more high grade bulls and better management of the breeding animals through the year. The last two it is said, offer the possibility of increasing the calf crop five to ten per cent, and the average weight of two-year-old steers perhaps thirty pounds.
 Where winter feeding Is practised it is believed that yearling steer will cost approximately s3O, and a Tong two.year-old $45. In the range sections of the southwest, on the other hand, the costs may be estimated at from $15 to $19 for a yearling and $20 to $25 for a two-year-old. With sheep there is a similar variation. In Cali fornia, the cost of producing lamb is placed at $155. in the southwest at s1.71. and in the northwest at $1.S2. in considering these figures it must be remembered that they all may be materially altered by increasing or decreasing the percentages of births in the herds and flocks. Better me- thods, it is pointed out, will almost certainly increase the calf and lamb crops, and in this way reduce the cost of production per head.
 In estimating these costs the in vestigators charged against the stock the market value, in the vicinity, Of all the feed consumed.