Mohave County miner and our mineral wealth., 1919-11-15
ncrcO W UOVVfUUIUr
 RANGE MANAGEMENT

pldHt lnCluulnS SllOS, SleuS anu ydIuS of E. c. Cavness of the Burnt Ranch \ Cattle Company. Here each year large numbers of cattle are fattened upon feeds produced in the Salt River Valley.
 A few facts concerning the range activities of the company are supplied through County Agent H. c. Heard of Maricopa county.
 "A number of years ago MT. Cav ness and brother established a range on the head of Lime Creek, about sixty-five miles north of Phoe- nix. The range had previously suf- fered from no management and had been pretty we'll grazed out with both sheep and cattle. At that time there were a great number of short-horn dairy cattle in the Salt River Valley, and from these the Cavness brothers stocked their ranch. When the range came under the direction of the forest service, there was, of course, consid- erable skepticism on the part of most ranchers and hesitancy to take out grazing permits: MT. Cavness soon took out a permit for 400 head of cat tie and was awarded good sized basin which was more than sufficient i for their cattle. The topography, however, was such as to prevent the range being divided so other opera tors were kept off.
 "In the first year or so, nearly as many strange cattle drifted into this ! range as those that belonged there. Cavness Brothers put in a series of drift fences and were later allowed to fence the entire range. As soon as they could protect their cattle from intermingling, they took out all of the old bulls and re-stocked with good pure-bred sires. As a result the ranch, which at present belongs to a brother of Mir. Cavness, is now entirely stocked with pure-bred short horns though the calves have not been registered. Furthermore, the calves have been consistently dehorned and as a result all of the cattle are now hornless.
 "This trial of shorthorns came in the face of an accepted opinion that shorthorn cattle were unable to care for themselves on the range. In spite of this the Cavness Brothers have made a distinct financial success out of the place and have found the shorthorns were good rustlers even on their ranch which is very rocky. It Is the opinion of MT. Cavness that shorthorns need more range than Herefords, but are much better feed CTS when ready for the lot, and keep up especially well in quality.
 Under the system of management of the Cavness Brothers they have been nearly doubling the usual calf crop, and have made as much money as they probably would have made with a good many more Herefords. Their stock cattle have kept up in size. MT. Cavness further mentions that he has known of' shorthorn herds in which two or three hundred cattle were brought in and increased, with out the addition of outside blood, to two or three thousand with a pretty fair grade of stock cattle remaining after as much as thirty-five years of this sort of in-breeding. It has been his observation over a period of twenty-five years, that Herefords in- bred to this extent would be very small and very inferior.
 "The Burnt Ranch herd consists of about 4,O00 head of cattle. The range is largely grama grass and browse with a number of various weeds. The best part of this range is kept for a bull pasture, and in the winter time all of the bulls are put in this pasture. Most of those that have been in one winter go back of their own accord and out of two hundred or more bulls, probably only about 10 per cent have to be rounded up and put in the pas ture. During the winter those bulls are inspected every week or so, and any that are beginning to get thin are brought to the corral and fed. MT. Cavness is firm believer that bulls cannot be of the best service unless they are kept in good condition, and by the time they are turned on the range again there are relatively few that have not had some feeding. They are allowed all the salt they can eat, and are put on the range usually from middle western points in fat condition.
 Furthermore, his summer and win ter range is kept separate and the grazing is therefore increased. Be- cause of the system of removing bulls from the range, and keepink them in good condition, and dropping the calf crop in the most desirable season, (April is the heaviest month, MT. Cavness gets calf crop of probably