The border vidette., 1924-02-09
AGRICULTURAL POSSIBILITIES
OF SANTA CRUZ co.

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you see them?" is the question
most often asked of the county
agricultural agent. This ques
ton can be answered in terms Of
what the farmers, who are on
the farms of the county, are
doing. It is possible that the
returns of the present farmers
could be increased by the use Of
more modern machinery and an
arrangement whereby more
roughage could be grown and
fed to livestock on the farms.
This will require money for in
vestment in machinery and per
manent improvements. Perhaps
the greatest need of the county.
agriculturally, is capital for de
velopment.
Santa Cruz county is divided,
naturally, into three districts,
namely, the Santa Cruz valley
district, including a small acre.
age in the Sonoita Creek valley,
which could be classified as an
irrigation district. the San Ra
fael valley, which is mostly a
dry farming district, with pos
sibilities for a small amount of
irrigation along the Santa Cruz
river; and the Elgin district,
which is entirely dry farming
district. There are about nine
thousand acres in the county
that can be irrigated to adval t..
age. The remainder of the coun.
ty is either dry farm lands or
grazing lands.
The rainfall of the county is
between fifteen and seventeen
inches annually. A greater part
of this comes in July and Au
gust, making the possibilities
for the growth of forage crops,
with the summer rains, a Ger
tainty. With few exceptions,
the winter rainfall is ample for
the blowing of land in prepare
tion for the summer planting.
The valley farmers have the
added advantage of some gravity
water for irrigating winter crops,
and a possibility for shallow
pump irrigation along the valley
of the Santa Cruz river.
Livestock raising is the most
important agricultural industry
in the county. 1t is possible that
it will continue, along with the
feeding of beef and dairy cattle,
to be the most important indus
try, agriculturally, in the coun
ty. There are, approximately,
26, 1000 head of breeding cows in
Santa Cruz county. The aver
age calf crop on the range is
around fifty per cent. This sign
ifes that there are. in round
! numbers, $4,000 head of calves
for sale each year. If we figure
that these calves will bring
$14.CO a head at weaving time,
the calf crop of the county is
! worth $222,OOO annually.
Let US compare this with the
money returns from the live.
stock industry if all the irrigable
lands in the county, together
with, say, 10000 acres of dry
land agriculture, we're in cult.
walton and prod ucing at the rate
of the lands now in cultivation.
Tests that have been conducted
by the county agent, in CO oper.
alton with the University of Ari
zona and some of the farmers of
the county, have demonstrated
that, on the lower lands around
Patagonia, sorghum crops will
yield fifteen 10 as high as thirty
three tons per acre, with the
rainfall from the summer rains.
Yields in the Elgin district aver.
aged a little more than six tons
per acre. The yields in the San.
ia Cruz valley ran from ten to
twenty tons per acre, with an
average of about fifteen tons.
Yields of barley hay in the San
ia Cruz valley run around three
tons to the acre under irrigation.
Ia a feeding test in the Rain
Valley community, the Ferris
sbrothers, during the winter of
1929, fed ensilage to range
steers, and after paying for all
feed fed, including ensilage at
five dollars a ton, made profit
of a little more than ten dollars
a head on the cattle fed.
Let US cut the figures half,
and it is evident that the live
stock possibilities of the county
have been only touched. Nine
thousand acres in barley, on this
basis, would yield 1880 tons of
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