The Carbon County news. [volume] (Red Lodge, Mont.) 1924-1931, 1930-06-12
By 7. B. HOKER,
Associate Extension Agent,
Huntley Reclamation Project

The following article is radio
broadcast from Station KGHL, Bill
lings, which was recently delivered
by Mr.. Holker, and is being pub
lished in interest of the informa-
ton it contains.
When you can turn 145 head of
ewes and their lambs on to 20
acres of pasture and keep them
there four months and a half, that
pasture has lot of feed on it.
Yet this was done during the sea-
son of 1929 by Mr.. A. C. Hoff of
Huntley, Montana, and without
crowding his grass to anywhere
the danger point. Likewise, one of
Mr.. Hoff's neighbors, George F..
Farmer, kept 200 head of ewes and
their lambs on 40 acres of similar
pasture-10 acres of which was of
the previous years seeding and
the other 80 acres was only under
its second grazing season. Then
if we turn to herd of dairy cat
tie, we find the Huntley Field Sta
ton pasturing the equivalent of II
large, high producing Holstein
cows on 5 acres for 135 day sea-
son.
What then is the nature of this
pasture which will carry six or
seven head of ewes and their lambs
or over 2 head of dairy cows to
the acre? Four grasses and two
two clovers are included to make
what is known as the Huntley If
rlgated pasture mixture, which
gets its name from the experiment
station where it was devised. The
grasses are smooth bronze grass,
Kentucky blue grass, orchard grass
and meadow fescue and the clovers
are the ordinary White Dutch and
alsike. This combination is not
a mere guess, but on the contrary
is the result of trials of many
grasses seeded alone and in mix
lures to find out just what would
best meet all of the requirements
of pasture for irrigated farms
and whether or not such pasture
was economically practical on
these relatively high priced H.
rigated lands. Nor was mans
measurements alone relied upon to
measure the results obtained from
the various grasses and combina-
tons, but the old adage of the
proof of the pudding being in the
eating was applied by turning a
COW into lot which had growing
within its plots of the different
grasses under trial, and records
kept of just which plots best suit
ed her taste. Studies were also
made of winter hardness, carry
mig capacity, and other factors, and
out of it all came the mixture Just
given. Farmers planning a perman-
ent pasture mixture different from
the one just named might do well
to find out why the choice of each
grass was made, or why some
others were not included.
A gradual increase in acreage
seeded throughout many parts of
Montana each year would lend to
the conclusion that it is giving
good results in various sections. We
find Mr.. ]. G. Clark of Columbus,
Saltwater county, seeding IS acres
in 1927 and adding Is more last |
year, of a mixture nearly like the
one recommended by the expert
ment station. We find one or two |
farms in Treasure county using the |
pasture.
In Gallatin county, where the al
titude gets up to 5000 feet, many
herds of beef cattle, sheep, and
dairy cattle spend the summer
grazing the succulent forage, and
it is seen in many other parts of
the state. Nor does the mixture
seem to have any preference for
particular type of soil, as within
the areas mentioned it is grown
on lands all the way from light,
gravelly compositions to
heavy gumbo.
There are sufficient reasons why
the acreages seeded has been gem
orally increased throughout the ir-
'igated sections of the state. From
The number of animals which can
be grazed per acre, it takes but
little arithmetic to find the income
to be derived from the pasture.
We can take the generally accept
"a average figure of seven ewes
and their lambs which one acre
Of well established pasture will
carry throughout the season and
sell 51a lambs from these seven
ewes-a figure which records of
he Huntley wool pool show to be
average. The wool and the bal
ance of the lamb crop will take
,are of the ewes while not on pas
'ure, and the necessary replace
nents for the flock. The same
records mentioned show growers
averaged just a few cents over SO
Der head for their lambs last year.
Therefore, if we multiply the 51A
ambs by $500 we get the returns
o be $49.50-which represents the
income from one acre of irrigated
!, oct1,,,o ,rrbo,, esnnuoL L. eI yrr !