Range Riding-The Key to Range Management.

“Range riding takes a lot of watching, waiting, and understanding,” according to Stanley uniform forage use. The basis for his plan is simple. Salt is placed in timbered areas where grazing is desired and is progressively moved to unused areas as the season continues. When an area is used properly, salt is moved to an un“Bun” Anderson, rider for the Starkey Cattle Association. “Bun” rides a national forest range in the Blue Mountains of eastern Oregon. A former top hand in rodeo circles, he now concentrates his efforts on getting uniform use of the range forage on a 27,000-acre ponderosa piiie summer range. Although Anderson has ridden the Starkey range only two years, he has demonstrated that he is as good on the range as he was in the arena. The Starkey Experimental Forest and Range is typical of many summer ranges in the Northwest. Some parts are rough with deep canyons, steep slopes and timbered ridges without water. Other parts are open grassland flats, small meadows, and “ jungled-up” lodgepole pine thickets. ‘Since 1940 this range has been used as a demonstration area for well-known grazing management practices. Improvement in range condition and research results show that range riding is the key to good range management. Water has been developed on this allotment so that cattle seldom have to go farther than R/ of a mile to water. This is a great help to “Bun’s” job of getting even forage use, but good cattle distribution is still difficult because of the topography and intermingled grassland and forested range.