Laserfiche WebLink
<br />0') <br />(:""") <br />~ <br /> <br />.......1 <br /> <br />Markets and Transportation <br /> <br />Calves account for the majority of cattle sales in the Whitewater subbasin. <br />Most of the calves are trucked to feedlots in Colorado and Utah for feeding <br />out. A small proportion of the calves go to feedlots in nearby areas of <br />western Colorado. Fruit is trucked to Grand Junction for cleaning, grading, <br />packaging and preparing for marketing. Some of the fruit is sold at the <br />farms to truckers who take it south for sale in New Mexico, Oklahoma, and <br />Texas. <br /> <br />Transcontinental U. S. Highway 50 and a branch of the Denver and Rio <br />Grande railroad traverse the area and provide good transportation facilities <br />for most of the ranchers. <br /> <br />Relationship Between Irrigated Lands and Rangelands <br /> <br />The ratio of animal-unit months of range to acres of irrigated land is <br />three times higher in the Whitewater subbasin than in the Upper Gunnison <br />subbasin, and five times greater than the average for the Gunnison River <br />Basin. Most ranchers with grazing permits have the same number of beef <br />cows for their breeding herd as their permitted number on the national <br />forest. The irrigated lands and dry rangelands complement each other in <br />the, production of feed for range cattie. <br /> <br />Comparison of Acreage Irrigated and Water Supply <br /> <br />Water supply refers to the total annual water resources of the subbasin <br />rather than the direct seasonal supply needed for irrigated land. For <br />comparative purposes acreage irrigated was collated with water supply. <br />There was no relationship between acreage irrigated and water supply in the <br />Whitewater subbasin (figure 6). <br /> <br />Potential Water Requirement <br /> <br />There are a few areas potentially suitable for development in the subbasin. <br />However, the costs based on present day economic considerations appear to <br />be too great to make these developments feasible at this time. It is <br />accordingly estimated at this time there will be little or no increase in <br />irrigated lands or in incidental area usage within the subbasin. Some in- <br />creased domestic and livestock and recreational use may be anticipated, <br />and also increases in the amount exported for municipal purposes in the <br />city of Grand Junction. <br /> <br />Estimates of the potential water requirement or water-supply depletions <br />in the subbasin are summarized in table 41. <br /> <br />- 98 - <br />