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LIFE OF A COLORADO RANCHER By H.G. BERTHELSON', Rancher Rio Blanco, Colorado 1 Not often is a rancher afforded the opportunity to unload before such a distinguished aud- ience. I thank Mr. Cole and his program committee for this privilege. It is nice to be able to return to Las Vegas after several years of quiet life on the ranch. I attended the American National Cattlemens Convention here several years ago. I had a great time but due to circumstances beyond my control, I had to thumb my way home. All was not lost, however, since upon my arrival at the ranch, there was a Riviera Hotel credit card waiting for me. It took quite a little cold cash and several checks to do it but I had established my credit. I hope it is still good but I am in a little better shape this time. My wife and I have a round trip ticket. We live in a world of easy come, easy go. Certainly Las Vegas is the capital of this world but not be any great margin. Washington, D.C. is a close second. I prefer Las Vegas, however, the house rake off isn't so great, so you get a better run for your money. I am sure you will agree with me that we all come to meetings like this hoping that we can come up with a brilliant idea that will solve the water problems of the basin, and this is my burning desire here today. While attending the social hour sponsored by the Salt River Water Users and the Valley National Bank, and later in the evening while touring a few spots, I noticed the consumption of liquids in Las Vegas is tremendous. It troubles me that a large portion of this consumption was wa- ter or chaser with a water base. My suggestion to this convention is this, let's stop this foolish use of water, let them dringk it straight like they do on Piceance Creek. By salvaging this water and returning it to the Colorado, we would all be helped. For instance, you people in the lower basin could quit monitoring in the river at Lee Ferry, with ample water a- vailable it would be a waste of time and money to continue this unnecessary activity. No longer would it be necessary to dump Lake Powell into Lake Mead to maintain rated head at the power plant. It might even be that California would not have to cut back to four point two, and it might even be that we who live at the headwaters of the Colorado, could quit studying our maps and arguing that the Gila does run into the Colorado and is, therefore, a part of the River system. We all realize the importance of water but really our knowledge of it is pretty skimpy. We need much more inormation on the requirements of water for specific uses on the duty of water, and how we can make it go further. Waste of water is tremendous and ranchers are among the worst of- fenders. We use about 3 acre feet of water to produce a ton of grass hay but this ton of hay has far greater value than that to be found in the market place. A year around livestock operation in the mountainous and semi-mountainous areas of the west must have winter feed. Since this area is essen- tially arid, hay can be produced only with the application of irrigation water to our meadows and farm lands. -17- This, of course, is not news to any of you but I review these basic factors in order that I might now emphasize a point which is often not fully understood. The thousands of acres of rangeland in the west that are not under irrigation are dependent properties whether public or private. Yes, they are dependent on the irrigated lands. No one has yet developed a method of harvesting the forage produced on our vast range lands except through livestock so we must own and feed and care for live- stock during the winter months in order to have them available to harvest the forage on our ranges during the balance of the year. The three acre feet of water that produces the ton of hay is an inte- gral part of our assembly line. What about the investment that it takes to produce beef? The average mountain valley ranch- er in Colorado has about $700 invested in the land, the permits and the leases required to run a cow for a year. Add on the needed investment in equipment and supplies and the value of a cow and you