Abstract
ABSTRACT Chase County, Kansas, lies about midway in the north-south trending Flint Hills-Bluestem Pastures of Kansas-Oklahoma in which grazing is prominent on native prairie grasses. Grazing of transient cattle (cattle in transit) developed here shortly after the early cattle trail days has persisted to this day and has given the area uniqueness in our grazing economy. Crop farmers predominate but ranch type operators control most of the good grassland. Most of the good grassland is absentee-urban owned, much of it purchased with nonfarm capital. A close relationship exists between the grazing of transient cattle and absentee ownership of land, made possible by the services of local pasture men who lease many pastures and service transient cattle. Although immediate returns on land investments are modest, nonfarm capital is attracted by speculative and other considerations, such as increasing land values, with the result that farmer operators cannot purchase or lease much grassland and are declining in numbers and influence.
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