WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. 815 



Chicago or Eastern markets from this State, unless reshipped from 

 Minneapolis by the dealers. The farmers usually sell wethers and fat 

 sheep to the local butchers or buyers, and the shipments are made in 

 car lots, usually to St. Paul or Minneapolis markets, and sometimes 

 to Chicago. The nearness of these markets to the Minnesota growers 

 makes the net price received very close to the St. Paul quotations. 



The farmer who has a lot of wool to sell prefers to sell it in bulk on its 

 merits and for cash. Those who have consigned wool to distant markets, 

 after considerable delay, receive returns with various grades reported 

 which they do not understand, and sundry deductions in the bill of par- 

 ticulars which accompanies the returns. This method is never very satis- 

 factory to the grower. Farmers who sell wool do not understand why 

 the buyers and speculators do not carry wool as they do provisions and 

 grain. Another difficulty encountered by the small sheep-owner is the 

 fact that he does not have the opportunity to deal with the regular 

 wool-buyers direct, as do the sheepmen in the States west, where it is a 

 more exclusive business. As a consequence he has to dispose of his 

 wool to the local merchant for whatever he is pleased to pay, in order 

 to realize ready cash. If he ships to a distant market his consignment 

 is so small and the time of returns so uncertain, and usually so unsat- 

 isfactory, that he does not care to make a second attempt. Thus, so 

 far as the wool clip is concerned, the farmer feels that he is practically 

 at the mercy of the man who purchases or handles his wool. Often the 

 meager price received for the wool is made so by the farmer himself, as 

 so many are indifferent in the preparation of the fleece for the market. 

 Many of them permit the sheep during fall and winter to run to the 

 straw stacks, and the fleece becomes filled with chaff, and the buyer 

 docks the prices as a consequence of the bad condition of the wool. 



The sheep disposed of each year consist mainly of three-year old 

 wethers, although occasionally some lambs are sold. It is seldom that 

 more than one-third of the flock is disposed of in one year, or a number 

 exceeding the annual increase. The average live weight of sheep is 

 not less than 100 pounds, and frequently more. Sheepmen say that if 

 the present tendency to mutton continues it will not be long until the 

 average weight of fat wethers will increase to an average of from 140 

 to 150 pounds. 



The cost of handling sheep per year, all expenses, which include the 

 care, cost of hay, grain, and salt, and interest on the pasture land, is 

 variously estimated from 75 cents to $1.50 per head. A great many 

 farmers seem to have no general idea of the exact cost, the majority 

 saying that $1 or less per head will cover all expenses. The farmers 

 are generally agreed that a flock of 50 or less in connection with gen- 

 eral farming and mixed stock-raising costs them little or nothing; but 

 when larger flocks are handled on exclusive pastures, the total cost 

 usually amounts to one-half the price received for the fleece. Some 

 accurate idea of the cost can be given from an estimate furnished the 



