860 SHEEP INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES 



tlie State goes to the Eastern markets unless resliipped from St. Louis. 

 The growers generally prefer to take their chances in the home market 

 unless satisfactory prices are offered by buyers direct from Chicago or 

 Eastern markets. The range of prices received by the growers for the 

 various grades of the last clip was from 15 to 27 cents. The marketing 

 of the wool by the grower is always a perplexing and unsatisfactory 

 business. There seems to be no uniform sorting and grading of wool 

 by the men who usually handle it, and the cost to the grower from the 

 time it leaves his hands until he receives returns varies greatly, and 

 is so much higher than other agricultural products that it causes gen- 

 eral dissatisfaction. This arises no doubt from the lack of uniformity 

 and generally indifferent manner of preparing the wool for market. 

 Too many sheep-owners permit their sheep to run in the fields and get 

 the fleece filled with burs. Another disadvantage is the scarcity of 

 Western woolen manufacturers, which generally leaves the volume of 

 business of handling AYOO! to dealers and speculators, making the wool- 

 growers feel that they are largely the prey of the middlemen, who 

 stand between the grower and the manufacturer. 



Since the mutton product has become profitable to sheep-raisers a 

 considerable portion of the flock is annually disposed of in sales of 

 wethers and lambs. The average for the entire State represents about 

 one- third of the flock. Heretofore a good many breeding ewes could 

 be picked up among the farmers and breeders at reasonable prices to 

 be shipped to other States west, but at present the local demand from 

 farmers who desire to engage in sheep-raising readily takes what is 

 offered in this way. In former years the average gross weight of sheep 

 sold for mutton seldom exceeded 100 pounds, but various reports re- 

 ceived from different parts of the State show the average for the past 

 year to have been 123 pounds. 



Elockmasters and farmers differ greatly in their estimates as to the 

 cost per sheep per year. The extreme prices reported are from 25 cents 

 to $2. In fact, very few seem to have any definite idea as to the cost. 

 Quite a number of farmers who have 25 sheep or less say that it does 

 not cost anything, or at most 25 cents per head; while the owners of 

 flocks of 100 or over, where the lambs do not come until after April 15, 

 say that the total cost is from 50 cents to $1 per head, which is proba- 

 bly a conservative estimate for the entire State. 



In considering the local disadvantages and obstacles encountered in 

 sheep husbandry in Missouri, the one thing that overshadows all oth- 

 ers, and is, in fact, the greatest enemy to this industry, is the constant 

 ravages and annual devastation of the flocks by dogs. Perhaps in no 

 other State west of the Mississippi Kiver, excepting Arkansas, is there 

 such a universal complaint in this particular. Of course there are 

 other local disadvantages, such as permitting the ram to run with the 

 flock the entire year, and, as a consequence, causing many lambs to 

 come too early, entailing unusual losses. Then, too, there is a cousid- 



