236 Types and Market Classes of Live Stock 



ling thousands of sheep, the wool reaches a considerable valuation. If 

 light pelts are wanted, why do shorn sheep sell at a discount? 



Such questions as these led the writer to make an investigation 

 which included interviews with the principal buyers at Chicago, and 

 an inspection of a modern wool-pulling establishment owned by one 

 of the packing firms. It was found that a few buyers do give prefer- 

 ence to light-pelted lots, but that class of buyers is decidedly in the 

 minority. Swift, Armour, Wilson, and New York butchers have for 

 some time realized the added value of a heavy fleece, and this has 

 enabled them, in many instances, to outbid competing firms who con- 

 sider only the dressing percentage as an index of the value of sheep for 

 slaughter. The fact that New York butchers have been able to dispose 

 of pelts profitably very largely explains their survival in the face of 

 keen competition with packers. 



The slaughtering departments of those packing houses equipped 

 with wool puUeries are credited each day with the value of the pelts 

 sent from the killing floor. The value per pelt varies, depending upon 

 (1) size of pelt, (2) weight of fleece, (3) quality of fleece, (4) cleanness 

 of fleece, (5) amount of grease, (6) color of wool, and (7) thickness of 

 skin. On this basis the value per pelt at the present time (March, 

 1923) ranges as low as 50 cents for lambs, and as high as $5 and over 

 for sheep pelts in full fleece, depending mostly upon age, breeding, and 

 season of the year. The average price of Chicago pelts is now about 

 $3.50 per pelt. The value of the pelt plays an important part in de- 

 termining the value of a sheep to the packer. 



Packing houses and other wholesale butchers not equipped with 

 wool pulleries have two methods of disposing of the pelts; they may 

 either contract them in advance at a fixed price per pelt, or they may 

 allow them to accumulate and then solicit bids. In the latter case, 

 the bidders make an examination and the pelts sell on their merits. 

 In the former case, the packer or butcher has no incentive to pay a 

 premium for well-wooled sheep, but, on the contrary, it is to his advan- 

 tage to select those with light pelts. One prominent sheep buyer on 

 the Chicago market designated the contract plan as "slipshod," and 

 he stated that "eventually it must cease as competition becomes more 

 keen." He also said, "I instruct my men to consider wool as well as 

 meat, and when they make bids, you may be sure they have estimated 

 the value of the pelt as well as the carcass." 



Pelts are most valuable in the spring just before shearing time. 

 Shorn sheep sell at a discount because the wool cannot be pulled at a 

 profit until it has a growth of three-quarters of an inch or more. When 

 the staple measures less than this, the pelts are tanned with the wool 

 on, and the price received is small compared with pelts which can be 



