Types and Market Classes of Live Stock 263 



Goats are important farm animals in the rough, semi-arid Edwards 

 Plateau region of Texas, and in the valleys and plateaus of New 

 Mexico and Arizona. The Willamette valley of Oregon also has a 

 considerable number. Texas has over half of the SV2 million goats of 

 the country, nearly all of them on the Edwards Plateau which embraces 

 eight counties. In that region, in many sections of the South, and in 

 western Oregon, goats are used in large numbers in clearing up cut- 

 over land. In Texas and Oregon the goats are mostly Angoras; in 

 Arizona and New Mexico the Angoras predominate, though other 

 breeds are common; while in the South practically none of the goats 

 are raised for their fleece. ^ 



Arthur C. Davenport states ^ that not enough goats are received 

 at most markets to attract any attention or to cause any very widely 

 recognized grades to be established. He states that they are classified 

 as killers and as feeders or "brushers," and that young goats, or kids, 

 fat enough for meat sell quite readily but at lower prices than fat sheep 

 or lambs. Angoras in feeder condition are taken to the country to 

 graze down and destroy brush and weeds. 



Only 20,027 goats were slaughtered under federal inspection at 

 892 establishments in the United States in 1921, as compared to 

 12,452,435 sheep. ' 



Sheep Prices at Chicago 



Chicago prices during 1922. — The lowest and highest prices and 

 average prices paid on the Chicago market for the various classes of 

 sheep in 1922 were as follows: * 



Average 

 Class Range in price price 



Mutton lambs $6.00-16.65 $13.55 



Native mutton lambs 6.00-15.75 13.25 



Western mutton lambs 7.75-16.65 13.65 



Spring lambs 6.00-26.00 



Mutton yearlings 5.00-14.50 11.15 



Mutton sheep 50-11.25 7.25 



Native mutton sheep 50-11.00 6.55 



Western mutton sheep 2.75-11.25 7.50 



Feeder lambs 7.00-15.60 



Feeder sheep and yearlings 1.75-12.00 .... 



Breeding ewes 4.00-11.75 



Market values of the various classes. — The comparative market 

 values of the classes of mutton sheep are shown by the following table, * 

 giving the yearly average prices at Chicago from 1913 to 1922, and 

 also the averages for the entire ten-year period : 



lU. S. Dept. Agr. Yearbook, 1921, p. 486. 



'The American Live Stock Market — How It Functions, p. 142. 



8U. S. Dept. Agr. Yearbook, 1921, p. 735. 



< Compiled from Drovers Journal Year Books of Figures. 



