6 Bulletin 827, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. 



STATUS OF THE BEEF-CATTLE INDUSTRY. 



NUMBER AND VALUE OF CATTLE. 



Table 1 shows the number of cattle other than milk cows for 

 1910, and for the last 4 years in the 6 States included in this report. 



Table 1. — Number and value of cattle other than milk cows in States irith large 



areas of Piney Woods. 1 



State. 



Georgia 



Florida 



Alabama.. 

 Mississippi . 

 Louisiana . . 

 Arkansas . . 



Number Jan. 1 — 



771,000 

 945, 000 

 842, 000 

 716, 000 

 725, 000 

 691,000 



Total 4, 690, 000 



1919 



763,000 

 936, 000 

 851,000 

 708, 0011 

 690, 000 

 678, 000 



4,626,000 



727, 000 

 891,000 

 760, 000 

 644, 000 

 600, 000 

 640, 000 



4,262,000 



686, 000 

 865, 000 

 534,000 

 575, 000 

 525, 000 

 560, 000 



3,745,000 



Census, 



Apr. 15, 



1910. 



666, 000 

 611,000 

 534, 0C0 

 580, 000 

 510,000 

 599, 000 



Value per 



head Jan. 



1,1920. 



$27. 20 

 27.30 

 22.90 

 23.50 

 29.30 

 24.40 



3,500,000 



2 25. 77 



1 Figures for 1910 are taken from the Census report; other figures from Bureau of Crop Estimates, U. S. 

 Department of Agriculture. 



2 Average. 



This table presents some interesting points relative to the size 

 and growth of the cattle industry and the values of cattle. The 

 figures given are for the entire States, but the points brought out 

 by the table are pertinent as applied to the Piney Woods sections. 

 It will be noticed that the increase in the number of cattle during 

 the last three years has been rapid as compared with the total 

 increase from 1910 to 1916. The year 1910 marked the beginning of. 

 greater interest in the beef-cattle industry. About this time the 

 menace of the boll weevil to the one-crop system ^f cotton farming 

 turned attention to live stock. The growth from that time has been 

 steady. The growth has been more rapid in the last four years 

 because more area has been freed from ticks, and higher prices have 

 been paid for cattle. 



Although the cattle industry is growing rapidly, the number of 

 cattle is proportionately far below that of other cattle-producing 

 States and is only a fraction of the possibilities. 



On January 1, 1920, the number of cattle in the States named was 

 about one-ninth the total number for the United States, but their 

 value was only one-sixteenth of the total value. The average value of 

 cattle per head for the six States at that time was $25.77, while the 

 average value per head for the six leading cattle States, viz, Texas, 

 Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Minnesota, was $44.27. The 

 difference in price indicates the difference in size and quality. 



The fact that the Piney Woods region produces cattle of such 

 relatively small value is due to a number of factors, the chief ones 



