924 SHEEP INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES 



the grower from 12 to 16 cents. The cost of marketing the clip in the 

 Bast is placed at 4 cents per pound. The bulk of the clip of the Ter- 

 ritory is bought by local buyers as soon as sheared, and by them sent 

 to St. Louis, Chicago, Philadelphia, or Boston. There is probably no 

 other State or Territory, excepting, perhaps, Arizona, where so little 

 wool is consigned to distant markets by the grower as in New Mexico. 

 It is stated by the wool-buyers who handle most of the Territorial 

 wool that the general improvement of the wool product dates back 

 only about three years, and it is astonishing how marked the improve- 

 ment has been in so short a time. Carpet wool is rapidly disappear- 

 ing, as a result of better breeding and the mutton demand. Sheep- 

 owners readily discovered that it was more profitable to dispose of the 

 sheep for mutton than to keep them to produce carpet wool. 



The demand for wethers and stock sheep is active, and the buyers 

 take them here on the ranch at the nearest shipping point, or drive 

 them to Kansas, Nebraska, and other States north and east. Fully 25 

 per cent of the flocks is now readily disposed of in this way each year, 

 either to feeders in the corn-growing States or to the sheepmen from 

 the North and East. 



The following extracts from the correspondence received from repre- 

 sentative sheepmen in the various sections of New Mexico wiU serve to 

 give a correct idea of this phase of the industry : 



In Socorro County last year, during August and September, the feeders purchased 

 the -wethers 3 years and over on the trail, paying the sheep-owners from $1.80 to 

 $2.50 per head, and the average weight was ahout 90 pounds. Another corre- 

 spondent from Rio Arriba County says that mature sheep sold for mutton average 

 115 pounds and bring $1.50 to $1.75 per head. A Colfax County sheep-owner says 

 that about one-eighth of the flock is disposed of annually to Kansas and Nebraska 

 feeders at from $2 to $2.50, and the average weight is 85 pounds. 



A report from Taos County says that every fall one-fourth of the flock is disposed 

 of as mutton or stockers at about $1.50 per head, and that the 2-year-olds and over, 

 sold to butchers in Denver, Pueblo, and Leadville, dress 40 pounds. A Chaves 

 County owner states that about one-third of the increase of the flocks is sold each 

 year at home for $2 per head after shearing, and the average weight is 90 pounds. 

 A prominent Mexican sheepman from San Miguel says that the male portion of the 

 flock is sold each year wherever the market is best, but usually sold at or near Las 

 Vegas to Eastern buyers, and the average price for 1890 was $2 per head and the 

 average weight 95 pounds. An Eddy County sheep-raiser states that 25 per cent of 

 the flock is disposed of annually to the buyers at home for $2 to $2.25, and the mutton 

 sheep average from 75 to 90 pounds. 



It is a matter of some surprise to note how cheaply sheep are handled in New 

 Mexico. Wages paid herders and the men in charge of flocks run from $15 to $25 

 per month with board. The ^iverage cost per sheep a year, all expenses, is variously 

 estimated from 25 to 60 cents. An American owner of perhaps the best improved 

 flock in New Mexico places the cost at 60 cents per sheep a year. The correspond- 

 ence of the writer with sheepmen regarding the annual cost in several counties is 

 summarized as follows :. 



San Miguel County, 30 cents by Mexicans and 60 cents by Americans ; Eddy County, 

 30 to 40 cents; Colfax, 50 to 60 cents; Chaves, 35 cents; Taos, 45 cents; Eio Arriba, 

 30 cents ; Socorro, 30 cents ; Valencia, 25 cents ; BernaUllo County, 30 cents. Mr. 

 F. A. Manzanares, of Las Vegas, an extensive wool merchant and sheep-owner, in 



