40 
BULLETIN 1480, U. S. DEPABTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
SHEEP, LAMBS, AND WOOL 
Table 20 shows a comparison of sheep, lamb, and wool prices. 
The variability in prices of sheep seems to be slightly greater on a 
per head basis than on a per 100-pound basis. The variability of 
lamb prices per head was two or three times as large as that of prices 
of iamb per 100 pounds. Wool prices are less variable than sheep 
prices or lamb prices on a per head basis. Wool and lamb prices 
with a variability of about 10 per cent are reasonably satisfactory in 
the larger States where the price samples are fairly large. The 
number of reports received from the far Western States such as 
Colorado and Wyoming are not sufficient to hold the probable error 
down to a point where four times the relative probable error is 
much less than 10 per cent. 
Table 20. — Farm prices of sheep, lambs, and wool: Selected illustrations of size 
of sample, measures of dispersion, and probable errors 
Livestock or livestock products, 
State, and date 
Number 
of 
reports 
Average 
price 
(arith- 
metic 
mean) 
Standard 
deviation 
of 
reports 
Coeffi- 
cient of 
varia- 
bility 
Probable 
error 
of the 
average 
price or 
mean 
Relative 
probable 
error 
Four 
times 
relative 
probable 
error i 
Sheep (per 100 pounds live 
weight) : 
Ohio, October, 1925 .. 
63 
12 
383 
69 
63 
357 
15 
72 
44 
88 
10 
Dollars 
6.40 
7.67 
10.19 
10.69 
12. 50 
9.28 
12.97 
9.94 
Cents 
36.5 
43.6 
34.0 
Dollars 
1.76 
1.83 
2.96 
2.82 
1.36 
3.12 
1.17 
2.48 
Cents 
3.0 
6.4 
4.7 
Per cent 
27.5 
23.9 
29.0 
26.4 
10.9 
33.6 
9.0 
24.9 
8.2 
14.6 
13.8 
Dollars 
0.15 
.36 
.10 
.23 
.11 
.11 
.20 
.20 
Cents 
.30 
.46 
1.01 
Per cent 
2.3 
4.6 
1.0 
2.1 
.9 
1.2 
1.6 
2.0 
.8 
1.1 
3.0 
Per cent 
9.2 
Colorado, October, 1925 
Ewes (per head) : 
Ohio, January, 1926 2 
Colorado, Jan. 1, 1926 2 
Lambs (per 100 pounds live 
weight): 
Ohio- 
October. 1925 
18.4 
4.0 
8.4 
3.6 
Jan. 1,1926 - 
4.8 
Colorado — 
October, 1925 
6.4 
Jan. 1,1926 * 
8.0 
Wool (per pound) : 
Wisconsin, June, 1925 
Ohio, July 1925 
3.2 
4.4 
Wyoming, July, 1925 
12.0 
i The probabilities are ninety-nine out of one hundred that the average of a much larger sample col- 
lected in the same way and at the same time would not vary from this average by more than four times 
the probable error. 
2 Jan. 1, livestock values per head are reported by crop reporters. 
BUTTER AND BUTTERFAT 
A comparison of butter and butterfat price samples is shown in 
Table 21. In the Northern States there seems to be little difference 
in the variability of the price samples of butter and of butterfat. 
In Alabama, for the month of April, butter prices had over three 
times the variability of butterfat prices. The production of butter- 
fat is limited almost entirely to areas near large towns and cities. 
The wide range in butter prices in the Southern States is undoubtedly 
due to a wide range in the quality of country butter. In the North- 
ern States a much larger proportion of the butter is made in cream- 
eries or at least under better conditions than are likely to prevail in 
a much warmer climate. The variability of butter and butterfat 
