Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1869-12-07
The Wool Interest.

A stock dealer, who is engaged il
buying and shipping sheep to the
Cleveland slaughter market, in.
forms us that there is but little, il
any. better satisfaction among woe
growers in the pursuit of sheep hus.
oAndry now than there was a year
ago, and that thousands of sheep are
weekly slaughtered in Ohio for their
pelts.
Flocks of common stock sheep are
bought readily at prices ranging from
fifty cents to one dollar and twenty
five cents per head superior lots OF
fat wethers bring only about two dol
lars and fifty cents per head. Very
many fiocks have suffered during the
past season with foot rot, and such
are now thrown upon the market.
with slow sale at fifty cents to one
dollar each.
Ohio does not appear to be alone
IN the panic, for the wool growers in
other States are losing heart, and al
so In other countries. The Kansas
Bulletin asks: "What 10 the matter
with our wool interest? Is our eli
mate 80 far modifying that we re-
quire fewer wooden fabrics to protect
our bodies during the day and keep
us warm O. nights ? Or is mechanic
al invention going TO supersede the
invention of raising feeces? The
ladies seem to nave a rage for under
clothing made of paper, and some in
ventive genius has applied this ma
terial to carpets"
Sheep farmers of Vermont, and
Michigan and other States are losing
heart In their property, and contem-
plate wholesale slaughter this tall,
as only the best grades of wool pay
the expense of raising. Indeed the
case has grown 80 bad that writer
in the North American Reviep de-
clares that the millions of sheep
which figure in our agricultural
returns as constituting SO much
wealth, ought to be erased from the
tables AS they form an element OF
actual impoverishment.
A correspondent of the New York
Times also, writing from Brazil, men,
tons that an inevitable crash awaits
the heavy wool interests of that
country: "Sheep o going down in
price rapidly, and wool is also rapid
~ declining, and it is believed by
some that the sheep in that country
VIII go unshorn, as their wool will
not pay the expense of shearing and
marketing. All the sheep raisers
are trying to get out of the business
while thousands of carcasses are ev.
cry month boiled down, the pelt
scarcely paying the cost of the ami.
NAL. Many sheep farmers who had
paid two dollars per head for their
stock, now cannot sell for one-fourth
OF that sum, and, as a consequence
sheep are regarded as most undcsira
BILE property to all"
Foreign wool interests have been
affected by the protective duties
passed by Congress-, and although
needed, farmers got their expecta
tons to high, and 80 multiplied the
number of sheep as TO overdo the
business and bring on panic
The number of sheep in the Unior
more than doubled between The
years 1860 and 1866, and increased
about two millions between 1866 anC
the time the wholesale slaughter
began.
The Western States were filled NJ
while the excitement was high, anc
| every available sheep was used TO in
crease numbers without particuia
regard to quality. Farmers in New
| England and the Middle States alse
lost sight, in measure, of their fu.
ture interests, and dropped the prop
er rules in the principles of breeding
and looked only to the multiplying
of their focks; for anything bearing
the name of sheep was quick sale
and at prices before unknown. Th'
result of all this is now fully realized
but this reverse will have its end.
A level will be found in the marke
sooner or later; and we still admon
ish the farmers to be cautious how
they sacrifice their flocks. Sell OF
the old scrubs at whatever they viii
bring, for there is no profit in feeding
any inferior animal. But sellin,
good sheep for song may prove a
Improbable as did the buying of in
ferior flocks few years ago at biz
fgures.-Ohio Farmer.