The Kootenai herald. [volume] (Kootenai, Idaho) 1891-1904, 1896-05-30
CLIP WILL BE OF GOOD QUALITY
Wool Growers DO Not Look for as
Good Prices as Last Year.

Reports from various sections of the
state indicate that the wool shearing sea-
son has commenced. though 1t Will be
couple of weeks or more before it is in full
swing, says the Helena Independent. The
winter has been a good one for the sheep
men. and the fiocks have come out IN
excellent condition. Wool men say the
clip this year will be above the average
in quality, except in some isolated cases,
and that the clip of the state VIII prob
ably exceed that of last year, when 1t was
in round numbers 20.000000 pounds. Not
more than 100000 pounds of this amount
have as yet been taken off, so it will be
seen that a good many sheep are yet to
be handled. In some sections an effort
has been made TO produce the finer grades
of wool, though I'm that respect there Will
be little difference this season from past
years.
Meagher county was the banner county
last year, producing 1,152,S65 pounds. Here
tofore there have been two principal WOOL
markets in the state, Great Falls ana
Billings. At these two points regular
sales days have been set apart on GER
tain days in the week. when the buyers
would meet the growers and bid for the
clips This year Miles City is going 10
have regular sales days also. At other
points the wool business is quite extern
| sive, notably at Big Timber but the
points named are tne Only ones where res
ular sales days are set apart. AS to the
desirability of these central sales points,
the growers differ Some are enthusias tic
| in their advocacy while others say ii
places the grower at the mercy of the
| buyers. who can fix the limit they Will
bid, as the cattle buyers do in Chicago,
| and by combining they can make an ar
bitrary price. These opponents of the cen
| trail markets say under the old system the
buyers went among the growers and, as
as rule, if the sheep man was up in his
business, he would get all his wool was
worth
Growers do not believe they will get as
much this year as they did last for wool.
| They base the opinion on the fact that
| in some instances last season buyers
| paid more for wool than they could sell
! it for and this year they Will be more
| cautious. AdVices from the eastern mar
kets are to the effect that there is little
or no demand from manufacturers that a
large quantity of last years clip is in the
warehouses. and as business is so unset
tied in a presidential year, 1t will be a
wonder if manufacturers try to force
trade and if they do not. the wool COM
mission men will not take as many
chances as they did last year.
A half million Montana sheep We're fed
for the Chicago market the past winter,
| but the feeders did not make any money
Ralph Berry of Meagher county shipped
! several thousand head to England. but
the venture did not produce profitable
returns A. NJ. Cree of Miles City fed
about 100000 sheep at the Twin City
yards in St. Paul, and sold them in Chi
cago. but there was no money in IT,
! While the feed was cheaper than in lS9
the price of sheep was away down as com
pared with the preceding year.
While the losses during the Landing sea
son this year will be considerable, due
| to recent storms, there is every surety
of plenty of grass and an abundance OF
| hay. so that there will be a surplus OF
| feed for the winter of 1869.