The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-04-27
LIVE STOCK MARKET.
OUR SPECIAL REVIEW OF THE Lo-
CAL CONDITIONS.
The MorI1et in Bad Shape-Heavy
Cattle Hammered Out of Sight
Hogs Too Low to SqueaI-Sheep
Holding Their own Remarkably
Well.

For twenty-five years the farmers Of
the west in the corn raising sections
have bred and bought when ever they
could the largest cattle to be had and
at fancy prices in order that good eX-
porters could be made of them, and the
heavier the cattle the higher the price
but the thing has changed. Medium
weights are the only thing selling this
year, as shown by recent reports from
one of the principal markets where
1,S00 to 1900 pound cattle could not be
sold at any price the day that they
were received.
The farmer is always pestered, but
just now he is pestered plenty When
he has no corn, the demand is for heavy
cattle; when he has nothing but corn
and mortgages on his place the demand
is fer light weights, and his only col-a
lation is he has missed it again. But
in our opinion the day for heavy export
cattle has passed and the farmer and
stock raiser must breed and raise such
as he can fatten and turn off at any
age. AT present thin and in fact really
poor cattle are selling higher in all the
markets than the stuff that has been
on corn all winter and is finished with
out an advance in the value of fat cat
tie. Those who are purchasing feeders
at present prices must of necessity in
cur serious loss and it would be well to
exercise great caution in finding a
market and the feeders of the west will
this season lose hundreds of thousands
of dollars and that too by causes alto
gether beyond their control.
Few people realize the inroads the
weak and lowly lamb has made on the
long pedigreed short horn from Ken
lucky, or the beautiful Angus from bon
ney Scotland, to say nothing about the
deep fleshed, pale faced, early maturing
Herefords, but he has done it. Twelve
years ago western sheep could not be
shipped two hundred miles and made to
pay the freight. Today we find them
shipped from Nevada as far east as
Chicago and sold at a profit.
The western sheep trade was very
heavy in 1884, but we find in 1885 it in
creased over six hundred thousand and
so far this year its shows an increase
over last year.
My friend the hog. like the summer
girl, is in line for a squeeze" without
a grunt Lard was never lower than
now and hogs are not plenty. Some
body, no doubt, is planning to make
what the Missourian would call a
whole bunch and we predict that
within ninety days their most sanguine
expectations will be realized.
Although prices are low for all
breeds of live stock, there is no
cause for Encouragement, but rath-
er every incentive to renewed
activity. The most successful mer-
chants and manufacturers nave
their seasons of depression and the
best conducted industries at times fail
to pay current expenses. Last year
every feeder made money and plenty
of it. The movement of cattle from the
south by the Rio Grande Western has
been unusually heavy for the past ten
DAYS. The shipments ara going to To-
cal points in Colorado and Kansas.
The markets at Kansas City and
Omaha closes the week a little strong
er, while at Chicago it is below Zero
the feeders tributary to that market
having decided to unload at once re-
CARELESS of the consequences.
The movements through the local
zones have been light for the past
week, the U. S. people being the heavi-
est buyers.
Good beef cattle in demand at $50
$S25.
Hogs slow at s3Q$3.15.
Sheep fit to kill wanted at $30$3.25.
Mr. A G. Benson was in yesterday
with car of sheep from GrantsVlile.
More cattle, hogs and sheep could be
sold here at good prices and parties
feeding stock for the market should
write for market quotations and send
in anything they may have for sale.
We look for a better feeling at all
the eastern points this week. The feed
ers that have become so demoralized
and we might say discouraged, will
have run most of their holdings in,
and when the glut has been cleaned
up, prices will stiffen on all grades of
stock Grass will soon start and much
of the dry lot stuff can be put on pas
ture and held at a nominal price for
at least two months without much, if
any loss in flesh. This, we believe, in
many instances will be done. The rea-
son sheep have held UP so we'll is that
the holders have used better judgment
than the hog and cattle feeders and
have never crowded the market, but
kept them going steadily all the time.
AT present there are three hundred
thousand sheep on the trail from Ne
vada winter ranges to the Soda Springs
district to shear and lamb. Most of
them will hold through the summer and
market such as they may have for sale |
during the coming fall.
NADJI.