Omaha daily bee., 1899-03-06
STOCK LOSSES SUMMARIZED
Statistics Collected by National Live Stock
Association.
iosT SEVERE WINTER FOR TEN YEARS
Most of the cattle Have Wintcrcd
Wen. hut Very Early Grass
VIII He Needed 10 Keep
Many Alive.

/ BblutIlnk reports VI ll' NOuNlllOu Oh i've
stock on the western ranges. These reports
include almost the entire west. and cover
/ loss from winter weather and storms, to-
gether with general conditions for the
spring. While most of the cattle have win
tered we'll. the winter has been of unusual
| severity, and while losses are light thus far
! the cattle are as rule very weak and in
! poor condition to Withstand severe storms of
| the spring. One of the worst features in the
! outlook is the scarcity of forage reported
! from many districts. Very early grass is an
absolute necessity to keep many of the cat
tie alive
The cattle of commerce." or, more in
| telligently speaking. cattle in the feed lots.
| do not enter into this question in any man
ner, as the agricultural districts have suf-
! fcent feed to carry these animals through
the winter with only nominal losses.
with the exception of Montana reports
! have been received from leading stockmen.
! and are considered accurate as far as they
/ go. In Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, northern
and western Texas, New Mexico Oklahoma
and Indian territory, the winter has been
! very severe. the worst known in ten years
| or more Fortunately, the great cold made
! the storms dry, and there was enough wind
and sun to keep fair proportion of the
J
Arizona suffered very little and will have
only nominal lossess California is still suf-
fering from drout,T and the outlook there
is bad. The losses in Wyoming, Colorado
and the Dakotas as yet have not averaged
per cent. In northern and western Texas
and northeastern New Mexico, and through
southern Oklahoma and Indian territory, the
heaviest losses have been with so-called
through cattle" that is cattle being moved
north from the south. Where the cattle
went into the winter in bad condition, the
mortality has been heavy, reaching in some
sections as high as 20 per cent. Taking the
range section as a whole to the present
! time, the losses will average per cent.
| With the most favorable conditions that
can be expected an additional loss of 2 per
cent may be looked for before spring, and
should the weather continue bad through
March heavy loss will certainly result
| The Department of Agriculture reports
that there were in the neighborhood of
600 head of cattle in the range country
on January l. 1899. Assuming that this is
correct per cent of this number would
indicate the destruction OF 10000 head OF
cattle during the present winter.
In Utah, Wyoming and some parts of Ore
gon heavy sheep losses are reported. 1t is
losses in Montana. Wyoming reports some
instances of losses reaching as high as 80
per cent, and some claim that if March
furnishes much bad weather the sheep loss
in that state may reach 20 per cent. In
western Utah the conditions appear to be al
most as bad. In several instances the re-
ports give the average for this section as
being 20 per cent These two states are the
greatest sufferers of any reported.
In New Mexico, Colorado Kansas and Ne
! braska the reports are not so discouraging,
! but in sections of these states, where the
range is depended upon exclusively. the
| losses have been heavier than usual In the
| feeding districts losses are but nominal, al
though the stock has not prospered because
| of the extreme cold
One feature of the reports received is the
scarcity of steers above the age of . years,
which seems to prevail generally over the
west Some sections, notably Texas, reports
a scarcity of all classes Of cattle, but out
side of old steers the shortage is not pro-
nounced, and many sections report plenty of
| young stock
! Final conditions on the opening of spring
depends entirely upon the weather for the
next six weeks. 1t is too early to give any
thing more than bare estimate of cond-
tions as they now exist. The following is
the substance of the detailed information re-
ceived by states. with few quotations from
some of the individual reports:
Texas
Eighteen districts reporting, mostly IN
| northern and western Texas, show an est-
! mated winter loss to date of 4 per cent,
! principally in what are known as Through
cattle" cattle being moved from the south
| to the north on grazing, and on old COWS.
! Richardson Colorado Tex. reports,
Winter loss to the present time about per
| cent Feed is short in some places. Losses
! in the Panhandle may reach 20 per cent.
| Generally speaking, cattle are short, espc-
| Cialy steers above / year old. Prices for
| coming Is, 1926; coming yearlings, SIS.
| A. p. Bush, jr. Colorado, Tex: Cattle
| that started in the winter in good shape are
| still doing moderately well, except where
| moved late and grass was short. Range very
| well stocked. Very few aged steers and
| not a great many 2s."
W. B. Tullis Quanah, Tex: Losses nom
| inal up to date (February 100, but cattle are
! poor. Feed will be short unless spring comes
very early. In the territory, including about
| seventy five miles around Quanah, there are
| 10 per cent less steers and 20 per cent less
! stock cattle than last year"
! Al Chastain, Panhandle, Tcx: Losses
! about per cent. Plenty of feed. Only about
| half the usual number of cattle here"
A. f. Crowley, Fort Worth: Winter
! losses very small yet. TwO-year old steers
| and up, 10 per cent short of last ten years.
No shortng in other classes, This informa-
| tion is for Midland county"
A. G. Boyce, Claiming, Tex: Losses light
to date but cattle getting very weak Moth
| ing above 2s for sale, and very few of
| them"
Cox g. Kayser, FL Paso: stock wintering
we'll. Losses not worth mentioning. Plenty Of
grass starting, About 10000 head will be
| shipped from this point"
! Louis L. Farr, San Angelo; Losses per
cent Well stocked in this locality. Many l
J and 2-year- old steers on the market"
Henry Stevens, Corpus Christi: Hardest
winter witnessed in forty years. Losses about
! 3 per cent. Plenty of cattle for sale If prices
! suit. Large steers scarce"
r. ID. Green, Estelline: Losses per
cent, There will be a good many steers for
sale here next spring. Grass is very short,
but the weather is fine. Flies are beginning
= to bother the cattle severely, which is hard
on the old and weak ones"
New Mexico.
Reports indicate a general winter loss OF
about 2A per cent, very little above the
! average. Northeastern portion of territory