The Coconino sun., 1920-05-14
ARIZONA WOOL GROWERS
 OPEN THE WOOL MARKET
E. P. TAYLOR, Director Agricultural Extension Ser vice, University of Arizona.

AliLOHd WOoi STOWefS are the nrS1
 in the land to have to lead off anc
 open up the wool market. This is be
 cause Arizona fiocks are the first tt
 be clipped.
 Shearing in the southern part oi
 the state begins along in Februar,
 and finishes along in March. Shear
 ing the Salt River Valley, where large
 numbers of sheep are held for tho
 winter is now just about finished UT
 and the fiocks with their. lambs bl
 their sides are beginning to drift north.
 ward. They are now out across the
 alfilaria flats and foothills headed fol
 the summer pastures of the higher
 lands towards the Grand Canyon.
 The clip has been heavy, the lamt crop unusually good and the prospects for very satisfactory wool price al
 go to make the Arizona sheepmen feel in very happy frame of mind. Some of the clip has already been sold at figure well up toward the dollar mark, but majority of the Ar izona sheepmen prefer to consign their wool to eastern wool commission houses.
 A few years ago an educational campaign was carried on in Arizona by the agricultural extension service of the university which secured the services of W. T. Ritch, noted au- thority upon sheep and wool from Australia. MT. Ritch held that Ari- zona wools were of very high quail ity, but that the sheepmen were not getting what they should for their wool for lack of grading and chasing. This did not result in the establish ment of modern shearing sheds where the wool could be classed ready for the buyer at home as had been hoped, but it did result in many sheepmen pay ing more attention to the grades of wool they were producing.
 Western sheepmen are this year more than ever before relying upon selling upon commission plan in- stead of as formerly through the old way of local and travelling buyers and spectators.
 Professor c. 1. Bray, one of the best posted stockmen in Colorado and who is connected with the Colorado agricultural college. states that in his state from fifteen ts twenty-five cents more per pound, were received when sold through regular commission mer- chants in 1918.
 The ideal way would be for the sheepmen to sell directly to the wool en mill, but under our present plan this is not possible since the woolen mill only wishes to buy one or two grades, whereas the wool of the west ern sheepmen is sent away from the shearing corral containing all grades.
 For this reasoffsnot only wool ware houses are necessary but wool mer- chant between the wool grower and the woolen manufacturer is necessary. Although practically all wool is mar keted soon after shearing the woolen manufacturer usually acquires his sup ply much later, buying the particular kind of wool he wishes, combing for the worsteds or the grade known as clothing for the woolens, felts, etc.
 In recent letter to the sheep men E. F. Rinehart, field animal husband man, of the University of Idaho, states that smaller flock owners in his state have done much in working up wool pools. In fourteen counties the association assembled the wool and then sold directly to the wool mer- chant. A total of 609,000 pounds were pooled and sold in this way at cost of handling of only one-half cent per pound.
 Mir. Rinehart states that in Idaho last year consigning to commission firm where the chasing and grading was done was the common plan. lows wool growers last year consigned over a million pounds to the National Wool Warehouse and Storage company of Chicago, which graded and sold it on a commission amounting to about two and one-half cents per pound. This plan brought the grower about ten cents more per pound than when sold to local buyers. In Ohio the wool growers have taken step further and pooled their clip and graded and sold their wool, over two million pounds, from their own warehouses in Colum- ous, at a cost of three cents per pound for handling.
 The average wool grower has been opposed to consignment though he has become quite accustomed to consign- ng his livestock to reliable livestock commission firms or eastern mark sts. It is true that part of this op- position has been due to the fact that he consigned wool sold only as the orders came from the woolen mill, which delayed payment to the grower on the last of the clip.
 A heavy wool consumption is indi- ,ated this year which should promise we'll for good prices. The bureau of markets shows for the month of Jan- ,ary 72,7O0,000 pounds of virgin wool by the manufacturers as with 38,2OO,0O0 for the cor month in 1919 and 65, ,1OO,- 100 pounds in January, 1918.
 On March first the wool stocks in he country were about 500,OOO, ,OO0 pounds. The amount of raw wool re- Iuired throughout the year in the United States is estimated at about '50, 100000. The manufacturers have o import about one-half the wool they lse and always carry a large reserve.
 The indications are, judging from he recent Boston and London wool