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Show most of the lamb producing sections of California. Off-quality products always tend to hinder consumption and the public will not pay relatively high prices for meats of common and plain quality. It has been pointpd nut by leaders in the California sheep business that ranges are over-stocked. That such is the case in a relatively dry year seems to be proven this year, as ranges have been cropped closely, with the result that the quality of feed has been impaired by dumping undesirable lambs on the markets. The Inter-mountain country, as well as most parts of Arizona and New Mexico, have suffered from a severe winter. Sheepmen particularly particular-ly have had a hard season, due in the northern country to an unusually severe winter and shortage of hay, and in the Southwest, shortage of both feed and water. Utah newly born lambs suffered seriously from a heavy April snow storm. These factors fac-tors indicate that the fall markets will not have the normal numbers of range lambs and it would appear that pasturing and dry feeding of the thin California lambs might be worthy of consideration, as indications are that there will be something of a shortage of fat lambs next fall, when the fed California lambs would ordinarily be marketed. It appears that a larger proportion of Southwestern cattle out of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona Will be pastured pas-tured in the rich grazing sections of the Flint hills of Kansas and Osage pastures of Oklahoma. With pasture conditions reported excellent, most of the land has been leased for Southwestern South-western cattle at prices about 50 cents an acre higher than in 1928. The fact that more cattle than normal will be pastured in these sections does not necessarily mean that there will be more Southwestern cattle to move but instead, reflects the drought conditions condi-tions so general over- most of the Southwestern country. In most cases, it is reported that cattle owners are pasturing their own cattle because of inability to fatten them out on home ranges. market is attributed by many in the trade to the fact that so many unfinished un-finished and half-fat lambs are going to meat distributors, due to the unfavorable un-favorable spring feed conditions in Frost has seriously damaged certain cer-tain fruit crops in California. However How-ever except in cases where individuals individ-uals lost practically their crop, the situation is not alarming, as many of these deciduous fruit crops have suffered suff-ered from overproduction for the past few years. It seems to be Nature's own way of cutting down overproduction. overproduc-tion. It is generally, the case that a smaller crop means higher prices and received from these crops this season possibly the total amount of money will not be so much smaller than in years past when we had more than the market would take, resulting in a very low price on what went to market and wasting the surplus. This is an important fact to consider by those who depend upon the California market. No doubt the actual damage has been exaggerated but even so, there is no substantial impairment of California's purchasing power. Arizona will ship fewer cattle this season than in many years past, according ac-cording to present estimates. Moreover, More-over, breeding stock now seems to he in the hands of those financially able and willing to rebuild the cattle business. busi-ness. It is estimated that shestock will make up only a very small part of the state's shipments of cattle, while in 1927, 26 per cent of the shipments ship-ments consisted of cows and heifers. The spring movement of cattle out of the entire southwest is estimated at 10 per cent less than last year. The lamb market is' not as firm at this writing as earlier in the season, although the early California lambs are still selling at prices very attractive attrac-tive to producers, and relatively high in comparison with hogs and cattle. The present weakness in the lamb |