OCR Text |
Show West's Beef Supply Is Greatly Reduced There axe 472,000 cattle on. Utah farms and ranges, as of January 1, 1926, of which 88,000 are milch cows and 19,000 are heifers, according accord-ing to a report issued this week by George A. Scott, regional livestock statistician of the United States bureau of agriculture, on cattle in the far western states of Utah, Washington, Arizona, California, Idaho, Ida-ho, Nevada and Oregon. In the far western region there are 5,715,000 cattle as of January 1, with a value of $234,450,000, according ac-cording to the report. Cattle in the group of states have decreased about 10.5 per cent in six years, nearly 4 per cent of this taking place in 192g, Mr. Scott reports. The decrease last year was due mainly to heavy selling of cattle as a result of much better demand and prices, excellent condition condi-tion oi! cattle off ranges and to the necessity of liquidation in the cattle industry. The total value of all cattle has decreased de-creased nearly one-third from the high 1920 figure, but during 1925 showed the first substantial increase in six years. Milk cattle have registered a steady increase during this period, amounting to 200,000 head, or nearly 17 per cent, but the gain in 1925 was small. Thus, the report points out, the decrease in numbers of strictly beef stock has been even greater than indicated by the total cattle figures and shows a decrease of more than 21 per cent. |