OCR Text |
Show Evidence of continued growth in population in Southern California, and a healthy demand for meats, is reflected re-flected in the official livestock slaughter slaugh-ter reports for Los Angeles county, during the first three months of 1931. These statistics show that not only was the March slaughter of cattle and lambs the largest for that month on record in Los Angeles county, but also that the slaughter of 82,70o cattle and 217,073 sheep and lambs during the first quarter of the year were the largest on record in the county. The sheep and lamb slaughter shows a tremendous increase over any previous pre-vious period. Hog slaughter for the same period is larger than last year, rmd is the largest on record with the single exception of 192S. In the country as a whole, slaughter slaugh-ter is showing a decrease, judging by federal inspection figures. Cattle slaughter in March in the United States was the smallest, with the exception ex-ception of the past two years, since 191G. National hog slaughter, with one exception, was the smallest since 1925. Sheep slaughter, while showing a slight national decrease from a year ago, has been large everywhere. The heavy demand for meat in Southern California, in the face of reduced demand elsewhere, indicates I that Southern Californians like their I meat and are willing and able to buy. This is important to western stockmen, stock-men, who formerly were forced to ship their livestock to distant eastern markets.. The tables are now reversed, and middle western stockmen are shipping grain-fed stock westward to the Pacific Coast. This is possible only because California markets are higher, high-er, grade for grade, than middle western west-ern markets. Woolgrowers are encouraged by the strong upward movement which took place in wool prices in foreign mar- kets during March, according to the ; United States Department of Agricul-; Agricul-; ture. Attempts to advance the raw-wool raw-wool markets in the domestic market have so far met with slight success, however. Continued improvement in foreign markets gives wool growers reason for encouragement, as does the fact that wool consumption in the I United States has shown an increase j this year to date. Present indications point to probable slight decrease in the world clip for 1931, as a result of expected reduction in Southern Hem-; Hem-; isphere countries. An increase is anticipated an-ticipated in Northern Hemisphere countries which, however, account for only 30 per cent of the world's production pro-duction of combing and clothing wool. |