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Show glWGHItg ; twenty-five years and has found that his investment in registered bulls has been many times repaid through actual ac-tual prices received for his fat cattle when ready for the market. As the year draws to a close, stockmen are taking inventory of their affairs for the past twelve months. Markets have declined in sympathy with other commodity pric-es,;v&fjd pric-es,;v&fjd in some cases it seems as though livestock prices have suffered to a greater extent than some other commodities, this being especially true in the hog market. One thing stands out, however, and that is that quality in livestock has been recognized to a greater extent than even in the years of relatively good prices. This has been outstanding outstand-ing in the cattle market, where good quality, nicely finished beeves have old relatively higher than the ill-:;red, ill-:;red, ordinary grades. When there was difficulty In moving cattle into leat channels, it is a notable fact .nat the better quality animals moved mov-ed quickly at considerably higher prices than the mediocre stock. There are more cattle in feed lots in California, Oregon and Arizona than ever before, recognition of the fact that producers are aware of the demand for better quality products. Both cattle and sheep markets maintained remarkable stability dur- ing the last half of the year, and while prices were in many cases so j low as to result in serious financial ' losses, Southern California markets j have at least afforded a broader outlet out-let for meat animals than ever before, be-fore, as is evidenced by greatly increased in-creased slaughter of all kinds of livestock. live-stock. i , Stockmen are going into the new year with more optimism than prevailed pre-vailed a year ago, with the idea that values have hit bedrock and the future fu-ture holds in store better times. It is certain that forced selling has depleted de-pleted flocks and herds, and improvement improve-ment in general business conditions should be quickly reflected in livestock live-stock markets. A striking example of the value 'of good breeding was experienced on the Los Angeles market when a Nevada cattleman sold a shipment of steers at $7.25, while cattle from the same feedlot, but of inferior breeding, sold at prices more than 50 cents per hundredweight below the well-bred cattle. This man has been using registered regis-tered Hereford bulla for more than |