Tag: January 1924

Sheep and Cattle Industry Begin 1924 Strong

In an article of January 4, 1924, entitled “Cattle and Sheep Industry of Arizona Bring a Big Return to the Range Men” many statistics are given by Charles U. Pickrell.  Sticking with just sheep information for the most part presented in the article we are given these facts:

  1. One-fourth of sheep graze on ranges within the limits of Indian Reservations. (One-third for cattle)
  2. Ninety per cent of the land within the state is available for grazing but the article does say that this will change with the development of reclamation projects diverting the grazing land for other types of agriculture. No mention of housing developments was mentioned. Arizona did not have a large population due to the lack of air conditioning.
  3. Pickrell stated that there were 1,115,000 sheep, 100,000,000 cattle, 152,000 goats, 100,000 horses and 11,200 hogs.
  4. The article divided the state into three distinct regions: the plateau region, the mountain region and desert region. There is considerable difference in climate and forage conditions in each of these.
  5. Sheep graze in all three areas shifting between winter and summer range as the temperatures either become too cold or too hot and as the feed begins to dry up from the hot temperatures.  Both sheep men and cattle men agreed that sheep can use the plateau region to better advantage than cattle.
  6.  Many of the sheep men live in Coconino, Navajo, Apache and Yavapai Counties with the number of sheep and sheep outfits decreasing in the order named. Cochise and Pinal Counties are seeing an increase in sheep while a few are now in Pima County.
  7. In the region of the desert and lower hills in southern Yavapai, northern Yuma, Maricopa and Mohave Counties, sheep will be found in large numbers, 200,000 it is estimated this year, during the winter. They will lamb here and shearing takes place. If the feed on the desert is scarce, the alfalfa fields are used for lambing.
  8. Most of these 200,000 sheep will be trailed northward along the Heber-Reno; Mud Tanks-Government Gap, Beaver Head-Grief Hill and Bear Springs-Prescott-Tonto Mountain trails.
  9. Arizona has a favorable wool market (at least at the time of this 1924 article).  The annual wool clip is approximately 6,600,000 pounds which is all marketed in Boston.

The weather had contributed to good conditions at the beginning of the year as stated in last week’s blog. Reports of the number of lambs born had not yet been determined as the lambing season would have just begun. The shearing was beginning so no results as to the poundage that would be available to ship to Boston.  In other articles found for January 1924, other information about the health of both the cattle and sheep industry were given. In most, sheep were economically better off than cattle. Only time will tell if this hold for the rest of 1924. It must be remembered that a depression occurred after World War I affecting the livestock but it seems from reading these early newspapers that the sheep industry faired more favorable.

January 1924 Weather and Sheep

I realize that it has been sometime since my last post. I have spent my time doing research since then, but it was for other irons in the fire that I am working on regarding the Arizona sheep industry. But more on that in the coming weeks.

With the current cloudy weather and rain yesterday and hopefully the rains will continue for a few more days, I researched the weather conditions for one hundred years ago this month. My main interest, of course, was it favorable to the sheep industry. Surprisingly it was.

The first week of the year, the weather had been ideal for Arizona. The weather conditions seen in December continued into January. There was heavy precipitation in the form of rain and snow falling on the northern summer ranges. Flagstaff saw the heaviest with 3.27 inches.  Pinedale and Fort Apache also reported heavy precipitation.  The snow was followed by rain resulting in large runoff. The rivers brought water to the southern section.  Stock water reservoirs were replenished. The rains brought improved desert pastures for sheep. This is somewhat of an unusual event for this time of year. Many sheep camps were in the process of lambing under the mild weather conditions. In another article I will discuss the hopes for a 100 per cent lambing season.

On January 11th, Fletcher Bly, returning to Williams from the Phoenix area, reported that his sheep were doing well and winter feed was still good in the Salt River Valley.

By today’s date, January 22nd, range conditions were still good across the state. While it was reported that there was a slight decline in conditions of the stock (no mention was given as to what this condition was), it was mild in comparison to most years at this time. Lambing was continuing across the winter ranges in Arizona.

To close out the month of January 1924, more snow and rain had fallen in the high country. It was reported that the foothill and desert sheep pasture ranges were sufficient to keep the animals in good condition, however, more rain would be needed to assure good ranges up to the time the sheep would be moved to summer pastures in the north. Because of the condition of the sheep during the last year, the wool crop was reported to be heavy and of superior quality.

And we will continue other bits of sheep history …… as rabies was issue for both cattle and sheep.