News about the Arizona sheep industry was pretty dull during the month of May 1924. The events up to the middle of the month can be summarized as:

One new sheep brand was applied for by Reid Cashion L & C Co, Ashfork.

Several sheep men were fined for grazing sheep on Forest Reserves within the state. Their fine was $25 dollars or $458.40 in today’s dollars.

Sheep had mostly left their winter grazing land, the Salt River Valley, and headed to cooler northern environments. Grasses were reported on the range to be “pretty fair.” Several different sheep men were mentioned – Fermin Echeverria, Howard Sheep Co., Colin Campbell and sons.

An ad appeared suggesting the benefit of raising sheep.

An article on 21 May 1924 in the Arizona Republic gave wool prices for the western wool states.   Prices across the area ranged from as low as $ 0.32 to a high of $ 0.47 per pound or $ 5.87 to $8.62 repsectfully in today’s dollars. The article also said that wool was moving slow. Most of Arizona’s wool had been consigned to the Boston Market and only about half had been paid for. So getting into the sheep business may not have been lucrative at this time.

The biggest problem plaguing the sheep industry was the foot and mouth disease but because of the radical procedure put in place, no reports of it had been found in Arizona. Travel between California and Arizona had been restricted for both livestock and people. The tourist industry was hard hit economically in the state but all considered that a minor inconvenience to what could happen to the livestock and farm products, a major economic component of the state’s economy, if the dreaded disease was found in Arizona.

And that is the sheep news for the majority of May 1924. I will report on the rest of the month soon as I still need to finish my research.

I leave you thinking of a ewe and her lamb born in April: