Mechanization, improved transportation facilities, and farm labor problems all contribute to the continued decline in numbers of horses and mules in the United States. The number on farms on Jan. 1, 1941, is expected to show a further decline of about 500,000 head, or about 3 per cent, from the 14,900,000 head on hand a year earlier. This decline has continued every year since 1916.
About 70 per cent of the total, or roughly 10,000,000 head, consists of horses. Iowa is the leading state and on Jan. 1, 1940, had 752,000 head. Other leading states and their numbers on that date were: Texas, 679,000 head; Minnesota, 635,000; Illinois, 628,000; and Missouri, 524,000 head.
The Dec. 15, 1940, farm price of horses was only $69.10 a head, compared with $77.10 a year earlier.
Numbers of mules have been declining less rapidly than horses. On Jan. 1, 1941, there were about 4,250,000 head on farms, compared with 4,321,000 a year earlier. About 80 per cent of the mules are located in the southern states, as they are better able to withstand the heat and are also lighter eaters than horses. The decline in cotton acreage due to the loss of export markets has, of course, reduced the use of mules in southern farming operations.
Texas leads in the number of mules with 659,000 head on Jan. 1, 1940. Other leading states on that date were: Mississippi, 361,000; Georgia, 334,000; Alabama, 319,000; and North Carolina, 305,000 head.
Mules were selling on the farm at an average of $87.30 a head on Dec. 15, 1940, compared with $97.20 a year earlier.
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