Venezuela has an area of approximately 393,976 square miles and a population of over 2,848,121.[15] From these figures one may see that the country is very sparsely settled, and that the first requisite of a cattle country is met,—that of plenty of open land.

[15] Figures of 1917. Latest census is expected to show some increase.

The main occupation of the people is agriculture. Stock-raising is next in importance and promises soon to be the leading industry of the country. Yet, even though the industry is now important, it is developed to such a slight extent, in view of its possibilities, that the past history means little and statistics mean but little more. The wars for independence, internal strife, political unrest and a certain lassitude on the part of the people have greatly hindered the development of the industry in the past.

There exist no authentic source material or statistics covering the cattle industry in Venezuela. Only during the last few years has the Government succeeded in convincing cattle raisers of the importance of accurate statistics and led the way itself by beginning systematically to compile them.

The following statistics are, consequently, approximations and consist for the most part of rough estimates. They were obtained from the 1919 booklet of N. Veloz Goiticoa and were officially edited by the "Department of Fomento" and are, consequently, the most nearly correct and authentic which could be obtained and also the most complete.

Still, as stated before, it is not the past in which we are interested, so much as the future, and hence we shall merely quote the available figures and then dismiss them from further consideration.

18041,200,000
18124,500,000
1823256,000
18332,437,150
18394,617,560
18475,503,000
18645,800,000
18733,302,670
18838,591,860
18946,345,560
18996,059,480

In 1919 it was estimated that there were only 2,600,000 head of horned cattle within the country.

The figures of 1915-16 for live-stock show:

Horses191,000
Goats1,700,000
Sheep177,000
Cattle2,000,000