Show livest livestock ock price changes affected by numbers of slaughter animals by lloyd clement belter farming agent editors note ote this is the third in a series aeries of articles by mr clement on the marketing ol 01 livestock the articles are designed to help local livestock raisers understand the market so that they may obtain highest prices for their animals you are familiar with the principle of the teeter totter changes in weight at either end causes it to move up or down lets imagine that on one end is the livestock available for slaughter with a graduated scale of price standing at the end so the price can be read as the teeter totter moves up or dow i let us label this side supply upp 1 Y 1 now imagine that on the 0 other th end Is placed a series of weights called buying power religious beliefs seasons weather habits and tastes this side of the teeter totter well label demand it Is easy to see why the teeter totter will never read the same price on the scale for long price change factor the biggest single cause of changes in livestock prices from week to week is the change in the daily dily and weekly numbers of livestock sold for slaughter the weights on the demand side of the teeter totter tend to fluctuate very little but when less livestock st ock is available for slaughter during a particular week it means that there will be less les 9 meat to 10 sell which lightens the supply side ot 01 the teeter footer causing it to rise higher on the price scale on the other hand when numbers of livestock available for slaughter increase substantially it means there is a lot in more ore meat to sell making the supply side heavier thereby reading lower on the price scale because of the variations in the amount of meat for sale there are fluctuations in the wholesale meat price received as we explained last week these changes in the wholesale price of meat are reflected in the prices bid for livestock here we see an economic law in action the price producers receive for their livestock is governed by what the consumer will pay for meat and by products retail meal meat dealer dealers retail meat dealers the persons closest to the meat consuming public not only watch their own sales but also alsol follow ollow closely livestock and meat supplies and wholesale meat prices thoy bargain vigorously for lower prices when they know there is an increased supply of meat available in order to sell this additional supply of meal meat they must persuade their customers to take more home this persuasion generally takes the form of lower prices reduced prices for meat make it possible tor for many customers who could not afford to cat beef the previous week to buy and 6 serve erv e at least one meal with beef the next week those these who had beef one meal the previous week are likely to be attracted by the lower beef price and buy enough beef for two or three meals meal 8 it is 1 by lowering the price that the meat Is readily sold by retailers and the increased supply of beef is consumed A substantial reduction inn in the total number of cattle slaughtered during a particular week means here will be less meat available for retail meat dealers 7 to 14 days later when there Is less meat available meat dealers may become aggressive buyers willing to pay higher prices in order to obtain their beef requirements quire ments when meat can be sold at higher prices livestock buyers can bid higher to producers heavy meal meat ealer eaters now you say all well and good but it affect me or my family that way and my neighbors tell me its hogwash too well youre right it affect us here very much or in other less populated areas at least it apparent to us it jt is the large meat consuming areas east cast of the mississippi river like new york boston philadelphia etc where the increased supplies of meat are most readily sold these heavily populated areas have large capacities to consume food the meat packer is able to purchase our animals and ship them to these populated areas for or consumption it is these laige areas of heavy populations that influence the demand side of our teeter totter the most and it is also these areas that must go without meat when it is in short supply next week we will discuss why 0 c steak from beef |