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Show Utah Farm Bureau News Page 2 April Squeeze is breaking livestock men Cattle feeders are in real trouble these days, suffering losses of $100 to $200 per head on market steers. Hog producers find production costs running higher than prices being received. , The U.S. Department of Agriculture reports that prices for live cattle have been falling since while retail prices and retail are near record highs. price spreads Consumer resistance to higher retail prices is cutting demand for beef and the livestock industry is rightly concerned. In Chicago retail prices for beef and pork showed some drop from the previous week, the first drop recorded since the city began issuing weekly retail food price reports some seven months ago. This may be a small beginning in a long overdue reflection of lower farm prices. The livestock industry has been urging retail outlets to increase meat promotion advertising to stem falling consumer demand. mid-Februa- ry mid-Marc- h, UTAH BARM BUREAU (Ht NEWS POSTMASTER: Please send Form J579 to Utah Farm Bureau, 29 East Fourth South, Salt Lake City, Utah M102 Published each month by the Utah Farm Bureau Federation at Salt Lake City, Utah. Editorial and Business Office, 29 East Fourth South, Salt Lake City, Utah, 14012. Subscription price of fifty cents per year to members is included in membership fee. subscription price: One dollar per year. Non-memb- er Second Class postage paid at Salt Lake City, Utah UTAH FARM BUREAU FEDERATION OFFICIALS Elmo W. Hamilton, Riverton Jay Child, Clearfield C. Booth Wallentine Elwood Shaffer President Vice President Executive Vice President Editor S. DIRECTORS: Frank Nishiguchi, Garland; William Holmes, Ogden; Jack Brown, Grantsville; Edward Boyer, Springville; John Lewis, Monticello; Jerold Johnson, Aurora; Kenneth R. Ashby, Delta; Mrs. Paul Turner, Morgan; Robert Johnson, Randolph. Tire program adds new credit, discount Changes in the Utah Farm Bureau tire program have improved the service and credit arrangements. Jake Fuhriman of the UFBF staff has announced. Fuhriman, who is manager of the Utah Farm Bureau Service Company, pointed out that not only can tires on members now buy Co-o- p credit of up to 10 months at their nearby Intermountain Farmers Association store, but they also are entitled to a higher discount on the d new Mark X radials. This discount amounts to $6 per tire on the new series. Discounts on other auto, tractor and truck tires range from $3 to $5 each. Members of the UFBF can put y all tire purchases on a credit program with no carrying charges. The monthly charge on longer credit is 1 72 percent of the unpaid balance. The Mark X is one of the top quality tires available on the market, Fuhriman pointed out. Longer wear, easier handling, and fuel savings are only a few of the advantages, he said. steel-belte- 30-da- The uncertainty of feeders is reflected in the March 1 report that shows some 367,000 fewer cattle in feedlots than a year ago. Much of the trouble' in the feeding business can be traced to the beef price freeze of a year ago and the transportation strike earlier this year. Unable to move finished cattle to market, feeders experienced a buildup of overweight cattle. The cow-ca- lf producer is experiencing a fallout effect from depressed fed cattle prices. What happens to the fed cattle market ultipromately is reflected back to the cow-ca- lf ducer. In a statement filed by the American Farm Bureau Federation with a Senate subcommittee investigating price spreads between retail markets and the farmer, it was- - pointed out that the cattle feeding industry is under great financial pressure. The statement said, Unusual factors continue to keep the total livestock industry in a 1974 state of unrest and uncertainty. This uncertainceilty has continued since government price ing actions of last year and has been aggravated by frustrated demand at the meat counter, increased feeding costs, the . short energy situation, transportation problems, and general inflation. It was further stated that no industry can incur losses of the magnitude cattle feeders have taken over the past several months and survive for long. Many cattle feeders have closed down completely or are curtailing operations. The movement of feeder cattle replacements into feedlots is down. Farm Bureau told the Senate subcommittee that many producers feel that retailers do not reflect lower prices paid for animals as quickly as they increase prices at the meat counter when prices for live animals move up. Farm Bureau recommended that the USDA market news service make an effort to develop at least a daily report of prices being paid by consumers for selected cuts , of meat in perhaps five or six major cities. This information should be carried on the USDA market news wire. Similar information is reported for live animals and for meat at the wholesale level. Farm Bureau further stated that unless beef prices soon become rewarding for finished cattle, the entire beef industry could be seriously jeopardized. The quantity and quality of beef received by consumers will be jeduced and the resulting increased costs to consumers will not be good for either consumers or producers in the. long run, Farm Bureau stated. - Dont charge welfare costs to agriculture The time has come to transfer the welfare programs dealing with food out of the U.S. Department of Agriculture budget and into the budget of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW). U.S. farmers have too long been charged with these costs at least they have been lumped into the USDA budget and labeled as subsidies to farmers by some politicians and news media. And these costs are rising dramatically. Only 6 years ago, in 1969, the food profood stamps, child grams in the USDA budget nutrition, commodity donations excluding Public Law 480, supplementary family feeding procost $1.2 grams and nutrition education billion and represented 14 percent of the USDA budget, For fiscal year 1975 which starts July 1, 1974, the cost of these food programs will be about 64 percent of the USDA $5.9 billion cash outlays in the fiscal year. Farm Bureau has often recommended that these programs not be charged to the USDA budget. And the administration this year has announced that it will seek legislation to transfer the food stamp and related nutrition programs of USJDA to HEW. These are welfare programs and the transfer to HEW will place them with the other welfare programs of the government where they can be considered as a part of a welfare program in budgeting and operations. And farmers need this transfer so consumers will better understand the farm subsidy picture and not label the USDA budget including the huge welfare costs as a subsidy to agriculture when direct payments to producers will only be $461 million out of a $9.2 billion budget. Iowa Farm Bureau Spokesman Farmers: Check label codes for full benefits Farm Bureau members with a beef, dairy or other enterprise may not be receiving all the production information to which they are entitled as members. Mailings of special issues of the monthly American Farmer magazine, special commodity letters for Utah, and other specialized information depend on the. coding of a voting (farm) members major crop and livestock interests when he pays his annual dues. If these interests are not coded at that time, or are coded wrong, the farmer may miss out on the special mailings for his enterprises. Therefore, members are urged to check the coding on the mailing label of this issue of the Utah Farm Bureau News to see that it reflects their top four interest areas. In the upper right-han- d corner of the mailing label on page 1 of this issue should appear the code letters for up to four special interest subjects. If you are a farm owner or operator, please check the label and compare it with the code list below. If there are no code ters, or if they are incorrect, or if there are only asterisks or stars on your label and you are a farmer, please fill in and mail the coupon on this page to be sure that you are as a voting correctly listed member and that you receive any specialized mailings to farmers of your interest group. TO: Utah Farm Bureau COMMODITY CODES let- A - Apples B - Bees K - Pigs H - Fruit R - Wheat - Hay J - Fur S T - L - Potatoes C - Canning Crops M - Poultry D - Cattle N - Sheep E - Cherries O - Sugar Beets F Dairy P - Truck Garden G - Grain Q - Turkeys I 629 East 400 South Farming General Farm Grain Com Salt Lake City, Utah 84102 Mailing label (Staple or tape to coupon after clipping from page 1 of this newspaper.) Please correct my membership records to include the following commodity codes (maximum of 4) which reflect my farming operation. I certify that 1 am a farm owner or operator. j Signed |