OCR Text |
Show flW Livestocks - foodstuffs, it is believed probable tli: federal agricultural administrati-Hap will make a drive towards higher ho P; prices early in the fall. This won; B' naturally cause improvement in be; u' prices. se; Drastic advances of grain and feed-stuffs, feed-stuffs, with virtually no gains in val-' ues of fat livestock, have given west- J em stockmen cause for worry. With ' few exceptions, feed prices are sharp- j ly higher than a month ago, whereas the general scale of livestock prices has shown no improvement. In the San Joaquin valley barley is soiling at $20.00 to $22.00 a ton, or just about double the prices paid a year ago. Cottonseed Cot-tonseed cake and meal have advanced ' along with corn, feed, wheat, milo and j other products. Despite the higher scale of feed costs, with attendant increased cost of putting flesh on hogs, lambs and steers, there is more interest in cattle cat-tle feeding in most of the western states than at any previous time. Serious drouth conditions are reported re-ported throughout most of the western west-ern range country, with range pas- i tures the poorest in many years. Pa- j cific coast packers have been back-! ward about bidding on half -fat grass ! steers and have shown a preference for hard-finished cattle that will kill j out with white fat and marbled beef. In a season of good grass feed, the natural feeds in the western country are sufficient to put a satisfactory . finish on the majority of cattle, al-' al-' hough there is a growing market for strctly choice, grain-fed bullocks, especially es-pecially young stock. As a result, western stockmen who are in position to finance feeding operations op-erations are practically forced to feed some concentrates to supplement poor I range feed. Many in the trade are optimistic op-timistic in their views of the fall and winter market, believing that fat stock prices will advance sufficiently sufficient-ly to pay a profit on feeding costs. This view is strengthened as reports come in of vast improvement in business busi-ness and industrial conditions, with thousands of workers again obtaining employment . In the industrial districts in South- . ern California, employment agencies are placing more and more workers right along. This1 means greater buying buy-ing power and certainly people will want meat along with other necessities. necessi-ties. While it may take some time for livestock values to become adjusted to the higher levels in sympathy with |