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Show rnLivestock. JrSituatioiiJ D. ve:opment of supplemental ar.;! intersive grain feeding- uf cattle on the Pacific Coast, the U.;uthwest and the T:iter-mountnin country has been j one of the outstandir jt features cf the live stock business during recent i years. Not so long ago, cattlemen generally depended entirely upon j nature to provide feed and water for j their cattle. The result was that the j mar'.et was affected by periods o: i burd-. nsome receipts when the grass j and pasture feeds were good and by . practically "starvation" receipts at other seasons of the year. Such periods of "feast and famine" in the ' marketing of beef animals naturally were reflected in the price trends. During the months of heavy marketing market-ing cf cattle, prices were severely depr ssed. Unfortunately, beef cattle' marketing was heaviest also during the warmest months, when consumer demand normally is at low ebb. In California and Arizona, supple-menial supple-menial feeding of cattle was started I only a few years ago, when cattlemen began feeding cottonseed cake and hay in order to fatten or to hold the condition of their cattle in the late summer and early fall months, pre-voius pre-voius to the rains. This helped to relieve re-lieve the market of many thin cattle, thus taking out- of the meat channels chan-nels the common beef which harms consumption. With only the fat cattle cat-tle moving into consumer channels, there is less beef available and therefore there-fore the spring grass cattle season slump is becoming less pronounced. With the additional use of feedlots throughout the western country, it has been possible to spread out the supply of beef through twelve months of the year instead of during only four or five months, thus eliminating much of the ups and downs in price levels a stabilizing feature which is valuable not only to the producer but to the meat distributor and consumer con-sumer as well. The fewer fluctuations there are in price levels, the more satisfactory trade condtions are all aruund. The use of grain stubble fis'.ds, dry feed lots and supplemental feeds also j has tended to improve the quality I of cattle and gradually, the meat j distributors have been able to obtain ! a higher price for fed stock, thus creating a greater range in cattle j prices, so that the man with well bred and properly fed cattle is getting get-ting a fair premium. The general demand for young beef, including what is termed "baby beef," has also forced along the year around feeding and marketing of cattle. The days are gone when the cowman could afford to" hold on his place the plain and half-fat cattle, ordinarily termed 'cut backs" because under present condtions, with high carrying costs such as labor, taxes, and interest, the cowman can't afford af-ford to carry over these, cattle which do not "finish." The aged steer is getting to be unpopular with the public, for the consumer demands the smaller cuts, which come from younger young-er cattle. All of this is generally admitted' to be for the cattlemen, yet could-hardly could-hardly have happened under the old system of -country buying when the buyer topped the herd, which was the prevailing practice before the establishment estab-lishment of open, competitive markets mar-kets for all kinds of merchantable live stock. The public market system has resulted in a premium being paid for better finished stock, has given the producer opportunity to sell his stock when ready for market, yet to get them converted into cash as fast as they were finished; and thru comparison and competition has demonstrated to' the producer the grades and ages preferred by the packer buyers. The cowman also has been forced to aid nature in providing water foi his stock, through the building of water reservoirs, digging of wells and piping of springs. Cattle do not make satisfactory gains on supplemental supple-mental feeds or dry feeds unles? there is plenty of good, clean wate available. Summer feeding of cattlr and lambs has been started in thi alfalfa pastures in such sections as the Imperial Valley of California, and the Yuma and Salt River valleys of Arizona. Stockmen have demonstrated demon-strated only in the last year or two that temperatures were not too high in those sections for satisfactory satisfac-tory live stock feeding. Nothing means more towards the well being of the cattle and sheep business than stabilized markets, and the stockman is seeing much improvement improve-ment in stabilization through aiding nature in providing feed and wateer and in his ability to market stock when ready for market. Year around marketing means much to the economic econ-omic welfare of the stockman, thru providing a means of cash income all through the year; and to the meat trade because of an ample supply of meat animals throughout the year. |