OCR Text |
Show The Beef Cattle Situation Prices of the better grades of slaughter cattle advanced sharply in August, and in the first half of September they reached the highest level in many years, the Bureau of Agricultural Economics reports. This advance was attributed largely .to the marked shortage of grain-fed grain-fed cattle in the slaughter supply. Prices of the lower grades of slaughter slaugh-ter cattle declined in August, but strengthened slightly in early Sep- It is expected that prices of well-finished well-finished cattle will be maintained at a relatively high level until increased increas-ed supplies of grain-fed cattle become be-come available next winter and spring, when it is probable that prices of such cattle will decline. Slaughter supplies of grain-fed cattle cat-tle are now much smaller than they were a year ago, but an increase in cattle feeding is expected to occur this fall and winter, chiefly because of the improved feed grain situation this year and the relatively large profits obtained from cattle feeding operations during the past 6 months. Little or no seasonal decline in prices of the lower grades of slaughter slaugh-ter cattle is expected in the next few months because of the strong demand de-mand for stocker and anticipated j during this period. Prices of the lower grades of slaughter cattle feeder cattle in the first half of 1938 ar Ukf-ii l be maintained near present fevels or even -may advance seasonally in that period. eatu" marketings probably will continue to be fairly large in the remainder re-mainder of 1937, except from areas where drought conditions during the past few years have greatly reduced numbers. Slaughter in this period is not likely to be so large as in the corresponding period of 1936, however. how-ever. Shipments of cattle and calves from the 17 States in the western cattle area for the 5-month period j from August to December probably j will total about 5 percent less than j such shipments a year earlier. Practically Prac-tically all of the reduction in such shipments this year is expected to occur in the Northern Great Plains States, where marketings in 19S6 were unusually large because of drought, With increased supplies and lower prices of feeds along with the present pres-ent relatively high price of cattle, it is expected that the slaughter of cattle and calves in 1938 will be smaller than in 1937, with most of the decrease occurring in the first half of the year. n |