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Show and through providing plenty of goodj tod from the birth of the calf to marketing time. Cattle producers generally agree that the greatest profits lie in producing pro-ducing young cattle and developing them to marketable quality and age in the shortest time possible, thus effecting quick turnover and the least possible overhead in taxes, -wages, interest, etc. The same thing may be I said of producing ISO to 200 lb. hogs in six or seven months. The lamb producer has pretty well solved his production problem, probably the only real danger in that field being the desire often to carry more ewes and lambs on a given amount of land than can well be carried "without f serious danger of shortage of feed. Standardization of meats as to quality, size and even price may be one of the outstanding results and benefits of the growth of so-called "chain store" markets all over the buyer in weighty aged cattle, even though of good quality. Manifestly, it is impossible to produce this class of beef except through godd breeding country. Chain stores have built up their great volume of business largely large-ly as a result of standardization of products thc-y distribute, quite important im-portant as to uniformity of price and quality. One of the national meat packers states that 60 per cent of his meat sales are to chain stores throughout the country. Apparently, chain store merchandising is on the increase, so the producer of meat animals may well give consideration to their demands. The chain store man says that it is good business to carry meats of uniform quality and weight. Thus, when the housewife buys four small pork chops for 40 cents one day, she does not expect to buy four pork chops for 60 cents the next time, merely because the dealer doesn't have any small pork loins in his cool, er. Neither does she understand why a round steak should cost 40 cents one time and twice that much' tho next time a natural result, however, where the dealer buys 'different grades of beef and different size:! carcasses from time to time. The chain store market wants quality in small packages. Probably that is one reason for the increased popularity of lamb, as the lamb growers have been developing a choice young lamb of uniform size, quality and weight. The chain store has had a great deal to flo with increasing the consumer con-sumer demand for baby beef, because of the good average quality, lack of waste, small cuts and fairly uniform scale of prices. There is no doubt but that producers must continue their efforts towards better breeding so that the production of choice young cattle, lambs and hogs may be possible. The retailer is just as anxious to see a stabilized market as any one. He sells his food products for about the same price week in and week out, from year to year. It is difficult to explain to the consumer why there should be great variation in retail meat prices from week to week Chain stores and retailers are giving serious thought to stabilization of ii'arket values and manifestly, in order ord-er to have stable retail values, it is necessary to have stable values on the live animals at the stock yards. Some students of the trade are inclined in-clined to credit the degree of stabili- i zalion thus far realized to the great volume of chain store buying. One great chain of markets in Southern California is now restricting restrict-ing its beef purchases to well fed young cattle, steers and heifers, I weighing on the hoof from 800 to 1,-000 1,-000 lbs. It Is difficult to interest this |