| OCR Text |
Show . ., j . . The hog market apparently has reached a satisfactory trading level as is evidenced by the minor fluctuations fluctua-tions which have taken place in recent re-cent weeks. Prices took a rather sudden drop early in the fall but there is a growing opinion that the winter market will be quite satisfactory satis-factory to the producer. This does not mean that higher prices are predicted pre-dicted for the immediate future, hut an 11 to 12-cent market for hogs at Los Angeles represents a profitable outlet for the western hog growers. Western cattlemen have never shown keener appreciation of the need for improved beef cattle production pro-duction than at present. This is borne out by the broad demand for purebred, registered beef bulls, particularly par-ticularly in California. While prices on breeding stock have shown only slight advances, higher prices would not be surprising in the near future as the demand for good bulls seems interests are inclined to blame large importations of foreign hides, which they say should be subjected to higher high-er tariff duties. Besides, it must he recognized that many imitations and substitutes are taking the place of leather in the industry. The price of hides is an important factor in what the packer can afford to pay for his live cattle as the hide represents repre-sents about 6 per cent of the weight of the animal, and under normal conditions, usually represents about 12 per cent of the value of the beast. Before the war, hides generally sold for about twice as much per pound as the live critter and during the war, hides often sold for three times as much as the animal. During the past few years, however, hides have sold at about the same price per poun'd as steers, which, of course, means that the packer must depend just that much more on beef sales to show a profit in operation. to be greater than the available .supply. .sup-ply. California is picking an enormous cotton crop this year. Warm weather weath-er this fall and lack of early fall rains give promise of a bumper crop-The crop-The size of the cotton crop is of vast interest to cattle and sheepmen, as cotton seed cake-has in recent years became regarded as a necessary neces-sary feed for. both the range man and to a large extent, the feedlot operator. An abundent supply of cottonseed cake means more economical eco-nomical feed for stock and means better beef on the market. A good supply of cottonseed cake is about the best insurance a cowman can t?ke out- It means that through '"caking" his cattle in the dry fall months, they will fatten out earlier iu the spring and hy "caking" the hal-fat critters towards the end of the grass season, he can still cash in most of his stock as beef which, of course, is more profitable than carrying carry-ing them over. Everything being equal, cattle feed ers seem to have better opportunity of profitable operations this season than a year ago- Prices of stocker and feeder cattle this fall are lower low-er 'than a year ago, due largely to the reluctance of the corn belt feeders feed-ers to buy heavily again after taking tak-ing losses on their winter feeding operations last season. As an cx ample of lower feeder prices, it j nnyht be pointed out that aged Tex. ! as steers, which last year were sold ! up to ?125 per head, are now being ' priced at $93. Feeder calves which sold last fall at ?15 to ?30 and better j are now offered at $10 and $45. Of j course, these are top feeder cat'le. j The actions of the hide market 1 i have not been too encouraging dur-, dur-, j ing the recent months. Many cattle |
