Cattle Feeders and AAA 



(Continued from page i) 



In August, Gallagher bought 40 head 

 of "warmed up" steers weighing 1175 

 pounds for $11.85. When they weighed 

 1300 pounds, 40 days later, he sold 25 

 head for $16. The remainder, sold later, 

 brought $13. 



Will Stockley, prominent LaSalle 

 county feeder. Farm Bureau director and 

 director of the Illinois Farm Bureau 

 Serum Association, does not see eye to 

 eye with Gallagher on price. 



Says Stockley, "As corn works higher, 

 fewer cattle go on feed. I'd rather feed 

 corn at a dollar a bushel than at 50 cents 

 because I'd have less competition. If 

 a man can get cost of production plus 

 a small profit on corn he'll sell com, 

 not beef and he'll stay out of competition 

 with farmers who regularly feed their 

 grain." 



Thus Stockley agrees with the others 

 that stabilized corn prices will give corn 

 producers a cost-plus price and will 

 leave the ' field clear for experienced 

 feeders. Stockley maintains that the crop 

 surplus control program would be worth- 

 less to him if it didn't compel producers 

 of surplus corn to keep their surpluses 

 under control on their farms. 



Like most cattle feeders, Stockley will 

 continue to manufacture beef even 

 though the stabilization of corn prices 

 may, at times, reduce his margin. The 

 reason is that feeding has increased the 

 fertility of his soil. 



In 1914, Stockley bought 252 acres of 

 black soil that had the life farmed out of 

 it. Good yields then were 25 to 27 

 bushels of com per acre. After 24 years 

 of feeding all the grain the farm pro- 

 duces, yields of corn range from 75 to 

 100 bushels. This year, less than 140 

 acres produced nearly 14,000 bushels. 



Another fertility yardstick. Will points 



WnX STOCKLEY CAME HOME LATE 

 'Td rather feed com at a dollar." 



HEX PEDDICOHD CHECKS UP ON THE FEEDING SITUATION 

 "If grain producers can get 60 to 80 cents ior com they will stay out of the feed- 

 ing game." 



Galan Birtwell, treasurer of the LaSalle 

 County Farm Bureau, who feeds cattle 

 on the same farm his grandfather fed 

 cattle on 50 years ago, says the AAA of 

 1938 will help him plan his operations. 



"If we knew when we plant our com 

 what it may bring we will know what to 

 shoot at." 



Galan suffered a heavy loss in the 

 price drop. He had 62 head of 1000 

 pound steers in his feed lot that he had 

 paid $10.75 for in August when they 

 weighed 835 pounds. He sold 20 head 

 weighing 1108 pounds January 10, for 

 $8.65 per hundred-weight. 



"When we bought these cattle, the 

 choice kinds were bringing 18 and 19 

 cents. They looked like a bargain with 

 (Continued on page 20) 



DANA CRYDER 

 '*Hog feeders face a lough situation. 100.' 



out, is that during the first years he 

 owned the land a carload of cattle and 

 one of hogs would consume all the grain 

 and forage he could raise. Now he 

 regularly feeds four carloads of cattle and 

 two of hogs on what the farm produces! 

 He has managed to increase the size of 

 his enterprise three times through im- 

 proved soil fertility. 



This year, for the first time in 1 5 years, 

 he has corn to sell. Last fall his pigs 

 were poisoned on frosted rye pasture and 

 he was forced to sell them. He buys 

 feeder pigs because after years of heavy 

 feeding his soil is so thoroughly polluted 

 that it would be impossible to raise them. 



Rex Peddicord, vice-president of the 

 LaSalle County Farm Bureau, didn't have 

 a single animal in his feed lot on Feb- 

 ruary 10. Ordinarily he buys 400 pound 

 calves in October or November and sells 

 them from eight to ten months later. But 

 this year feeders were too high for Rex to 

 buy. He feeds from 25 to 100 head a 

 year with an average of 40 to 50 head. 

 He likes light cattle because they provide 

 a market for oats and rough feeds. 



"The soil conservation provisions of 

 the new Agricultural Adjustment Act 

 will lead breeders to breed more beef 

 cattle and sheep to use their extra pasture. 

 If grain producers can get 60 to 80 

 cents for corn they'll stay out of feeding 

 and the beef manufacturers will have 

 larger margins without wide price fluctua- 

 tions. It's the big price swings that hurt 

 feeders," Peddicord says. 



While he usually makes some profit in 

 feeding. Rex, like Stockley, declares that 

 the real profits which have come to him 

 through feeding have been increased crop 

 yields. 



' 



L A. A. RECORD 



