LearninQ about Livestock 



YOU are impressed if you go on one 

 of the marketing tours arranged by 

 Ray Miller that the Chicago Pro- 

 ducers has a staff of livestock sales- 

 men who know their business. They can 

 point out the shades of difference be- 

 tween various grades of livestock and 

 why some kinds bring more than others. 

 An inexperienced eye can see the va- 

 riation in a bunch of mixed calves but it 

 requires an expert to get the last penny 

 out of each one. Henry Johnson, calf 

 salesman, can tell you about them. "Here 

 are a couple that are plump and of the 

 right age," he said as we stopped at the 

 calf pens. "They have been whole milk 

 fed. See how well filled they are about 

 the tail head. This kind will bring seven 

 cents a pound today. It doesn't make 

 much difference about the breed. Over 

 here are a couple of calves that are thin, 

 bucket fed. All they got probably was 

 a little skim milk and they didn't do well. 

 They will sell for about three to 3.5 cents." 

 Then he sorted out calves of various 

 weights and ages and told how much 

 they would bring. Heavy and older calves 

 bring much less — 3.5 to 4 cents — than the 

 light choice vealers. Choice veal has 

 many uses — even as a substitute for 

 chicken. * 



v?^': *; A Kosher Cow 



Cattle salesmen Ray Walsh, Walter 

 Howe, Geo. Story, Harold Duke and 

 others tell you what happens to the va- 

 rious grades of steers, heifers and cows 

 that come to market. "Here's a Kosher 

 cow," pointing to a large, heavy, well- 

 finished animal. "She's heavy in the 

 forequarters and well filled around the 

 ribs and loin. The Jewish trade uses 

 only the meat from the hooks forward. 

 That kind of a cow will sell up to $7.50. 



"Over here is a canner," pointing to a 



thin Holstein, "worth about $2.50, suit- 

 able for sausage, mostly hide and bones. 

 Here's a thin heifer that will probably 

 go out in the country again as a feeder. 

 She's too thin to kill and the kind that 

 will make good gains in the feed lot." 



You think of the waste in sending that 

 class of cattle to the terminal markets, 

 with transportation costs two ways, com- 

 missions for selling and buying, yardage 

 fees at the market, and the loss from 

 shrinkage in weight. Then there's the 

 chance of picking up shipping fever and 

 other ailments in going from the farm 

 to Chicago and back again. It looks like 

 stupid business, one of those things that 

 has grown up and never changed perhaps 

 because it's always been done that away. 



"Here's a typical bologna bull," Hop 

 Kenyon says as we gather around. "See 

 his muscles. Lots of red meat there and 

 little fat. The kind packers want. He'll 

 go into wieners and bologna sausage. 

 The lean meat will soak up lots of water. 

 This fat bull over here looks better but 

 he won't bring the price. The fat will 

 go into soap. Fat meat will not absorb 

 as much water as lean." 



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Mixed Steers 



Harold Duke has assembled a mixed 

 lot of steers. He shows you a smooth, 

 well-finished Angus and tells you it will 

 bring about $8.75, close to the top of the 

 market that day. He shows you others 

 not so well finished. Some of them thin 

 that will sell for $8, $7.50, $6, $5 and 

 on down. "The little packers will take 

 this one and bid up for him," he says 

 pointing to a baby beef, "but this heavier 

 one over here has only a limited market. 

 The big packers will take him for the 

 chain store trade at a lower price." 



You see a big well bred Shorthorn cow 

 with gobs of fat around the hooks and 



pin bones. She may look good to her 

 owner, but not to the packers. All that 

 patchy fat is largely waste. The house- 

 wife won't take it. You see a big rugged 

 steer, heavy boned, two years old or 

 more, and fat. You learn that he will sell 

 for considerably less than a small-boned 

 fat baby beef largely because of the dif- 

 ference in dressing percentage. 



Light Hogs 



Over in the hog alleys Bob Grieser, 

 head salesman, shows you that there are 

 more than the usual number of half -fin- 

 ished porkers. In fact, most of them 

 weigh under 200 pounds. Three-fourths 

 of the runs at Chicago and elsewhere 

 now are lights and light butchers. High 

 priced corn is the reason. Two years ago 

 when corn was cheap and plentiful, heavy 

 butchers weighing 240 to 250 pounds 

 were more numerous. This year hogs are 

 being crowded to market early, which 

 makes market experts believe the price 

 will be substantially higher in the late 

 winter and early spring. 



"We are doing more than merely sell- 

 ing livestock here," Manager Dave Swan- 

 son says. "We are making a market. It's 

 important that we have substantial vol- 

 ume and able men to sell the stock be- 

 cause each day we are building the price 

 structure. We believe the Chicago Pro- 

 ducers is a constant and effective influ- 

 ence for getting farmers better prices for 

 their livestock. In the end it's the con* 

 sumer, of course, who has the deciding 

 voice as to price. But over short periods 

 farmers can influence the market by 

 concentrating their bargaining power in 

 the hands of their own co-operative 

 agencies." — Editor. ^ ; > ^^ •: ':^: ;ay/ c; 



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A circular on how dairymen can obtain 

 short-term loans may be had from local 

 production credit associations or from 

 the Farm Credit Administration in Wash- 

 ington, D. C. 



ANNTTAL MEETING ILLINOIS 

 Farm Supply Co., Decatur, Oct. 18. 

 They heard aboyt the six miUion 

 dollar buslnefts in petroleum prod- 

 ucts handled by the 58 county 

 -..; companiet last year. 



/.. 



DECEMBER, 1934 



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