At the speakers' table during the marketing conference during the annual meeting are, 



left to right: Edwin Gumm, Galesburg; J. P. Redman, Cairo; Carl Johnson, DeKalb; Homer 



Curtiss, Stockton; Byron Kline, LeRoy, and Lawrence Todt, Harvel. 



PROF. L J. NORTON 



MORE meat for the nation's dinner 

 table in 1947 at slowly declining 

 prices was predicted by Dr. L. J. Nor- 

 ton of the University of Illinois Col- 

 lege of Agriculture at the meeting of 

 the Illinois Livestock Marketing Asso- 

 ciation held Nov. 19 during the lAA 

 annual convention. 



"Fat cattle are now very scarce," 

 Norton said, "that is why they sell for 

 over $30." 



"But with about 80 million head on 

 farms and plenty of corn to feed, the 

 cattle will be rolling in from the range 

 and feedlot next spring and winter." 



Prices, he believes, will be favorable 

 to cattlemen as long as incomes re- 

 main high but meat over the counter 

 will be cheaper as demands for better 

 quality cuts are more nearly satiated. 



"Hog market this winter may show 

 a seasonal drop beginning in December 

 but pork supplies are too short to 

 allow much decline in price," Norton 

 believes. "Lard will sell at top prices 

 since shortages of fat are worldwide." 



The '46 fall pig crop is down some 

 15 per cent and will not bolster spring 

 and summer marketing. 



With these light summer marketings 



it will pay to have spring pigs ready 

 early, to catch the summer slack. This 

 will be especially true, Norton believes, 

 if the large crop of spring pigs, now 

 being predicted, materializes. 



"Everyone knows we have had a 

 record corn crop this year. This cer- 

 tainly means that the sooner the indi- 

 vidual farmer gets corn converted into 

 saleable meat animals, the more money 

 he will realize for it," Norton con- 

 tinued. 



"And the price of hogs must go 

 down a long way before hogs fail to 

 pay for corn at loan prices of about 

 $1.15 on the '46 crop." 



Reporting on the activities of the Illi- 

 nois Livestock Marketing Association, 

 Manager H. W. Trautman of Decatur 

 said more livestock moved through the 

 association's yards last year than during 

 the relatively stable preceding year de- 

 spite confused market prices. 



He reported to the conference that 

 182,680 animals were handled by the 

 marketing association this year as com- 

 pared with 169,207 for the preceding 

 year. Net earnings of the association 

 were |10,189.96 for the fiscal year end- 

 ing Sept. 30. 



Prof. L. J. Norton, acting head of the University of Illinois department of agricultural 

 economics, addresses Livestock Marketing conference. Left to right: Clark E. Wise, 

 Champaign; Mont Fox, Vermilion; Prof. Norton; Illinois Livestock Marketing Association 

 Manager H. W. Trautmann; R. W. Beckett, Macon, and Mrs. B. Meagher, office secretary. 



24 



PROPOSE COORDINATED 

 LIVESTOCK PROGRAM 



(Continued from page 22) 



The plan proposes that the plant 

 should be a complete meat packing unit, 

 providing for the processing of all edible 

 and inedible products. 



It should be equipped with ample cold 

 storage, so that if it would seem ad- 

 visable to go into the market with boned 

 frozen meats, such a product could be 

 produced. 



Since the plant will probably become 

 a part of a state-wide marketing system, 

 it is felt that it would not be fair to the 

 livestock farmers of the state to confine 

 its ownership, educational advantages, 

 and distribution of patronage divi- 

 dends, if any, to one community. 



If it is made a part of a general live- 

 stock marketing program, patronage divi- 

 dends, if any, could flow into a marketing 

 agency, and if the marketing agency is 

 properly set up, could be equally dis- 

 tributed over the state, Metzger pointed 

 out. 



Their study leads them to believe that 

 a meat packing corporation of this kind 

 should not buy its live animals direct 

 from farmers. 



A direct buying program would vir- 

 tually mean that many Farm Bureau 

 members would offer material to the 

 meat packing company which it could 

 not use but would be obliged to take and 

 then because of necessity sell at some 

 other market. 



To avoid this conflict and hard feeling 

 if such stock was refused, the committee 

 members came to the conclusion it would 

 be better to buy through established co- 

 operative marketing agencies. 



Possible location of the plant involves 

 complex factors not readily solved. Their 

 study for possible locations involves the 

 following points. 



To insure the proper meat supply, ade- 

 quate numbers or all species of livestock 

 within a 50-mile radius of the plant 

 should be assured. The area should con- 

 tain as good a general quality of all spe- 

 cies of livestock as can be found in any 

 one section of the state. 



It involves a sympathetic attitude on 

 the part of the farmers, local Farm Bu- 

 reau, and businessmen and city people at 

 the point where the plant is to be lo- 

 cated. 



It should be near one or more coopera- 

 tive marketing agencies where a supply 

 of livestock might be purchased. 



There must be an outlet for meat and 

 finished products within a 50 to 60-mile 

 radius of the plant to absorb the output 

 of such a plant. 



It should be located at a point where 

 there is opportunity to improve quality 

 of meat being sold through local outlets. 



L A. A. RECORD 



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