Adviser E. H. Walworth, Warren county, makes a point en hog marlceting during 

 outloolc meeting to Raymond Elliott, Fred Shimmin, and Reg Mustain. 



WHAT ABOUT LIVESTOCK PRICES? 



Market specialists expect them to hold firm 



until fall of 1949. Corn may drop below 



$1.45 support price. 



WITH the nation's grain bins 

 bulging, when will the big drop 

 in livestock prices come? Not 

 as soon as you might think. 

 Not this fall. And probably 

 not until a year from this fall. 



This was the picture of the future of 

 livestock prices as University of Illinois 

 experts presented it during a series of 

 livestock and feed outlook meetings held 

 throughout the state recently. 



The drop won't come until the 1949 

 Spring pig crop hits the market. This 

 will be next fall during the heavy hog 

 marketing months of November, Decem- 

 ber, and January — more than a year 

 from now. 



The break won't come until the fall of 

 '49 because it will take that long to 

 increase livestock numbers enough to 

 afiFect the market — this year's bumper 

 crop notwithstanding. 



Next year's spring offering won't be 

 large. Farmers are not planning to in- 

 crease their pig crop this fall even though 

 their cribs will be filled to overflowing 

 with the largest corn crop the nation has 

 ever produced. 



Only hog numbers can increase rapidly 

 enough to aflect prices by next fall. Beef 

 cattle marketing won't do it — with all 

 the feed in the world to put on gains. 



It takes time to increase beef herds and 

 right now cattle numbers are down. They 

 are down 7,000,000 head from the 1944- 

 45 average. Marketings may be even 

 smaller next year if ranchers save back 



heifers as breeding stock. 



Dairy cattle numbers are down about 

 the same per cent as beef cattle, and this 

 year's lamb crop is the smallest since 

 1924. 



With all the cheap and abundant feed, 

 feeder cattle are in great demand. And 

 speakers at the outlook meetings were 

 talking about the possibilities for profit 



By LEW REISNER 



Field Editor, lAA RECORD 



on a "negative spread" in feeding of>era- 

 tions. 



This may mean that as feeders you'll 

 be able this year to sell fat cattle for less 

 money than you paid for them as feeders, 

 and still make a profit. The feeding ratio 

 is very favorable. 



Walter Howe, from the Chicago Pro- 

 ducers Commission Association, said 

 cattlemen could feed "without misgiv- 

 ings" by getting as much cheap feed as 

 possible into their cattle in the beginning, 

 and graining them heavily the last 120 

 days. 



He urged Illinois farmers to stay in the 

 livestock business, despite certain risks 

 in present markets. "The nation needs 

 meat," he said. "You are the ones who 

 can produce it." 



Speaking on feed supplies and feed 

 prices, Harry Russell, extension livestock 

 specialist, said many cattlemen are plan- 

 ning to buy most of the corn they will 

 need during harvest time this fall. 



Russell said that prices in the corn 

 surplus area will drop below the support 

 price of $1.45 this fall. 



He said that the supply of protein sup- 



filements is up at least 10 per cent over 

 ast year, particularly cotton and flax by- 

 products. 



The supplies of wheat and barley for 

 feed as livestock grains are also at record 

 levels. 



Hay is the one feed in smaller supply 

 — about seven per cent — from last year. 

 (Continued on page 34) 



Front 

 Cover 



s 



EVENTEENTH in our series of pic- 

 turesque and historical Illinois scenes is 

 the Boy Scout statue west of Ottawa in 

 La Salle county to the memory of the 

 man who introduced the Boy Scout 

 movement into the United States. 



He was William D. Boyce, prominent Ot- 

 tawa and Chicago business man and traveler. 

 Lost in a London fog in 1909, Boyce was 

 taken to his destination by a polite youth. 

 When Boyce offered the lad a tip he refused, 

 saying he was a Boy Scout. 



Impressed by the Boy Scout movement in 

 England, Boyce brought the idea to the United 

 States where scouting was established in 1910. 

 The statue stands near Boyce's grave which 

 has become a mecca for Boy Scout pilgrimages 

 from throughout the nation. 



There are more than two million scouts ind 

 scout leaders in the United States of whom 

 about 700,000 live in rural areas. Illinois has 

 86,000 scouts. Of these about 28,000 live in 

 rural areas. 





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10 



L A. A. RECORD 



