OUTLOOK FOR LIVE STOCK 267 



are for finishing stock. A considerable number of 

 "them are already starting in the business, and a 

 better class of cattle are being raised every year. 

 This is. due to the introduction of pure blood con- 

 tinually, .and due also to the increased number of 

 ranchmen who feed their cattle, especially their 

 yearling calves, during the winter months, instead 

 ot compelling them to rustle or starve, as in the 

 old range days. 



If a shortage of cattle were the only deficiency 

 the United States is facing, we might hope for a 

 heavy increase in beef production within the next 

 few years, but the situation in regard to wheat is 

 equally acute. An increased area must be devoted 

 to wheat growing if we are still to produce the 

 bread supply for ourselves and the increase in pop- 

 ulation. We now raise about one-sixth of all the 

 cattle in the world, our strongest competitors being 

 Canada and Argentina. Even now certain far-see- 

 ing American packers are causing investigations 

 to be conducted in South America concerning the 

 feasibility of importing chilled beef from the Ar- 

 gentine. 



It is extremely likely that the relatively near 

 future will witness importations of beef into this 

 country from South America. Meanwhile, the cost 

 of home-grown beef will increase until it approx- 

 imates the value of the imported article. Accord- 

 ing to the Secretary of Agriculture, the farmer has 

 not been getting his due share of the high prices 

 for finished cattle. The price paid by the packer 

 to the grower, in other words, is not as much as it 

 should be when the high price of corn and the high 

 retail price of beef are considered. This does not 

 apply with equal force to the man who is fortunate 

 enough to own, or control, cheap grass land. His 



