COST OF PRODUCING BEEF IN KANSAS 5 
In agriculture generally the year 1923 was one of improvement in 
the prices of things the farmer sells and a slight reduction in the cost 
of things the farmer has to buy in order to continue producing. This 
situation was just reversed in the Kansas grass section. Cattlemen 
shipping cattle to these pastures had to pay more for their grass than 
the year previous. Labor was relatively higher. And the prices of 
southwestern steers, at the time they went on grass in Kansas, had 
advanced somewhat over the previous spring. In the face of these 
conditions, range and grass-fat cattle did not hold their normal price 
relationships on the market in comparison to corn-fed cattle, and 
although the general price level of corn-fed cattle held steady during 
1923 the prices of Kansas grass-fat cattle and range cattle, generally 
were weak. 
MONTHLY RECEIPTS OF CATTLE AT CHICAGO AND KANSAS CITY 
1921 -1923 
THOUSANDS 
350 
300 
250 
200 
150 
100 
50 

Kansas Citu — ~ ^/ • l*. 
* Chicago /• I*\ 
^ /VpVq 
/ l\ 
K ^ /r \ 
W\/ \ v 
W f yj 
\./ \n \ 
-^ 7 A \ 1 
V / /\ 
\ J **\ > 
v 1 \ 
r^ ■ \ 
i V 
V I V 
v x J V 
Konsos City (From Kansas J 
v*» 
J. F. M. A.M.J. J. A. S. O. N. D. J. F. M. A. M.J. J. A.S.O. N. D. J. F. M. A. M.J. J. A. S. O. N. O. 
1921 1922 1923 
Fig. 3. — There is a wide variation at different times during the year in the numbers of cattle received at 
Kansas City as compared with Chicago and in the proportion of the Kansas City cattle that come from 
Kansas 
INFLUENCE OF MOVEMENT OF KANSAS GRASS CATTLE ON THE 
MARKET 
Since 1920 the State of Kansas has supplied approximately 40 
per cent of all cattle and calves marketed in Kansas City. This 
movement of cattle from the State of Kansas into Kansas City 
assumes varying proportions of each month's receipts as is shown in 
Figure 3. During the period of light cattle receipts extending from 
early December to early May, cattle coming from the feed lots of 
eastern Kansas make up close to one-half the Kansas City receipts. 
In May the movement of Kansas cattle usually begins to drop off 
and does not recover until grass cattle begin to move in July. During 
August, September, October, and November, months of heavy 
western-range cattle movements, Kansas cattle again assume an 
important influence on the Kansas City market, their shipments 
from this State again approximating from two-fifths to one-half of 
the total receipts. The State of Kansas markets more cattle during 
the months that its grass cattle move to market (July, August 
