Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1898-12-27
The Cattle Market.

The matters of supply, demand and
prices entering into the cattle business
are ones of p~erpleXity, and often make
the cattle men wish that the business
consisted of nothing aside from herding
and branding. For two years past
high prices have ruled and the men
with herds have p~rospered, but they
are always looking as far ahead as pos
sible, watching for the turning point
that they may dispose of their stock
before a downward tendency of values
shall eliminate all profits.
The general impression has been for
some time past hal the demand for
beef cattle has finally reached that
point where there will be no danger of
o~verstocking the range and farms, and
that the low prices of the years prior to
1897 had resulted in a shortage of mar
ketable stock which could not be over
come in years. In relation to this side
of the cattle business the National Live
Stock Association has sent out a bulle-
tin containing articles from the pens of
two men who are supposed to be posted
on the conditions governing prices paid
for cattle, and the writer's arrive at al
most opposite conclusions.
A. E. de Ricqules, one of the writers,
figures out that lower prices must come
in the neal future, and backs up his
conclusion with several apparently
good easons. In the first place, he is
Of the opinion that the growing popu-
larity of mutton among consumers is
lessening the consumption of beef. and
says: Good fed sheep that are p%rOfita-
bly, sold at from $3.75 to 81 per 100
pounds will do more to keep the price
of beef down than all the bugbear COM
binations the Big -Four can make AS
to the shortage in the supply of cat
tie, the writer thinks there is more talk
than fact in that idea. While it is true
that there are not so many large herds
on the ranges, it is equally as true that
there are more animals among the
small farms of the middle west and
east: that the latter holdings more than
llldke up IOI lIle ueCIedSe III the llllIllDti
on the western ranges. He therefore
attributes the high prices of the past
two years to the enormous crops of
hay, corn, other feed, cheap money and
plenty of it and the general feeling that
better times had come to stay; and
looks forward to a condition of the
market where the common southern
cattle will not be saleable at anything
like present prices, while the high
grade corn-fed cattle will be hard put
to it to hold their own.
The other writer, Fred p. Johnson,
takes a more cheering view of the stu
i'll the supply and the tendency to i'm
prove the grades of cattle which are
placed on the market. According to his
figures, there are about 10, 000, 900 head
less of cattle in the country than there
were in 1894, but that the age at which
stock is sold will compensate in some
measure for that difference. TO use his
words; while there is apparently no
shortage in the available supply of cat
tie, it is the opinion of the writer that
there is a shortage in the particular
kind of cattle the demand is calling for
at this time, and that shortage will
probably have the effect of at least
holding prices firm, if, indeed, there is
not a decided advance on the better
grades"
The demand for better grades has al
most revolutionized the business, and
feeders have discovered that the higher
priced animals are the more profitable
to handle, and therefore the cheapest
to buy in the end, and at the close of
the year the demand for thorough
breds and high grades is on the in
crease, with a corresponding ~stiffening
of prices. Mr.. Johnson, however, sees
one cloud on the horizon, the effects of
which cannot be estimated at this time.
and that is the threatened shortage in
the corr supply. Should the foreign
demand for American corn and grains
continue with anything like that of the,
past is months. prices for feed will ne
cessarily advance to a point where
there will be no profit in feeding cattle
at present prices, and the cattle men
will be compelled to suffer in profits.
Mr.. johnson concludes his article in the
following words:
Beef will go higher, but the advance
will be absorbed by the farmers for
their feed, and the stockman will con-
slider himself lucky to maintain the
present prices The high price of feed,
mand for choice cattle, for while the
amateur feeder will quit the business,
the professional feeder will go in heav-
Ter, and as the professional only wants
the best cattle, the demand will be am
pie to hold present prices steady, if not
to advance them slightly. 1t is the
common cattle that will suffer, but the
increased price of beef will not permit
prices to drop abnormally."
1t appears to The New Mexican that
these two writer's have presented both
sides of the cattle question fairly and
clearly, but which one is correct in his
conclusions? So far as the cattle men
are concerned, for the present, at least,
the conditions mentioned in the arti-
Giles are such that whatever changes
are made in the cattle market must ne
cessarily be slow Of formation, and time
will thus be given for so adjusting mat
tiers that there will be no great losses
to any one.
TnAa nf (tvf1 RsrnCnhmra.