Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1914-01-22
SAYS WESTERN FEED
LOTS ARE EMPTY
SAYS THAT STOCK
SHORTAGE is GREATER THAN
EXPECTED.

James r. Poole, in letter written
| from Salt Lake City, to the Chicago
| Live Stock World, takes occasion to
severely criticse the present admins
tration for It's position with reference
to the conservation of forests In the
western states, and with a ready ROW
of wit, sums up the live stock SITUATION
in the middle and western states. Inc
/ letter follows:
! | send tidings Of great scarcity both
of the actual and impending varieties:
This, as will be inferred, concerns beer
| and mutton supply.
! Hot air, politics and mining PROPOSE
| tions are on tap in unlimited quaint
ties 'as of yore. But the half has not
been told concerning depletion of cat
| tie herds and sheep floCks of this great
| trans Missouri region.
! If the entire surplus of Argentina
and Australia was available for Amer
! lean consumption the deficiency couid
not be relieved. You can't find one load
| of cattle where twenty existed ten
| years ago. The community range has
| disappeared as beef-prOducing factor.
We rode all day across Wyoming
through region once lousy with
| cattle and did not see thousand head.
| And winter range conditions are ideal
! at that How short Montana and Wyom-
| ing are of sheep nobody knows, but
considerable guessing is being done
Iowa has some cattle, but the vast
area of stalk fields minus bovine tend
ancy is calculated to make one thlnk
of anything but cheap beefsteak.
| Across Nebraska most of the big 1eed
| lots that line the y. P. right of way are
| vacant in striking contrast to the times
! when r. B. Hord was busy making
/ beef all the time. Up in the Sandhlll
country the same condition exists.
| Cattle shortage is no mere theory; ac-
| cept it from me.
Iowa is doing a lot of feeding. but the
| Pacific coast is clamorOuS for it's out
| put About 10000 hayfed sheep and
| lambs have been contracted to go to
Los Angeles, Cudahy being the prln-
cipal buyer. Feeders just load them up
/ and accept what Los Angeles RENTS.
! Funny kind of market. amt 1t? Ihe
Austins sent a lot of hay-fed lambs TO
| Chicago recently and received $7.75,
but Cudahy haited the hook so tempt
ingly that he secured the rest on p. t.
terms.
Southern California is crowding Sc
attic and Portland buyers out of their
normal territory. They are bidding 6a
cents for hay-fed lambs in Wyoming
and IA cents for fleshy steers. They
are crowding Puget Sound hog buyers
forcing the latter to go into eastern
South Dakota, right under the smoke
of Omaha and Sioux City packing
houses Portland and Seattle are buy
ing hogs around Sioux Falls and Yank-
ton, S d. Great dOings!
If the Pacific coast doesn't get most
of Montana's crop of hayfed cattle
everybody hereabouts is betting wrong.
Oregon, Idaho and Washington are out
of cattle. IN the Ontario country you
might run q rake through a whole
county and not maverick calf.
Everybody is possessed with con-
Stunning desire TO get back into cattle,
but tight money is a serious obstacle.
Borrowing the simoleons is a 10-per-
cent proposition out here and even
then you can't get it. Given easy money
the investor will make stock cattle
market during 1914, without prece-
dent.
The wool situation is interesting. A
general opinion exists that bottom has
been uncovered. but buyers are wary.
Their obvious purpose is to get the new
clip at a way-dOwn price boosting val
ues after Few buyers are here, but the
east has it's ear glued to the ground.
Orders are being placed. however. and
prices are turning in the growers ia
vOr.
That the western country is incensed
over the new tariff law is evident. 1t is
denounced as sectional legislation. Ev-
erything the west produces got it where
the Thanksgiving turkey got the axe.
Extoll free trade here in Utah and you
are sure of a trip in the ambulance.
Grievances. There's a, long list! And
the railroads are catching Hades. AS
they are used to it, results will be as
per precedent.
Range conditions are ideal. Cattle in
Montana are actually putting on beef on
grass. Little hay consumption has been
| 4 yyNcr
wool will be dirty owing to lack of
snow In western Wyoming consider
able cottonseed cake is being fed, ow-
ing to it's superiority to corn for the
purpose Pure bred cattle are in de-
mand. The Shorthorn is wanted in the
dairy regions which are extending.
Herefords are bringing big prices, with
not enough to go around. Indications
are that many Shorthorn bulls will be
needed to get weight on Hereford
stock A difference of 100 lbs in weight
at marketing time on a 7-cent basis
means profit or loss to the grower. The
necessity for Improvement Of all cattle
is generally recognized. Weight and
early maturity will be the principal fac
tors hereafter
There will be a big demand for
southern stock cattle in the spring if
money is available, and every mean
little Mexican steer available will get
bidder. California is going to be an in
sistent bidder and the north Pacific
coast will want stocker stuff by the
trainload Everywhere are yawning
gaps waiting the stocking process. At
this moment money is the factor.
Washington is catching h, in the
language of the poet. Uncle Sam is
servating millions of acres of forest
growth, automatically creating breed
ing grounds for predatory animals but
making no provision for their repres-
sition or extinction. II should worry" is
the reply from the Potomac region to
the protests Of western live stock grow
ers
But these warmth are costing live
stock men of the west 10 million dollars
annually. Mel HORNE did not furnish
the figures, but they are not eXtrava-
giant. Give the eastern consumer access
to the beef and mutton needed annually
D., al thic army Of hears rn,parc