Evening star., 1933-01-29
LIGHT STEER SALE
CONTINUES ACTIVE
Heavy Beef Proves Drag on
Market-Pork Trade
Is Dull.
BY FRANK 1, WELLER,

The wide disparity between yearlings
and light steers scaling 1,05O pounds
downward and weighty bullocks averag-
ing 400 pounds up has become a phe-
nomenon of the live stock trade For
weeks two very definite price levels have
been forming in the steer market and
his weeks further discrimination against
weight carried heavy cattle of is to Is
cents and In instances 40 cents, q new
low level for many years at the Chi
cago yards. Meanwhile light offerings
sold actively, . 25-cent higher trend
placing values right back at last weeks
best time.
Most buyers begin to complain when
steers promise to scale ], 200 pounds up.
The slow. draggy, and for the most part
peddnng market on steers with weight
mirrors similar conditions in the dressed
trade, where heavy beef Is hard to sell
and as much drug on the market as
heavy steers.
Extent Of Supply.
Some idea of the excessive supply Of
big weight steers at Chicago may be
gained from the sale Of numerous loads
OF l,460-l ,521 pound bullocks at s4.l5-
$40. Each additional so pounds Of
weight penalized prices until very highly
finished l,s05-pound steers sold down
to S365.
At no time in recent trade history
have overweight and overfat steers
been so low or so sharply Disseminated
against IN comparison with thinly COW
cred lightweight offerings Yearlings
grading good and better sold largely at
$3.50 upward. the top on strictly choice
offerings landing at S7.25. A spread Of
~ to $6.25, however, took the crop.
The supply OF low-priced light steers
and common and medium light heifers
is below trade requirements, otherwise
they would not sell at such a premium
over heavy kinds. The crop of little
heifers. lightweight mixed steers and
heifers and the rank and file Of COM
mon to medium light steers occupy
about the same relative niche in the
trade from a supply and price stand
point as did eighty steers last Sep
tember, when the top was boosted to
$l0.35.
Improvement in big weight brackets
seems to depend on how much longer
D.
say all flnishers are liquidating weighty
steers and that the next so days will
see the supply curtailed to point
where even the current narrow demand
for heavy beef will strengthen the live
market. Others insist that light and
medium weight cattle have been nursed
along for better prices long enough to
have expanded the supply Of bullocks
for several months.
After bobbying around. hog prices
closed at Chicago mostly 10 cents
higher than Thursday of last week
Trade was active each day, smaller
shipper demand being made up in
heavier buying by local interests. Ship
perS took the smallest number they
have sent out during corresponding
period In many weeks.
Pork Trade Dull.
Eastern markets received small runs,
but the fresh pork trade was dull and
lower from day to day. prices hitting
record low levels. Hogs scaling 10000
pounds received a premium throughout
the week. The closing top was $3.50
equal to the highest since late in No.
vember. The bulk Of good to choice
170-2l0-pound averages sold at $3.40
to s345.
Fat lambs took of early for a nose
dive. Ninety-two-pound Nebraskas hit
$3.50 late on Tuesday and exactly two
days later closely comparable kinds
could not beat $3.50. Compared with
q week ago the close was mostly Is to
50 cents lower, whereas comparatively
thin lightweight lambs held up fairly
we'll.
Finishers holding lambs back for bet
ter prices apparently had overstayed
the market and the deluge along with
unreliable dressed outlet sent 101 pound
lambs to the packers at IS, compared
with . top Of $500 paid by outsiders.