The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1939-1949, 1940-09-12
MORE ABOUT
Cattle Feeding
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ceSsful in fattening cattle on grain
and have made fairly good profits.
He advised the farmers, however,
who are anticipating feeding cattle,
to carefully study the factors which
may cause sharp changes in beef
prices.
Turning to these factors and the
present cattle situation, eagle as
serted, beef cattle in the United
States have been on the increase for
the past three years and the in
crease is expected to continue on
the upward trend for several more
years.
Even other cattle have shown an
increase and considerable number
are being placed upon the market.
The number of cattle offered on the
market during the last half of this
year may be less than the same
period Of 1899, he said, because
VI JULIO 4o1 IllClo al
their COWS and heifers for breed
ing purposes and to build up their
herds. This is due, eagle said, to
the favorable range and pasture
conditions.
Rising industrial activity, which
is partly stimulated by our defense
program and our exports of war
materials, will probably mean larg-
err consumer incomes during the
rest of this year at least.
This in turn means a stronger
demand for meats and many other
farm products, eagle asserted.
Imports of beef during the first
five months of 1910 have shown a
decrease Of 80 percent from the i'm
ports of last year during the same
period. The import quotas are be-
ing filled and the total number of
cattle brought in so far is $4,000
head.
eagle warned farmers planning
to buy feeder cattle to make sure
of the best purchase because the
price of feeders is high, and a sud-
den change in market could be
ruinous.
Discussing feeding of cattle as a
highly speculative business, Con S..
Maddox explained to the group the
various phases of cattle feeding.
Maddox also emphasized the i'm
portance Of purchasing feeders at
reasonable prices and told the cat
tlemen lower feeder prices might
come from late buying. Likely the
price would not be higher then and
they might possibly be a little
cheaper, he said.
washington is a deficit area of
good quality fed cattle which have
a strong demand during the sum-
mer months, he asserted and add
ed that stockmen should be inter-
ested in feeding cattle because of
the large variety of feeds available
In discussing the safe margin of
profit between the purchase price
of feeder cattle and the sale price
of finished cattle, Maddox pointed
out five influential factors. He
said higher priced feeders require
a lot margin; cheap feeds means a
low margin; the greater the gain
the more margin is required; good
quality cattle make larger gain and
therefore require smaller margin;
and high market costs necesSitate
larger margins.
The type of cattle to feed, Mad
dox said, would depend upon prices
Of various grades, feeds to be used
and the season which the finished
cattle are to be marketed.
In comparing the feed require
ments of the various ages of cattle
it was shown that calves make the
same gain on 25 percent less feed
than two-year-old cattle.
When calves are ready for mar
keting they can be held for 80 to 90
days in the hopes of a more favor
able market, while two-year-old
cattle must be sold when they are
finished because the cost of gains
is not economical.
Maddox pointed out, however,
that the tWo-year-olds make rapid
gains AMI use a larger portion of
roughage than calves.
Experiments on feeding calves,
made at Washington State College,
indicate ebout three pounds of al
falfa per head per day was suffi-
Gent if calves received an abund-
ance of other good quality hay,
Maddox declared.
Molasses has been found to be
worth from rs to 100 percent of the
value of grain when the calves are
fed not more than three pounds
per day and it is used to replace the
grain. There is no difference be-
tween beet and cane molasss in
feeding value.