RIGHT now is a good time to stick to the middle of the highway of
common sense. As shown in earlier chapters, the conditions adverse
to the business can be only temporary, and even the losses incurred
may be turned to profit in the end, if the livestock men shall learn
the lesson of economy and efficiency of production and more complete
co-operation among themselves and with the packing industry.
Recent experiences will impel some producers to curtail or discontinue
their operations temporarily, but others will take their places and
quantity of production will be maintained while quality will be
increased.
High-priced land, grain and labor will compel stockmen to grade up
their herds, to discriminate more closely in the purchase of feeding
stock, to improve feeding methods and to keep exact records of costs.
For at the higher level of costs and values all around, as compared
with prewar times, both the risks and rewards of the business will be
greater.
As co-operative activities are extended among producers, it may be
found advisable for livestock associations to employ expert buyers
at the various markets whose duty shall be the filling of orders for
association members, for the choice of feeders cannot be safely based
on personal fancy. The only true guide is unbiased judgment as to what
the market demands in the finished product and what type of feeding
cattle will yield the result.
An experienced buyer of keen judgment, constantly in touch with the
market, should prove as valuable to producers as the expert buyer of
fat cattle is to the packer.
Such expert selection of feeders would take the guesswork out of the
first and most important step in feeding.
Generally speaking, the consumers’ demand is constantly for better
meats from comparatively young animals. Taking the situation the
country over with present prices of feed stuffs considered, it has been
found that beef cattle make most money for the producer if not held
past the age of two years. But there is no hard-and-fast rule for the
guidance of every individual producer; the heavy, well-finished cattle
always bring high prices. Only by keeping an accurate feeding record
can the producer decide for himself what policy is most advantageous in
his case, or determine when his steers stop making sufficient gains to
compensate him for the feed required.