24
—Uncarter Farming, Saturday, July 5. 1975
Hard Times For Texas Feedlots
Cattle feeding i« big business,
and although it’a currently in an
economic alump, there’s nowhere
that it's bigger or braaaier than in
the Longhorn State itself—Texas.
Up to 100,000 head can be fed
in just one of this State’s commer
cial feedlots. The product: richly
marbled and tender beef, which ac
counts for a good deal of the steaks
and roasts sold throughout the U.S.
today.
The depression in the feeding
business is primarily a result of
skyrocketing grain costs. Feedlots
are reducing the size of their opera
tions, and nationwide, about 25 per
cent fewer cattle are on grain than
a year ago. Texas feedlots, which
usually maintain 65 to 70 percent
Colonial Farm Kitchens
Weren’t Very Glamorous
The Colonial farm wife’s
stove was an open fireplace,
and meal preparation could be
both an arduous and smokey
chore One observer of the day
reported, ‘‘This was a hard
way to cook Women would
nearly break their backs lift
ing these heavy kettles on and
off, burn their faces, smoke
their eyes, singe their hair,
blister their hands and scorch
their clothes ”
Another pioneer recalled his
days on the frontier in the late
1700’s ‘‘Matches were not in
use, hence fires were covered
with ashes at night so as to
preserve some live coals in the
morning Rich people had a
little pair of bellows to blow
these live coals into a blaze
but poor people had to do the
best they could with their
mouths After having nearly
smoked out my eyes trying to
blow coals into life, I have had
to give it up and go to a
neighbor to borrow a shovel of
fire ”
The most important utensil
for fireplace cooking was. nat
uraiij the dinner pot, a stew
ing kettle which held five to
ten gallons and weighed 20 or
more pounds Into this went
meat and vegetables for the
hearty stews that sustained
the frontier men Conquering
a new land was hard work
The quantity of food was
much more important to them
than what they ate or how
the_\ ate it
Meats might also be fried
on the coals in a spider or
skillet or roasted on a spit
before the fire with a pan for
drippings beneath One way
many colonials roasted fowl or
joints of meat was to suspend
them in front of the fireplace
with a cord Lied to a rafter
The meat had to be turned
frequemK usualK bv hand
•Xdienisemtnts fora median
ical turner appeared in Benja
min franklin-- PennsiKama
Oa/ette nl 7 10
Om f ulonial farmer des
enhed thi kitihen utrnsils
thus I hi i r.ine had a sit of
rods wth hook 1 - on tain end
graduate!) ti Ii nglh so as to
hang thi ht'k at me propi r
height fion thi tin In addi
lion to I. nit-, we had the
long hanclli (1 ini; tun ihi
thrte leggi u shor handled
spider and the griddle tor
but), wheat eakt s Ihtn then
Was the hake kettle or o\en
with ligs ami a dose K lute i;
(filer In thi was baked tne
pone (eornpom ) for the farm
K ! ean sa l truthfiilli that
no rtf wa l - not used mon than
thine dais a month
( orn in dll as spendid van
ti\ v as a staple of the eolonial
da t and the methods for
/inserting a were almost as
numi rous as the methods of
a Sutlers who were
remote from gristmills had
two methods ol grinding eorn
One was grinding it with a
hand mill the other was with
capacity the year round, are now
dowtn to 35 to 40 percent.
The survival of some feedlots de
pends on this year’s feed grain
crop. A bumper crop will lower
prices and no doubt revitalize the
feeding industry. A poor crop
means more grass fed, lean beef,
which some people like but others
say doesn't taste as good as the rich,
fat-coated cuts.
Before the feeding industry’s cur
rent cost-price squeeze, ERS and
Texas A&M University did some
research on the cattlemen who
patronize feedlots in the Texas
Panhandle-Plains area, where four
fifths of the State’s cattle are fed.
Using 1972 statistics, the re
searchers found that more than 90
a mortar and pestle The mor
tar of the first settlers, like
that of the Indians, was a
large block of wood with a
burnt out hole a foot or more
deep The pestle was a long,
rounded stone weighing 10 or
12 pounds, or a long, rounded
block of wood
Table utensils were as un
glonfied as the tools that were
used to prepare the food. They
were mostly of wood and
homemade, with the most
common being a trencher, a
kind of plate Pewter, silver,
glassware and crockery were
almost unknown in the early
colonies
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A Public Service ot this Magazine & The Advertising Council CoUKli
percent of the cattle fed in that
area were owned by custom clients,
relatively large operators averag
ing almost 3,500 head per feedlot
placement. Over 70 percent of the
feedlot owners’ operating capital
came from feed sales and services
to these customers.
As for the custom clients, the
majority are associated with agri
culture. In 1972 about 43 percent
were farmers, ranchers, and live
stock dealers. Another 30 percent
were professional custom feeders,
and the remainder were feed com
panies, meat packers, retailers,
bankers and others. Even though
most were connected with agricul
ture, only a fourth maintained their
own cow-calf operations.
Although many people thought
these operators were in business
primarily to take advantage of
temporary market situations and
tax loopholes, this proved not to be
the case. The study showed that 90
percent maintained a continuous or
regular placement program in 1972,
with more than 55 percent placing
cattle on at least a monthly basis.
j“ I
I U.S. Department of Commerce I
I Frederick B Dent Secretary ot Commerce I
• OS Department ot Commerce BIC4A J
I Washington D C 2021(1 |
I Please send more information on export services I
j Name t
I Company
1 1
Title
Address
dale Zip
In addition, 73 percent said they
would continue normal placement
even during periods of unfavorable
margins.
Many of the custom feeding
clients (48 percent) let special
dealers and order buyers purchase
their cattle. Another 39 percent
bought their own. Practically all
specified the grade, weight, sex. and
type of cattle they wanted. Although
two-thirds chose selling dates for
their fed cattle, most clients con
sulted feedlot personnel before mak
ing a decision.
Clients considered reputation
and grain costs to be the most im
portant reasons for selecting a par
ticular feedlot.
Although the picture has changed
since 1972, the commercial feeding
business is still kingpin of Texas’
huge cattle industry. ERS econo
mists predict that when feed grain
prices go down, Panhandle-Plains
cattle feeders will return to the
feedlots and fed beef will once
again edge out the rangier cuts
now appearing on many dinner
tables.