SMOKETOWN, PA PATENTED PROTECTION - HANDLES ACCIDENTAL OFF-LOADING WITH NO BOX TWISTING - STRENGTH TO SPARE! FEATURING . . . HIGH POLISHED HARD CHROMED CYLINDERS • DOUBLE ACTING CYLINDERS • HIGH PRESSURE FITTINGS AND HOSE RECOMMENDED FOR SINGLE AXLE TRUCKS WITH 14 TO IS FT. TRUCK BODIES. PH: 717-299-2571 We offer SALES, SERVICE, AND Installation for Harsh Truck Hoists balance with beef demand DENVER, Colo. - U.S. cow slaughter is continuing at a rate which is putting the basic cow herd back into better balance with demand for beef, the American National Cattlemen’s Assn, pointed out this week. The nation’s cow herd totaled 52.4 million head on Jan. 1, 1977 - down four per cent from a year earlier and 8 per cent from the peak in 1975, according to the government’s latest cattle inventory report. This reduction in herd size resulted primarily from a record large cow slaughter of 11.6 million head in 1975 and 10.6 million in 1976. The numbers reduction phase of the current cattle cycle is expected to continue (although at a slower rate) in 1977, and the cow herd may drop to about 51 million head on Jan. 1, 1978, it was noted by economists with Cattle-Fax, the market analysis arm of ANCA. However, they said, if severe drought conditions continue in rmdwestern and western pasture and range country, there could be further severe herd liquidation, and the basic Cow herd in better cow herd could decline even further this year. At this time, Cattle-Fax is expecting a nine million head cow kill in 1977. In January, the total was 920,000 head, down 18 per cent from a year earlier. The February total is estimated at 800,000 head, down 5 per cent from the same month in 1976. While less than the high levels a year earlier, the 1977 monthly cow slaughter totals so far still are relatively large. The comments on the cow herd were part of a con tinuing Cattle-Fax-ANCA program to help keep the industry posted on trends in cow herd size, including apparent relationships with beef demand. ANCA President Wray Finney noted that there has been a long-term upward trend in U. S. cow numbers as beef production has in creased along with increases in population and income. However, the 10-year cattle cycles have brought sharp swings in herd size above and below the upward trend line. “With the past two years’ large cow slaughter - Lancaster Farming. Saturday, March 12,1977—35 resulting from drought in some areas as well as ex treme financial losses - the cow herd has now returned to the trend line,” Finney said. “A further drop in cow numbers is likely, though, because of herd liquidations and reductions brought on by current adverse economics and weather. In fact, the cow herd could decline somewhat in 1978 as well as 1977. “The tendency for cow numbers in each cycle is to go lower than desirable from the standpoint of stability and then, as profits improve, to go too high to sustain profitability for more than a few years.” Although the cow herd is now back at the trend line, Finney said, it may be that, in today’s economy, the cow herd will have to decline at least another one to two million head before the total industry can expect favorable returns. If production costs continue to climb, if per capita dollar demand for beef continues to lag behind historic levels, and if population growth slows, a slower average rate of growth in cow herd size may be required in future years. One thing to keep in mind, ANCA said, is that the beef supply from a given size cow herd does net reach the market until one and a half to two years after birth of the offspring. Thus, the recent reductions in cow herd size will not be fully felt in the market place until 1978 and 1979 - just as the large 1974 calf crop was not fully reflected until 1976 (when there were record large beef supplies as a result of herd liquidation as well as the record large calf crop two years earlier.) Cattle-Fax said that, based on current economics, an nual per capita beef supplies may have to drop to around 115 pounds or less before industry returns will be generally favorable (although reduced feeder cattle numbers could put many producers back in a WE’RE OFFERING ANOTHER NEW ENERGY - SAVING DEVICE BirS ABOUT TIME YOU’RE TOLD ABOUT IT. "THE STEDI-WATT By Advanced Electronics ONLY *lB9® plus Tax 180-day Money-back (uarantee ■ You can protect your electrical equipment from voltage surges. - You can operate your equipment more efficiently. - You can greatly reduce fight bulb and flourescent tube failure. 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In the foreseeable future, he said, these same gains in beef output per cow are not likely. Therefore, beef production will depend mori on cow herd size, and it will be possible to monitor herd size and longer range supply trends more accurately. m , Instant _—l Replay *^ySo£s~/\ Z&ossh
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