A4o—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 7,1981
Berks, Lebanon beef feeders hear market outlook
BY LAUREL SCHAEFFER
Staff Correspondent
MIDWAY At present, the
chances of feeding cattle, or
any other livestock, for meat
purposes profitably seems bleak.
That was the outlook conveyed
during the Berks-Lebanon Beef
Feeders Meeting, held at the!
Midway Diner.
Lou Moore, Penn State Ex
tension economist listed eleven
"scary thoughts for beef
producers” and discussed the
present and past agricultural
production records concerning
beef feeders.
Moore explained how little retail
meat prices have risen in the past
year as compared to general food
prices and disposable income. The
latter two climbing about ten
percent per year compared to
approximately three percent in
meat prices.
Per capita beef consumption has
also dropped from a high in 1976 of
129 pounds to 106 pounds in 1980.
"We eat all of the meat we
produce in this country,” Moore
explained. “We ration what we
produce with price ” Illustrating
this point, the economist noted
consumption of beef in this period
dropped 23 percent while beef
prices rose 59 percent
Beef producers are also com
peting with more pork and poultry
producers because of the price
spread between the different kinds
of meat, Moore said. When pork
was priced only a few cents less
than beef, consumers bought a
larger portion of beef But, as the
price spread increased to about
one dollar, consumers were more
apt to substitute more pork in their
diets for beef
Mentioning the cattle cycle,
Moore stated under normal con
ditions, beef producers should be
making a profit as cattle numbers
are beginning to expand Last year
numbers increased 1 percent to 111
million head. This year cattle
numbers are expected to increase
Louis Moore
3 percent to 115 million head This
expansion has not happened
however, Moore stated, mamly
because the price of gram has
remained high and other
production costs also have risen
dramatically.
In looking at the prospects for
feeding cattle profitably, Moore
listed the following trends- the
number of cattle on feed is drop
ping; the feeder supply is in
creasing; competitive meat
production is dropping; production
costs are rising, and prices are
rising Whether these factors could
raise the price of fat cattle enough
to be profitable, was not predicted
by Moore, but he said it didn’t look
good
Les Burdette, Penn State Ex
tension beef specialist, discussed
alternative feeds and least cost
rations for fattening cattle.
The beef specialist explained the
average Pennsylvania beef
producer is also a farmer who
doesn’t always think about least
cost rations as much as the large
Midwest feedlot operators do.
Feedlot operators usually don’t
keep large feed inventories on
hand and can use computers to
Lester Burdette
calculate which rations are
cheapest for them to feed, he ob
served
Least cost rations provide the
lowest total cost per unit of gam,
Burdette explamed. They should
also meet the nutrient needs of the
animal and keep them healthy.
The beef specialist gave com
parative feeding value for several
alternative feeds On a weight
basis barley has 95 percent of the
feeding value of corn. Oats have 65
percent of corn’s feeding value but
is always over priced for fattening
cattle, Burdette remarked. Mid
bloom alfalfa has 32 percent of
corn’s feeding value, wheat has 100
percent, and molasses has 70
percent
Burdette recommended selling
raw harvested soybeans and
buymg supplement rather than
feeding the beans
He also advised coarsely ground
feed, noting there is a larger
problem with feed intake in finely
ground gram because of dust, etc
Even though farmers don’t want to
see corn kernels in cattle manure,
it doesn’t mean finely ground corn
isn’t there too, he commented
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Burdette remarked how the teed
additive Rumensin increases teed
efficiency about ten percent by
decreasing feed intake of cattle
without reducing weight gains.
This growth stimulator, marketed
by Lanco, is a methane inhibitor
producing a more desirable fer
mentation in the rumen of a steer.
He recommended it’s use in
fattening cattle over 500 pounds
and cautioned beef feeders not to
be alarmed if they notice their
cattle ieduced men teed inlaKe oO
pei cent the tnstday
"It’s an unpalatible product and
it takes cattle awhile to adjust to
it,” he explamed.
Burdette also advised beef
feeders not to start cattle on
Rumensin if they are closer then 90
to market
Implants, antibiotics, vitamins,
and minerals were recommended
by the beef specialist On an
average, most Pennsylvania
farmers are deficient in at least
one of these items, ’ ’ he noted
Discussing alternate feeds,
Burdette listed several energy
sources which can be utilized such
as potatoes, apples, brewer’s
grains; bakery wastes, candy,
gram dust, damaged grams, fat
and wood fines, which are wood
fibers so short they can’t be used
for paper manufacturing.
The beef specialist recom
mended limiting the fat content of
a ration to four percent and told the
beef feeders present that potato
chips usually contain between 30
and 35 percent fat
Other recommendations in
cluded. limiting the energy by
products to between 20 and 40
percent of a ration, mixing them
well with other ration ingredients;
bemg careful of the “keeping
qualities” of the ingredients;
limiting the fat as noted above;
and mixing dusty materials with
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Burdette cautioned the feeders
that cattle fed high bulk and high
moisture products may require a
drying out period near the end of
their feeding period of about 30
days so they lose their pot bellies,
and look more appealing to cattle
buyers
The beef specialist discussed
protein alternatives and recom
mended the use of urea or other
non-protein-mtrogen products for
cattle over 600 pounds He told the
area beef producers that urea
added to corn silage will increase
the bunk life of the silage by four or
five hours in summer. If added to
gram, it should be mixed well, he
added. Other nitrogen sources
cited were, anhydrous ammonia;
brewer’s and distiller’s grams;
milk by-products; and poultry
litter.
Addressing the area beef
producers were Kenny Ranck and
Gerald Bowman, beef feeders
using alternative feed ingredients.
Ranck, of Reading, is feeding
apple pumice to replacement
heifers supplemented with five
pounds of hay and five pounds of
gram per day He noted he has
been pleased with the cattle per
formance and recorded an average
of 1.78 pounds of gain per day.
It was noted other feeders using
apple pumice found it hard mi
equipment, and storagability was
very poor.
Burdette commented apple
pumice has a TON value ot about
65 percent. If costs are below
twenty dollars per ton, including
hauling, it would have a place as a
feed alternative, he said But costs
above twenty dollars would make
silage a better choice. Burdette
warned apple pumice sup
plemented with NPN should not be
fed to brood cows because ab
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