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About Sandy post. (Sandy, Oregon) 1938-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 14, 1978)
Thwri fe«» 14. 1*7« (fee 2) SANOY (Or«., KMT—7 Recent decline in beef prices not expected to continue Don't be fooled by the recent slight drop in beef prices, advises an Oregon State University Extension ec o n o m ist who p re d ic ts higher beef prices for con sum ers and producers. “ I wouldn't be surprised to see beef prices exceed an av erag e of $2 a pound at r e ta il b e fo re lo n g ,” said Steve M arks, OSU Extension econom ist seasonally larg er supplies of beef com e on the m arket But M arks believes the lower prices will be tem porary because he foresees higher prices brought on by beef supply shortages ’“D uring the past three years, low prices and poor ra n g e an d p a s tu re feed conditions forced producers to sell off large num bers of c a ttle ,” M arks said. A year ago, beef averaged $1 tH to $1 42 a pound at retail, with ground beef at 82 cents a pound During the spring 1978, however, retail beef prices jumped to an all- tim e high that averaged about $l 95 for all cuts The a v e r a g e p ric e has sin ce dropped to around $1 90 Beef prices may go down m o d e stly th is fall as As a result, the supply of beef has dropped A current U S. Governm ent survey of farm ers an d ra n c h e r s estim ates the nation's cattle herd at 122 million head as of July 1. That is a reduction of 7 percent from a year ago and represents the sm allest cattle herd since 1970. With fewer cows on farm s, the 1978 calf crop is the sm allest in 11 years So there can be no doubt that beef supplies will be less plentiful than in the past four years “ W h a t's m o re, beef is likely to b ecom e even scarcer during the next three years as ranchers withhold breeding stock to rebuild their h erd s,” M arks said While the m arket outlook is generally good news for beef cattle producers, they will need higher prices in order to offset increasing production and m arketing costs, the economist said Switching to lam b, chicken or pork m ay not provide a great deal of relief for price w ea ry c o n s u m e rs L am b supplies rem ain low because farm ers have been going out of the sheep business a t a rapid rate for the past 20 years, M arks noted Chicken continues to be relatively more expensive than con su m e rs h ad been ac customed to paying earlier this y ear Pork supplies a re holding ste a d y , M ark s sa id H ow ever, if co n su m er dem and suddenly increases, pork, too, could becom e m ore expensive LES SCHWAB 30,000 MILE WARRANTY SIZE AR78X13 BR78X13 CR78X13 BR78X14 CR78X14 DR78X14 ER78X14 FR78X14 GR78X14 HR78X14 FR78X15 GR78X15 HR78X15 JR78X15 LR78X15 PRICE FI 32.66 36.19 35.30 36.19 34.30 37.04 37.95 39.72 41.08 42.42 39.72 41.08 42.42 44.15 45.01 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 SET YOUR SIGHTS ON LES SCHWAB VALUE SEIBERLING POWER TRAC LUG RAISED WHITE LETTERS 900X1 6 8 PLY RATED MULTI-MILE R.Y.T THE 4-WHEEL TRACTION TIRE SIZE PLY PRICE F.E 900X16 10x15 4 Plv. *61.67 ♦ *4.23 V j HB k r F 8 PLY RATED V • \ ( 4 HOME OF THE SUDDEN SERVICE BOYS FREE INSTALLATION! FOR PICKUPS A HIGHWAY SIZE 700x15 750x16 PRICE 35.35 46.44 TRACTION SIZE 700x15 750x16 I PRICE 36.06 53.51 F.E.T. ’ 3.12 ’ 3.93 WITH EXCHANGE CASING LIKE SIZE FIRST YEAR FREE REPLACEMENT! PROVEN TO BE OUR FINEST GRAND PRIX -C am per-P ickup A Light R.V. Tire HIG H W A Y _____ NOW HMHH PRICE 49.38 57.40 62.21 TRACTION H i t H H lJ/1) NOW SIZE 800x16.5 875x16.5 950x16.5 800x16.5 875x16.5 950x16 5 PRICE 51.4 61.0 66.1 WITH EXCHANGE CASING LIKE SIZE For ran ch ers and farm ers, th e p re se n t p ro d u ctio n trends m ean b etter prices for c a ttle , sh e e p an d hogs. Consum ers, on the other hand, will have to continue paying m ore for m eat until the supply catches up with the dem and “ The next few years should be a se lle r’s m arket for liv e sto c k p e o p le ,” M arks au id.
