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.