ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, June 12, 1996 TAG: 9606120024
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
Cattle prices, which have been on a slippery downward slope for a couple of years, may be headed for higher ground - if the weather cooperates.
Cattle ready for slaughter are bringing 61 to 62 cents a pound, compared with 53 to 55 cents a pound in early May, according to Reggie Reynolds, executive secretary of the Virginia Cattlemen's Association.
Significantly, prices are up for slaughter cattle even though the number of cattle being sent to slaughter increased by 100,000 head a week, Reynolds noted. While Virginia farmers are holding onto their cattle, others - particularly cattle producers in the drought-stricken Western United States - are selling their herds in large numbers.
The higher prices for slaughter cattle combined with a good corn crop this year could boost by as much as 15 cents a pound the price of young cattle sold to feedlots to be fattened, Reynolds said.Most of the 1million head of cattle sold by Virginia producers each year go into feedlots.
The key, though, will be a good Midwest corn crop, Reynolds said, and farmers there are behind in planting because of the spring's heavy rains.
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