CATTLE COMPANY TURNS PROFIT FOR JOURNALIST "INVESTORS"

DENVER, Colo., (Sept. 29, 1997) -- A mock cattle company "owned" by journalists and designed as an education project for news media, turned a modest profit on operations this year. The T.A.T.E (This Ain't That Easy) Cattle Company is an initiative of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association to provide journalists an opportunity to experience the ups and downs of real life cattle production and marketing.

   "Each of the 45 participating journalists from around the country has a make-believe investment of $1,000 in the company, but that's where the mock part of the project ends," said Jim Anderson, Longmont, Colo. cattle feeder and chairman of the T.A.T.E board. "We actually buy the cattle, feed and market them, and then report the results to our 'investors' so they can understand the factors that go into making a real life profit or loss." Anderson, along with Platteville, Colo. rancher Skylar Houston and Maryville, Tenn. cow-calf producer Bob Schmidt produced, fed and marketed 200 head of cattle as part of the project.

   Anderson purchased 100 head of feeder cattle from Houston for the project while Schmidt had 100 of his calves fed in a Kansas feedlot. Lower grain prices compared to 1996 and favorable weather during the finishing stage contributed to good performance and lower cost of gain for the cattle. The Colorado group of cattle, sold for $68/cwt earlier this year, averaged $116.50 per head profit, while the Tennessee cattle, sold for $64/cwt a few weeks later, averaged $115.25 per head profit. This compares to losses of $64 per head on cattle fed and marketed in 1996, the first year of the T.A.T.E project.

   "Feed grain prices were significantly lower this year compared to last which dropped our cost of gain by more than ten cents per pound," said Anderson. "We also saw fed cattle prices $4-8/cwt higher," he said.

   "This is a great project to help inform people about our industry and the volatility that producers have to cope with," Anderson concluded. "Most cattlemen have accepted this situation as part of their businesses over the long haul. They try to manage their businesses so that they can prosper during the good times and survive during the bad times."

   Initiated in 1898, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association is the marketing organization and trade association for America's one million cattle farmers and ranchers. With offices in Denver, Chicago and Washington D.C., NCBA is a consumer-focused, producer-directed organization representing the largest segment of the nation's food and fiber industry.