Feather-Gram

              R{ COOPENATIVE EXTENSION SENVICE
NEW MEXICO STATE UNIVER5I
S. DEPANTMENT OF AGRICULTUNE
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uruce I , New llexico 88003 Volune 14, Number 4 Aprl1 30 ' L973
]TIE EGG SITUATION*
Poultry prices are uP sharply ln 1973, but high feed costs and producer
concerns ovlr future profltabillty are contributlng to reduced broller and
egg output and night iead to reduted turkey outPut in the second half'
.:
Egg output wtll eontinue below L972 Levels for most of the ye-ar. The-'
drop fion year-earLier leveLs w111 narrow and may dLsappear-.by the. close of'
Lg73. .Howeirer, total suppllea wlll remain on the low slde because of reduced
stocks of egg products. Egg production in the first quarter was down 6 per-cent.
On mareh 1, pullets-scheduled to enter the laying fLock thLs sprl-ng'
numbered only 3 p"rtettt more than a year earlier. Also, the first quarter -
hatch of repiac"r.ot pullets whlch will enter flocks thls sumer Showed an
increase of 3 Percent.
LaggLng output and general inflation have lifted egg prices well above
tte'rro,rsrrat-iy 1o* prices of a year ago. New York wholesale prlces for Grade
A large eggs durin! February averaged around 45 cents a dozen, 9 cents below
Januaiy "tta
fS ".ot" above February L972. Prices rose in late February and
early foarch, then declined. Prlces during the first two weeks of Apr{l aver-aged
about 49 cents a dozen
Lg72 levels. TheY wlLl decllne as
the sunmer and next fall- with the
:'-
Egg prlces w111 renain sharpl-y above
usual thLs Fpring, then rise seasonally ln
usual dtps durlng August and Octob€f. .,
try
Feed costs, a maJor outlay !n poultry productLon' are at record levels
and eosts of.nost other*jrroductLon l-tens coatinue, upward-' The mid-Mafch
index of prices paid for produetion goods was 14 Percent abovp a year earlier.
and the fled conionent of the lndex ltas up 38 percent. Meanwhlle, prLces
recefvea by produc.era wele up 48 percent for .eggs and 60 Percent- for broil-ers '
PARAGUAYAI{ COI]NIY AGEMS
The writer has again cooPerated with the Department of International
Programs whl-ch ls conducting a trainLng Program for 15 county and home agents
from ParaBuag. A program ln poultry productlon which lncluded thlngs they
can do to improv" Lh.-porrltry industry ln Paraguay were taught uslng slldes'
overheads, discusslon and acutal ott th" Job tralnlng. This l-s the thLril grouP
to come to New Mexico State Unlverslty and ln general lt has shorm a much
greater interest in poultry productlon than students in the other grouPa'
& Egg Sltuatlon, U.S.D-A. Press Release, April 20, L973'
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