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Chapter 6 New Fdrmers in the New South Tpost-Wodd W", II agriculturnl revolution has produced a number of results. Governmental and technological influences have accomplished a serious reduction of row cropping in Alabama and a significant increase of livestock and poultry raising. In the process the state's farm population, like the nation's, has fallen to minuscule proportions. Within the cattle industry the past three and a half decades have witnessed numerous developments as well. Technological and governmental forces have encouraged the growth of a widespread, multiregional cattle industry in Alabama, one no longer centered in the Black Belt. The steady importation of new, "exotic" breeds has answered the changing demands and preferences for beef and has altered the appearance of cattle herds. The practice of cattle raising has become increasingly dominated by part-time farmers, reflecting considerations of both economics • 144 • NEW FARMERS IN THE NEW SOUTH and traditional agrarianism. This development also reflects Alabama's bottom-level position in the cattle industry as a "cow-calf" producer as opposed to one focused on "finishing" cattle in modern feedlots. As the initial actors on the supply side of a relatively unregulated market-especially when compared with most other agricultural commodities-Alabama cattle raisers have also experienced decades of price swings and market reactions quite unfamiliar to other farmers. In recent years cattlemen have also been faced with changing beefappetites resulting from growing health and fitness concerns and with demands and threats from the surging environmental movement. The cattle industry's relative prominence in Alabama agriculture peaked in the late 1950S before the thriving poultry business took over the top spot. Nevertheless, cattle raising continued to gain popularity in the 1960s and 1970s, and cattle numbers grew steadily before reaching an alltime high in the 1970s. Cattle raising continues to be the most widely diffused and popularly practiced phase ofagriculture in the state. This fact is a reflection of Alabama's position as a cow-calf state in the national beef industry , that is, a state in which the primary practice ofcattle raisers involves maintaining a herd of brood cows and raising their offspring to a weight of between 400 and 600 pounds before selling them at auction. These calves, known as "feeders" or "stockers," are then purchased by stocker buyers who specialize in feeding cattle until they are sold to the feedlot. Today the feedlot or finishing center of the United States continues to lie in the Midwest, though there are scattered examples of cattle feeders in Alabama and elsewhere in the South. At one point in the state's hisrory, however, a concerted effort was made to promote cattle feeding or finishing within Alabama and to sever the long-held, dependent connections with midwestern feeders and packers. This effort required not only the establishment of large cattle feeding operations but also the expansion of existing processing capabilities. In the early years of Alabama's cattle expansion the paucity of meat processors reinforced the state's tendency toward the cow-calf business. Conversely, the lack of feeders and feedlots further slowed the expansion of the meat packing industry. At a 1938 meeting of Birmingham meat packers and dealers, reports revealed that over 75 percent of the city's 500 head per week consumption was shipped in from other states, with three-quarters of • 145 • NEW FARMERS IN THE NEW SOUTH the total coming from Texas and Oklahoma. Mter World War II agricultural experts turned their attentions toward remedying this problem in the state. Despite steady growth, by 1950 only six Alabama meat processors slaughtered at least 5,000 head of cattle annually, and the vast majority of packing operations were small shops serving only local markets. The slaughter cattle industry expanded along with the cattle-raising industry in the 1950s.· By 1958, forty-six Alabama packing plants slaughtered over 300,000 pounds of liveweight beef, or approximately 3,000 to 5,000 head or more. Nevertheless, most such establishments continued to be relatively small and locally oriented. The state's meat packers continued to rely on western and midwestern feeders for mature, "fed" cattle. In addition, because freight rates tended to be lower for butchered meat than for live cattle, Alabama's cattle raisers continued to outpace the state's packing industry.l In the late 1950S and early 1960s Alabama agriculturists conducted a determined campaign to establish a substantial cattle feeding industry. The catalysts for this movement emanated from several sources. Progressive agriculturists had long sought...

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