Return of moisture would provide relief
I like the cattle business. In fact farming, ranching and cattle is all I know and probably not much of that. Last week was frustrating as far as running the sale.
The week before we had gotten along pretty well. Then before the next week futures had fallen $6 per hundredweight. The big boys can do so much with the futures to change the tempo of the market. And again we never mind that as long as it is going up but it is sure frustrating when it goes down.
We still need a rain or even a snow if it will stay on the field and melt. There are some areas 150 miles away getting some moisture but so far most of our area is very dry.
This year is going to be quite interesting with all this dry weather. Probably there will be very low receipts coming back to the sale since a big percentage of the 500- to 600-pound cattle are going into growing lots or feedlots. A few will come back out for resale if the market will get good enough that they are interested in selling them. But many will stay in the feedlot.
If we can get some moisture on this wheat soon it could cause an extreme demand for grazing cattle that are not too fat to graze. And the availability will be limited as most will already be in the lot. Time will tell but I haven’t given up yet on getting moisture.
An elderly but hearty cattleman from Texas once told a young female neighbor that if she wanted to live a long life—the secret was to sprinkle a pinch of gunpowder on her oatmeal each morning. She did this religiously and lived to the ripe old age of 103. She left behind 11 children, 30 grandchildren, 41 great grandchildren, five great-great grandchildren and a 40-foot hole where the crematorium used to be.
A lawyer was on vacation in a small farming town. While walking through the streets on a quiet Sunday morning he came upon a large crowd gathered by the side of the road. Going by instinct the lawyer figured that there was some sort of auto collision. He tried to get through the crowd but couldn’t get near the car. Finally the lawyer shouted, “Let me through. I am the son of the victim.” The crowd made room for him. Lying in front of the car was a donkey.
Editor’s note: Jerry Nine, Woodward, Oklahoma, is a lifetime cattleman who grew up on his family’s ranch near Slapout, Oklahoma.
