A friend of mine asked me if I was mad at the Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association. And I said absolutely not. OCA was very active in raising money for farmers and ranchers after the fires we had last year.
Another issue they are working on hard is the issue with the capital gains tax at the state level. They are also working to protect private property. They are working now trying to prevent the normal public from being able to fly drones over your property.
The highway department still has the right concerning highways. Another thing I like they are always working with state ag investigators on stolen cattle. And they continue to offer a reward of $10,000 that leads to the arrest of someone stealing cattle.
I’m not even against packers and retailers; I’m just frustrated with our marketing ability. It is a very important part of our business. But I have always spoken against monopolies at any level.
A friend of mine said he thinks the funds are a lot bigger player in the futures than the packers or retailers. But even if that is true I am quite convinced that they are smart enough to sell the board at certain times to take the optimism out of the market and there’s not a quicker way to do it. I am sure funds sometimes carry it on down for them. Just as they sometimes carry it higher than it should. And I would be the first to admit that we never give them credit for that but very willing to give them the blame.
Monday morning, I woke up a little before 6 a.m. and I thought it almost sounded like it was lightly raining on my roof. It had been so long since I had heard that. I thought it must be something else but sure enough we got four-tenths of an inch in that one little area with most getting little or none.
One meteorologist said we should have a wetter May. Well that wouldn’t take much to be wetter than the last six months.
A friend of mine’s wife said to her husband—“I am going to gather up all my old clothes and give them to someone that is poor and starving.” He said to his wife, “Honey, your clothes are not going to fit someone that is starving.”
A new preacher came to town and went to a member’s house and knocked on the door but there was no answer. He was quite sure he could hear someone inside.
So, he left a card that said Rev. 3:20—Behold I stand at the door and knock.
The next Sunday she came to church and left the same card in the offering plate but on the back wrote Gen. 3:10—I heard your voice in the garden but I was naked and afraid.
Editor’s note: Jerry Nine, Woodward, Oklahoma, is a lifetime cattleman who grew up on his family’s ranch near Slapout, Oklahoma.
