Beef was up on Monday but that doesn’t seem to make any difference.
Futures fell hard the same day around 300 points and also the following day by 200 points. I was told by one cattleman that I give the blame to packers when often it should be given to fund traders.
But I would still say the packers are not idiots and they might start the market going down with funds carrying it further. Either way it is very frustrating a lot of the times when an outside interest that has never owned not even one head of cattle can influence our market that much. Most cattlemen that I know think our biggest culprit is computer trading without anyone making a decision at the time to do so.
Often it is set to trade according to the speed futures are moving—some claim less than one second. If we can get that changed it would be in the best interest of cattlemen perhaps to go back to pit trading.
We finally are getting some rain, mostly in small amounts but at least we are green. I see a little hay being put down to bale 50 miles away with very little close that would be good enough to cut.
I have had several customers ask, “Should I keep my feeder cattle for about three weeks and maybe the market will come back?” I said, “I have no idea—you cannot use logic, that is in my opinion.”
I think logically December fats should get a lot higher but that’s probably only if the big boys want it to.
When a man says he will fix it—he will—so there’s no need to remind him every six months.
One lady sent this text last week—the older I get, the less surprised I think I’d be if a random body part just fell off one day.
I pointed to two old drunks sitting across the bar from us and told my friend—that’s us in about 10 years. He said, “It is us—it’s a mirror.”
I saw a sign that said, “I was addicted to the Hokey Pokey but I turned myself around.”
Editor’s note: Jerry Nine, Woodward, Oklahoma, is a lifetime cattleman who grew up on his family’s ranch near Slapout, Oklahoma.
