How much is a justified profit for the packer or retailer to make over a long period before we feel like this is not a free trade?
Our fat cattle market has absolutely nothing to do with what beef is being sold for but has everything to do with futures. Captive supply is the name of the game and when you get that, they really don’t need the rest. Profit for the packer is ridiculous. And you hear not a word from cattle organizations that it is ridiculous of the huge amount they are making. I do not like to dwell on the negative but our survival depends on whether individuals or organizations will stand up for what is right. By the way this is still America!
Some of those organizations have packers on their board so there is no use to complain to them. And most of the others are intimidated by the packer and retailer for fear of retaliation.
Luckily our area received some more rain. I have a pasture that hadn’t been turned into yet and sideoats grama looks beautiful headed out. I told my sons, “You’d better take a good look because you will probably never see it that way again.”
On a lighter note I recorded a radio ad last Friday for a station in Elk City, Oklahoma. The guy said to me, “Are you coming to the rodeo tonight?” I said, “No, I will be at my boys’ football game.” But I said, “At your rodeo a friend of mine has the longhorn steer drive as part of the rodeo.” So the guy on the radio said, “Well, when I see those steers I will think of you.” I said, “I would rather you think of me when you see a bull and not a steer.”
Two older women were at a funeral standing over the casket when one of them said, “That sure was tragic that he died and all over not knowing his blood type.” The other woman said, “But I never will forget when he whispered those words of encouragement to me ‘be positive.’”
This past weekend I was eating at a restaurant when I overheard a guy at the next table that appeared his buddy had tricked him into ordering calf fries. He pushed his plate away from him and said, “I am not eating cow balls.” It was hard for me not to join in on the conversation and assure him he wasn’t eating cow balls.
Editor’s note: Jerry Nine, Woodward, Oklahoma, is a lifetime cattleman who grew up on his family’s ranch near Slapout, Oklahoma.
