There is a group of cattlemen meeting this week to see what can be done about the packer monopoly. It is quite a diverse group. And since we haven’t met yet I’m not sure about the others but those of you who know me well know that I will definitely speak my mind.
Let’s not get complacent and get our check from the government and feel like all will be fine. It won’t. The packer is still making $400 to $650 per head. Is that all right with you? It’s not all right with me!
We finally received much needed rain west of Woodward, 50 miles from eight-tenths of an inch to 1.3 inches of rain. Others have said as much as 2 inches. I talked to a customer from Perryton, Texas, who said Sunday they missed the rain but I think that area received some since then.
We always close for a week around July 4 so that the employees can take their family on vacation. This year we are splitting the week up. We will be closed Thursday, July 2, and Tuesday, July 7.
Killing cows were saw the least aggressive bidding with all the packers appearing to need cows and bulls for slaughter with some of them going on feed for a little bit. Light calves off those cows seem in good demand also. Feeder cattle have picked up in price but if we did not have a monopoly in our fat cattle then let the packer make $100 per head and he can get filthy rich and add $300 to our feeder price. So we sold a load of steers weighing 850 pounds at $130 last week but add that $300 to that 850-pound steer and instead of $130 he would have received $165.29.
I don’t know about you but that is the difference between making money or breaking even.
And I am tired of losing money or breaking even. Or you can add $300 to that 800-pound heifer and guess what? You get $151 per hundredweight.
I took my sister’s granddaughter to church Sunday. She is 5 years old and became quite restless before the sermon was over. Finally she leaned over to me and said, “If we give him the money now will he let us go?”
A little boy in Sunday school was asked by the Sunday school teacher if he believed in the devil? The little boy said, “No, I think he is just like Santa Claus and I think it is my daddy.”
There was a boy who was watching his dad, who was a preacher, write his sermon for the next day on Sunday. The young boy said, “How do you know what to say? The preacher said, “God tells me what to say.” The young boy said, “Then why do you keep crossing things out?”
Editor’s note: Jerry Nine, Woodward, Oklahoma, is a lifetime cattleman who grew up on his family’s ranch near Slapout, Oklahoma.
