The cattle market has gotten a lot better basically every week for the past two months.
Again, not near where it should be if we didn’t have packer monopoly. I realize I have been very blunt on a lot of organizations but I feel like they should be screaming as loud as they can for the individual cattleman and also all those feedlots that are not in cahoots with the packer. Most feedlots are not in cahoots unless they are providing the packer a half of a million head or more of fat cattle a year.
Our calf market was extremely good this past week and feeders sold very well also. In fact the calves off the cow sold well enough that you might want to consider weaning early. Our heifers weighing 531 pounds brought $743 per head with bull calves at 539 pounds brought $833 and steer calved weaned 521 pounds brought $888 per head. Not bad when a yearling steer a month ago was hard to get $1,000 per head for that same steer.
I’m glad to see our schools open up in our area for a lot of reasons. First of all most parents are not capable of teaching their kids in a lot of different areas.
A man from Dallas who has an 8-year-old son and is single told me his schools are closed and he said he doesn’t know what to do. His employer is not willing to work with him and he can’t afford a full-time baby sitter and he is too young to stay by himself. He said, “I hate to move where my family lives.”
I heard one worker at Walmart say that a lot of parents were dumping their kids off and using them for a babysitter. Most kids are not staying away from other kids so they might as well be in school. I personally think we are at a point that those who are elderly or sick need to use their own judgment whether to stay away. Everyone’s business is essential him or her.
I went to a store the other day. The clerk said, “Sir, I am going to have to ask you to leave.” I said, “But I have a mask on.” The clerk said, “Yes, but you are also required to wear clothes too.”
A friend of mine told me this week that he started taking a Viagra pill at night. And before I could say anything he said, “Oh, it is not for that.” He said, “I only take a pill so that I don’t roll out of bed at night.”
This morning before we started the cow sale one of our cow buyers was in the restaurant. Another guy beside him was talking about riding bulls in his younger days. He asked the cow buyer if he had ever ridden bulls in his life. The cow buyer said, “There is no way I am starting on top cause I don’t want to be underneath.”
He said working at a feedlot one steer got him down and he finally got through a wire fence that cut him all up but he did get away. His boss said, “Son, if you want to get a real close look get in the pickup and roll the window down.”
Editor’s note: Jerry Nine, Woodward, Oklahoma, is a lifetime cattleman who grew up on his family’s ranch near Slapout, Oklahoma.
