Last week there were bigger numbers of calves and feeders showing up at the auctions and with most quoting them from $5 to $15 per hundredweight higher this has made a few more willing sellers.
The first of this week, Oklahoma City had a huge sale. It still frustrates me with the packer making ungodly large profits with no one willing to tackle that issue.
One customer put a picture of his triticale, which looks 18 inches tall, and his boy standing in the middle of it where it came up to his knees. It looked great. He said the ice storm wasn’t very good on his cattle but very good for his triticale. I said your could take picture in my field of triticale that might look similar—that is if he would get on his knees.
There are quite a lot of old bred cows selling that are 5 to 7 months bred. Those and some middle-aged bred cows seem worth the money. I think the banks are being somewhat restrictive with their customers thus making some brackets look cheap. You know the old rule of thumb—if the bank gladly wants to loan you money it is normally a time to be conservative. But when it gets negative, it is normally a time they make good money. Interesting enough I was talking to a real estate agent and he said he had several buyers for some large tracts of land.
So evidently some people have money. Perhaps they have never been in the farming or ranching business.
After the temperature has frozen hard it is always easier to start cattle. We have a sign in our sale ring that says days weaned, which the buyers really like.
I just a read a text where a man wished his wife a happy birthday from him and his two kids. He said, “We are going to do something special tonight like go get a hamburger at Braums and that is as soon as she gets the chores done.”
He said in his text, “Just remember, honey, we love you.” He then said, “I hope she hurries up with the chores. Me and the kids are getting very hungry.”
It was 2 in the morning and the phone rang. The husband answered and said, “How the heck would I know? I am not the weatherman.” His wife said, “Who was that?” He said, “I don’t know. Some guy wants to know if the coast is clear.”
Editor’s note: Jerry Nine, Woodward, Oklahoma, is a lifetime cattleman who grew up on his family’s ranch near Slapout, Oklahoma.
