There were quite a lot of cows moving, which is typical this time of year. And the killing cows were cheaper in particular a very thin older cow that has a very light carcass. Those type of cattle buyers just don’t seem to want very bad.
I imagine to process one costs about the same and the little thin-shell cows have very little meat on them. The cows that were pregnant, even the ones with no teeth, often brought $300 per head more particularly if they were 5 months pregnant or longer.
Some sellers want to save that preg check cost or think they are old and it won’t help but some left $295.50 on the table. It might as well have been the seller’s money.
Some of our area has wheat pasture and some not. Feed is high but if we can keep feeders and fats at these levels or higher than we can still make some money with high feed.
But where it gets to be a big problem is when the cost of gain is higher than the price you are getting for your cattle.
This past week we sold three loads of black steers weighing 878 pounds that brought $163.60 per hundredweight, which is $1,436 per head. I like to see customers make money and that is the only way the sale barn does good if our sellers do well. Even if you are rancher or farmer who only sells cattle once in a while at the sale I think it is wrong for you to not want your neighbors to do well financially. There is room for a lot of people to do well around you and you still do good for yourself.
This is Thanksgiving week and I hope you will remind all your family to list the things they are thankful for. All of us are more blessed than we realize. Sometimes it is easy to get discouraged and feel like everything is falling apart and if we will look around there are always people worse off.
A little boy had a lawnmower for sale. A preacher walked by and said, “How much do you want for that lawnmower young man?” The little boy said, “Five dollars.” The preacher said, “What is the catch if you only want $5.” The little boy said, “Well, if it doesn’t start then pull on the rope then kick it and then cuss.”
The preacher said, “Well, I can pull on the rope and I can kick it but I tried to forget all those cuss words when I became a preacher.” The little boy said, “I am quite certain after you pull on the rope and kick it those words will come to you easily.”
Marriage is like a deck of cards. In the beginning all you need is two hearts and a diamond. By the end you wish you had a club and spade.
Editor’s note: The views expressed here are the author’s own and do not represent the view of High Plains Journal. Jerry Nine, Woodward, Oklahoma, is a lifetime cattleman who grew up on his family’s ranch near Slapout, Oklahoma.
