This is quite a business we are in when you are talking about the cattle business. It has been a very good run as far as prices and it looks like it should stay good for quite a while.
But as far as feeder cattle and feeder futures they have lowered quite a bit and after the futures started falling it appeared the funds jumped in and started selling the market. Some funds are traded without a human making a decision but rather the computer reacting to the movement of the market and speed of movement.
Most of us do not mind if the futures are pushed higher by the funds but we can sure get aggravated when they push the market lower. But hopefully it will rebound some.
A man called this week from southeast Oklahoma and wondered what my opinion was on the number of cows around our area compared to a few years ago. He felt in his area there are probably 75% of cows compared to a few years ago. He asked me if I felt it was the same in our area. I told him I would imagine it is the same here.
And then after the drought, cows picked up in price enough that brought more cows to the auction. He told me in that area of southeast Oklahoma three big ranchers have been sold to hunters that do not plan on running any cattle on them. I thought they said they are stocking it with Red Boar.
There is a gal who attends the sale every week that is from the Slapout, Oklahoma, area where I grew up. And I think she feels like her calling in life is to help keep me on the straight and narrow. And sometimes that is quite a task. She was talking about planting good things in a person’s life. I said, “Yeah I think sometimes I am planting weeds.” She said, “And I am going along behind and spraying Roundup.”
Our destiny is not a matter of chance. You may say I’m a self-made person. No one is totally self-made. The devil is a liar and will try to convince you that God is not helping you and it is not working for you. Just be thankful. We don’t realize how fortunate we are.
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.
