A month or two ago, some were saying, “I think we will sell fat cattle for $2 per pound.”
At the time that seemed like a far-fetched thought, with several cattlemen saying, “Do you think the public will buy beef that high?” The interesting concept for the past year is we have been climbing in price with little talk about resistance. We not only hit the $2 per pound mark, but Nebraska showed some selling at $212 per hundredweight. A feedlot in the Oklahoma panhandle sold some cattle on the grid that netted $215 and $216 per hundredweight.
These are all-time highs, and a lot of these prices on calves and feeders in the fall that to me seemed stupid I guess were not stupid at all. But do not ever get to thinking you will never see another bad day. That thinking will break many cattlemen somewhere down the line.
It appears the cattle market should stay good for at least two years, but who knows. I hear about more breeding heifers this year, but that, too, will take away those going into the feedlot.
Often on many products what seems high or cheap is what you get used to. I know when gas went to $5 a gallon it was terrible. Then it settled back to $3 a gallon, and we thought “good cheap gas.” Prior to that, $3 a gallon seemed high.
One thing I want to keep in mind is the possibility of tariffs on other countries. I personally think that President Trump has been handed a mess and that China has out traded the United States for a lot of years. To get things back where they need to be, there may be areas that will hurt us for a while.
Also, on immigration front, we have to get all criminals out of the U.S. that came through the border, but I would like to see those who have worked here steadily for five years to be granted a work visa to stay.
You know you are a cattleman when you have more conversations with cows than with people.
Marriage is when a man and woman become one. The trouble starts when they try to decide which one.
A friend of mine said I never knew what happiness was until I got married, and then it was too late.
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.
