On Aug. 8 cattle futures took a nose-dive.
I’m wondering how we got that term but I’m guessing that years ago a bunch of kids were probably jumping off a cliff into the water then probably an older cowboy decided that looks easy and tried it. Then the old cowboy came up out of the water with not only bloody nose, but also a crooked bent nose.
I’m guessing a few cattlemen came up with a bloody nose also after the close of futures Aug. 8. Then we probably had a few bankers stuttering not to mention a cattleman’s wife. That last part reminds me why it was a good thing that I did not ever marry. I would have to hear “You did what! They did what! And you owe how much!”
All the feeder contracts through May 2026 fell the limit, which is $9.25 per hundredweight. On Monday since they moved the limit they can basically move 150% or $13.75 per hundredweight. So in a two-day move feeders could move $23 per hundredweight. That is too much to be able to move. A banker might be fine when you bought them and hedged them, but he might make you do other things rather than make margin calls. Fat cattle can move $7.25 any one day, but if they move the limit the next day they can move $10.75 per hundredweight.
That is too much either way. Sometimes you need a little time to think about it before the next morning when futures open to make a rational decision. That is the main reason a married couple should always have a couch in the living room. After falling $23 per hundredweight that is her bedroom not both of yours.
Fat cattle contracts are 40,000 pounds with feeder cattle 50,000 pounds. I don’t understand that logic on fat cattle contracts because most semis haul 50,000 pounds. So on feeder cattle futures move the limit in either direction for two days straight that is $11,500 per contract. On 800-pound steers that is $185 per head. And if you had 500 steers that is $92,500.00 in two days.
Right after I got out of college for awhile I worked in a bank. A woman came up and asked me to check her balance so I pushed her over. I don’t know why but they fired me.
I bought my wife 12 panties all the same color. She said, “Why did you buy them all the same color? People will think I don’t change my panties.” So I said, “Which people?”
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.
