Keep an objective view of the cattle market

Possession is the name of the game or so it seems at the cattle auction. We have seen that before like in 2014, but a year or so later refinancing was the name of the game.

Don’t get me wrong I think we are in good shape as far as the market outlook and these prices are at levels most of us never thought possible. But always remember when the market is going up there are always people predicting it will go even higher. The same holds true when it is going down there are always people predicting it will go lower.

Don’t build your faith off someone else and particularly don’t build your faith off the loudest person at the convenience store who is always trying to tell you how smart he is.

We are very blessed in our area as far as moisture. Often this time of year we are needing a rain. I live close to the line that divides the Oklahoma panhandle from the rest of the state and a lot of years if you go east 100 miles or southeast it seems those regions normally get more rain.

Land prices in our area have gotten a lot higher as they have in many areas. I was telling my boys that around 1975 I bought 320 acres of land that had an older house on it plus got some minerals for $66,000, which is $206.25 per acre. Today you are lucky if you can buy a pickup for that amount that won’t be worth much in a few years.

Dad told me when he was young he could have bought a lot of land for $6 to $10 per acre, but he didn’t have the money and couldn’t borrow it. Dad also told me the difference between when he was trying to get started and when I was trying to get started was for him he couldn’t borrow money or had to have something, but it was a little easier 30 years later. We let a lot of good information go to the grave with that generation.

In 1901, a neighbor got a white bull that came in a crate from France on the train and I believe the bull was delivered to Englewood, Kansas. So he took his mules and wagon and drove them to Englewood to get the bull. I wished I could have asked him whether they drove him back to south of Gate, Oklahoma, or whether they put the bull back in the crate on the wagon.

In 2023, when I still had the livestock auction a cattleman still had a white bull—a descendant from that original bull. His neighbor had all black cattle and would have preferred to keep them black, not white, but that’s another story.

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.