As we start 2026 cattle auctions are back in full swing.
Last week we got a big push up in cattle futures with many feeder contracts up as much as $7 to $8 per hundredweight. Fat cattle contracts were up mostly $3.50 to $4.40 cwt with this February leading the pack at $236.40. For what some calf and feeder buyers have given price wise they are going to need a very good market when they sell their cattle.
Many cattlemen this past fall have had a lot of sickness and death losses. For me it was a lot harder than most years to find medicine these calves would respond to. I had several that would respond some then fall back down again several times. Then after I had spent no telling how many dollars they would kick the bucket. And yes that bucket is dented to where it hardly looks like a bucket. Thank goodness we had a very good year financially in the cattle business previously.
Our area needs a rain with a lot of the wheat showing definite signs of it. Looks like we have a chance one day this week, but otherwise weathermen give us little hope for next 10 days. However, I know for sure the weathermen are not in control of that.
We have a lot going on with our government with some on the left talking about socialism as if it is what we need. I don’t know about you, but I like America being the greatest land of all to where we have the opportunity to succeed or fail and not someone handing me what they want to give me.
I am 100% against drugs and 100% against people that hate America. How about those people that hate America go back to their country and speak out like they do here? If they did we wouldn’t have to listen to them again.
The preacher said Sunday, “If it doesn’t challenge you it doesn’t change you. You may think it isn’t much, but sometimes the little things you do is the most influential things in a person’s life.”
I saw my doctor yesterday and showed her the rash I have on my rear. She just ignored me and kept pushing her cart at Walmart.
I finally fixed that annoying noise in my car. I just opened the door and pushed her out.
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.
PHOTO: Cattle in a feed lot or feed yard. (iStock │ #1302314885 – Clinton Austin)
