Cattle marketing at a sale sometimes takes optics
At the sale the other day a man bought a steer and, in my opinion, was somewhat of a crony. I heard a man behind me say to another man, “Do you think that steer will ever get well?”
Another friend beside me asked, “That depends on how big the bunch is when he sells them?” Meaning maybe he will be in the middle of that bunch.
I remember about 20 years ago at the sale we had a large bunch of feeders in the ring and sure enough there was a plainer brindle steer that was lagging behind so I just tapped the steer so that he got more in the bunch. The auctioneer I had was pretty ornery so he stopped his selling and said, “Did you see what Jerry just did he poked that plain steer in the middle of the bunch?” I said, “I did not.” Perhaps I thought that plainer steer wanted to be closer to his friends—those better steers.
As of Monday morning word spread fast of Booker Beef Packing Plant catching on fire. It was unknown early to the extent of the damage, but anytime something disrupts the slaughtering at a facility it is never good. Booker primarily slaughters cows perhaps some bulls, but covers a large area in cattle auctions by processing some immediately, but also keeping a good number in the feedlot to process later. We will know more later, but hopefully they can rebuild or repair as we never need less competition. Plus it is in a small town and has a lot of employees that need a job.
Last weekend a big area received bitter cold weather with our area receiving 4 inches of snow, but other areas not far away receiving a lot more. The temperatures got very low and any calves born in that weather had a high likelihood of not surviving.
I have never understood how a calf can survive sometimes when born in very low temperatures and coming out of its mother at 102 degrees and getting licked off and getting a cup of milk. Some would say, “Why don’t you calve later in the year?” But my experience of calving late is the calf is not very big in the fall when the grass is drying up.
I pulled up to a stop sign and a guy in a car pulled up beside me, revving his motor way up. I rolled down my window and said, “If you are going to impress this gal in here with me with a vehicle if probably will have to be a food truck!”
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.
