The big item most cattlemen in our area and south are facing is dry weather. That is causing a lot of cows and bulls to go to slaughter and we had already sold a lot more than normal.
With the dry weather there is also concern of feedlots not being able to buy enough roughage to go into their ration and make it affordable. Unless it starts raining even some irrigation is going to be limited on ensilage and a lot of the dryland is simply burning up. We still have time to recover at least some, but we need it to rain soon.
The cow killing price has fallen probably $30 per hundredweight but it is still better than most years. Some sellers have a hard time understanding the price of the thinner cows. But if they are thin or light there is not as much demand as buyers have to either put them on feed to get them bigger or fleshier or butcher a light carcass with not much yield.
It’s going to be a very interesting year with cattle future prices a lot higher than they have been for several years and the drought mixed in there, too. I have had a few cattlemen tell me they will go over $2 for feeder cattle and $160 to $170 on fats. But keep in mind you can hear anything so be your own judge.
I asked my veterinarian if there was something I could do to make these young open cows breed faster. He jokingly said, “Yes, put a bull with them!” Then he said to perhaps give them vitamins and also lutalyse them to make them come in heat faster.
A police officer stops a minivan full of elderly ladies being driven by an old gentleman because they were only going 25 miles per hour and stopping a lot of traffic behind them. The policeman asked the driver why he was going so slow. The older man said, “Well that sign said 25.” The policeman said, “No, that is Highway 25 and has nothing to do with the speed limit.”
Then the policeman looks at the rest of the van and noticed all the grannies appeared to look frozen and stiff. The policeman said, “What is up with all these ladies?” The old man scratched his head and said, “Maybe it’s because we just got off of Highway 150.”
People are shocked when they find out that I am not a very good electrician.
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.
