Most cattlemen tell me they have not recovered from the downturn in the cattle market in 2015. And I know I lost a lot of equity that year.
I know you think all I talk about is the packer and retailer stealing our cattle. But if they were only taking half as much, we would not even have a problem in the cattle business. I still think we should trade Choice beef instead of live cattle and convince buyers of beef like grocery stores, restaurants, etc. to buy off the futures or accordingly. Then if the packer ran the futures down he is running his own product down.
We are at a very critical place in the cattle business and agriculture in general. There is a little heat on packers and retailers now and also on politicians to do something about it. But if we do not pour the heat on now and hard the packer will simply pacify the politicians and the government for a few months then right back like it was. I was told the NCBA made a statement the cattlemen will get through this.
If they do care they should have been screaming and raising heck for a long time and they haven’t and they are not going to. If the president tries to find out about the situation he will ask the secretary of agriculture or NCBA first and they will say it is simply supply and demand.
All organizations should be screaming like beef checkoff and county ag groups, state cattle organizations, Farm Bureau, cooperatives, bankers, equipment dealers and many more. They soon will have not clientele. Otherwise we might as well contact the “Big Four” and see if we can work for them.
The bail out would be nice but that is only a Band-Aid and doesn’t fix the main problem. It is partially our fault as cattlemen to get manipulated to this point but it is totally our fault if we do nothing about it. The time is now or never.
I will no longer shake hands or give hugs since this coronavirus 6-feet distance deal. You can bow to me or shoot me the finger either one will work.
I told my wife how nice it was to be quarantined with someone that I was crazy about. My wife said, “It must be nice.”
Maybe you will agree that most all of us that work at a sale barn have a bit of a twisted sense of humor. One guy who works there said, “If I get the coronavirus I’m not going out of the world by myself. That is one trip I am taking the whole family with me.” I told you we are twisted but he made sure and said it in front of his wife.
Editor’s note: Jerry Nine, Woodward, Oklahoma, is a lifetime cattleman who grew up on his family’s ranch near Slapout, Oklahoma.
