The United States Department of Justice charged eight individuals with deceptive trading practices executed on the U.S. commodities markets.
The eight individuals have been charged with federal crimes. Seven of the eight individuals were charged with the crime of spoofing—an illegal trading practice that can be used to manipulate the commodities market. Other than these individuals only three other individuals have ever been publicly charged with the crime of spoofing. The defendants are charged for placing hundreds and sometimes thousands of orders that they did not intend to trade to create the appearance of substantial false supply and demand to induce other market participants to trade at prices, quantities and at times they otherwise would not have been traded.
Most cattlemen I have talked to do not like it where there is computer trading. These computers are often set up where they trade sometimes by the speed that it is trading and no one is personally making a decision to do so.
The same ole broken record is we still need a rain. I asked one cattleman after the sale today if there was any rain in the forecast. He said, “No, not in the 10-day forecast but there is a slight chance for rain in the next 110 days.”
Sometimes we have to make our own humor. Actually grazing cattle are selling at better prices than you would expect with the dry weather we have. And bred cows and pairs are also selling good for being dry. Tuesday we sold some 2- to 6-year-old pairs with small calves from $1,600 to $1,650 with the 7- and 8-year-olds bringing $1,200 to $1,300. Our 3- to 6-year-old bred cows 4 to 8 months brought $1,250 to $1,350.
A blonde heard that baths in milk would make her beautiful. She left a note for her milkman to leave 25 gallons of milk. When the milkman read the note he thought she must have meant 2.5 gallons. So he knocked on the door to clarify the point.
The blonde came to the door and the milkman said, “I found your note but don’t you need 2.5 gallons instead of 25?” The blonde said, “No, I want 25 gallons to make me look beautiful again.”
The milkman asked, “Do you want it pasteurized?”
The blonde said, “No, just up to the shoulders. I can splash it on my eyes if I need to.”
A friend of mine’s grandpa was a terrible gambler. In fact his last words to his wife were, “I bet that’s not even loaded.”
This past week I joined a support group for anti-social people but we haven’t met yet.
Editor’s note: Jerry Nine, Woodward, Oklahoma, is a lifetime cattleman who grew up on his family’s ranch near Slapout.
