The latest Cattle on Feed Report was called bearish but I do not know why.
The total estimates on feed were predicted at 101.6% and it came out with 101%. The placement in the feedlot was estimated at 106.5% and it was 109%. Well, what did the report expect placements to be with $11 a bushel wheat and a drought? And the marketing estimate was 104.4% and the actual was more marketed at 105%. And I am told on that placement figure in the feedlot for February, the report was compared to last February when we had an ice storm for two weeks and a lot of auctions did not have a sale.
I can assure you today that the weights were lighter than usual. For several weeks at the auction, we have been selling quite a lot of thin, dried out light cattle with a lot of condition. And the prices have been good. We sold 98 steers in one bunch weighing 609 pounds that brought $196.50 per hundredweight. And some 511-pound steers at $221 per hundredweight. I sold some old cows that were plenty thin and weaned and their 200-pound calves and the cows brought $79 per hundredweight. Not that long ago they would have brought $40.
I think it is a good time to cull so I am preg checking all my dry cows and selling all the open cows, older short breeds and anything that has an attitude like my sister’s.
I realize we are still in a drought, but you can sell an old cow at weighing price and if she has a calf, you can often trade that for a very nice young-bred cow or a nice young pair.
I accidentally gave my wife glue stick instead of Chapstick. She still isn’t talking to me. And yes, I told her mother it was definitely an accident.
My wife will be coming home today. I haven’t cleaned or done the dishes for a week. Now she will see that I can’t live without her. You are right, I am so romantic, and she will figure it out that I need her otherwise I would tell her.
A lawyer runs a stop sign and gets pulled over by a cop. So the lawyer thinks he is smarter and more educated so he decides to have some fun. The cop said, “I need to see your license and registration.” The lawyer says, “What for?” The cop says, “You didn’t come to a complete stop at a stop sign.”
The lawyer said, “Well, I slowed down.” So the cop said, “Do you want me to show you the difference between stop and slow down?” The lawyer said, “Yes.” So the cop gets his baton and starts beating the lawyer. “Then the cop said, ‘Do you want me to stop or slow down?’”
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.
