What a great market! Even after bad publicity, bad weather, bad eating habits, and high costs of doing business we still have a very good market! The rains up until last week were very timely and soaking, the wheat looks great and gains have been good on the graze out. Most of the wheat pasture cattle look as healthy as ones in the feed yard!
With the amount of money that celebrities throw around, and the sway of the media, it makes a person wonder just which way to go. It would be interesting to see how the public would act if there were no advertising or media blitzes. There are some things that folks really don’t need or want to know, but on the other hand without advertising, there would be many people, places, and things that never get known.
The cattle industry seems to be poised for a big move one way or another. Herd numbers are still low and heifer numbers in the feed yards have increased, not decreased. Numbers at the packing plants are holding and with the increase in the carcass weights we don’t need as many cattle, but at some point it will catch up.
With so much land being sold to people and businesses outside of agriculture, it seems to be getting harder to find pasture for cattle. Big cities keep getting bigger and what were cattle pastures a few years ago are now neighborhoods. There also seems to be a lot of land that just sits idle so somebody from the city can go hunting for a couple weeks a year.
It was hard enough to keep back heifers when they were worth $600.00, and it would sure seem harder to do it when they are worth $1100.00! The ratio probably is close to the same though. A person can buy and breed a heifer for $1400.00 or so and get a calf from her that might be worth $1000.00. That sure doesn’t seem like a bad trade over a few years!
Consumption of beef in total is good, but there sure seems to be more different diets than there used to be. Hopefully, the high price of food will be handled like the high price of gas - everyone needs it and will get used to it. It sure shows good for beef that even with so many agencies and people pulling for other types of food, beef is still sought after.
We have a great product, a great market and some great opportunities! Take advantage of all that is being offered! We still have the most productive agriculture in the world and there are more people in it every day to feed!
Get in the action! Go to the auction! Raise some beef!
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