What a market! It¡¦s very seldom that we see grains and cattle moving in the same direction, yet it¡¦s happened several times now in the last year. The futures board for cattle and grains has been moving by dollars instead of cents, and sometimes in the same direction! Both are sitting at very high levels, which makes things look like there will never be another bad day! ƒº
Stockers and feeders have made some tremendous jumps in the last week, getting quoted anywhere from $1.00 to $12.00 higher! At the rate the market is going, and it doesn¡¦t turn the other direction, it won¡¦t be very long before it¡¦s right back up there at all time highs! Light weight calves have jumped from $120.00 to $140.00, with green seven weights going from $95.00 just a few weeks ago to $110.00 on grazing kind!
With the market going up like this, it¡¦s probably a good idea to take advantage of it! A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush! That philosophy can certainly be applied to both cattle and grains. For those who have been in the business for a long time, $11.000 wheat was unheard of not very long ago, and $112.00 for a feeder is a heck of a price any time! It might be time to take the money and run!
Even as good as the market is now, the cattle industry, especially the cow calf and stocker parts, look very good for down the road. Our demand is great, numbers are down, and there just seems to be fewer and fewer cattleman in the world. The capacities in the feedyards and packing plants is much larger than our supply, and as with any business, you have to have an inventory of something if you want to sell it.
With prices going up like they are, it sure looks like those bred cows would be a very good investment. Somebody is going to have to produce the calves and feeders to supply the feedyards. The world population is getting exponentially larger and our food has to come from somewhere. In the long run, it would be much better if we could produce our own beef, in a safe environment, without all the unknowns being imported in.
Solid mouth cows around the country are bringing $700.00 to $1000.00, while stocker cattle going to grass or possibly wheat are bringing $500.00 to $800.00! For the same money, a person could produce a calf for next fall and still have a cow to breed or sell. At these prices, a person might just be able to make some money!
The wheat run is starting already and it probably won¡¦t last very long! The potential to cut high dollar wheat will move a lot of cattle early, and cattle prices certainly aren¡¦t hurting things! It will be interesting to see what numbers of cattle are left in the fields after the 1st of March! It sure looks like getting numbers of cattle this spring and summer might be fairly tough to do!
