The market is great! We’re starting out the New Year very well. Stocker cattle still bringing excellent money! Some calves bringing $500 to $600 a head, with feeder cattle bringing over $100/cwt! How can we gripe about a market like that?
The weather is going in our favor. We’ve had great moisture around, at times probably not just the way everyone wants it, but it is moisture never the less. It appears that the moisture is covering a pretty large area also. The desert regions in the southwest have got more moisture in the last 2 weeks than they normally get in 2 years! The prospects for spring grazing look fantastic!
There sure is a lot of worry about the Canadian border opening. The talk was it will open the first couple weeks of March, then supposedly there was another mad cow found and we don’t know when the border will open. This is very hard on the cattleman. The Board of Trade certainly enjoys the ups and downs, but there is hardly any reason for this type of behavior.
The facts of the situation are this: We have the best demand for beef we’ve seen in 30 years. We have the smallest supply of cattle since 1952. The world population is growing by a child every 8 seconds. The most heavily populated areas of the world are starting to eat beef in larger quantities. The general population of the United States goes out to eat more than it ever has in history. We have a slaughter capacity in the U.S. of approximately 140,000 cattle per day. That equals 700,000 cattle a week at just 5 days a week! If Canada brings down 1 million cattle, that’s only about 10 days kill. The feedlot capacity in the U.S. is phenomenal! Yet, it’s not enough to supply our own demand!
Think about our market. When we closed the Canadian border, we saw prices so high it was scary! How great would the market be if we closed the southern border? Japan won’t take our beef because of a bse cow from Canada, so why would we consider opening it until our market was opened up? We have the safest, best tasting product in the world, bar none. The demand for it is fantastic, and the market for our calves and feeders is the highest in history! Let’s not forget what some of our cattle have made in the last year. Our emphasis needs to be on getting a market for fat cattle and beef. The ploys of negotiation used by the packers and retailers are something to wonder about. Captive supply is a real thing, not just a nightmare. We need to keep our own markets free!
COMING NEXT TUESDAY, JANUARY 18, 2005:
Edwards Ranch 500 Blk/Bwf hfrs, off wheat, 500-700 lbs, green, choice
R & S Cattle 150 Eng/Extx str/hfrs, off whet, 600-800 lbs
WT Farms 100 Lim/Angx strs & hfrs, 400 to 500 lbs
COMING TUESDAY, JANUARY 25, 2005:
GOEMMLER RANCH DISPERSAL
400 ANGX COWS, 3-7yrs old, bred to Blk Angus + Blk Limo bulls
