Published: August 16, 2008 11:29 pm            

Cattle market has been good this summer

What a great market. Calves, yearlings, feeders and fats all have seen a great market this summer.

Lightweight calves off the cow, so hard to sell a few weeks ago, now are seeing much better demand, while the yearlings have seen a market like there might not be any tomorrow. Fat cattle, for reasons only known to the big corporations, have come up somewhat, but still lack way behind in terms of cutout values. Butcher cattle continue to see excellent demand, with lots of cows bringing either side of 60.

It’s been extremely nice to have a little cooler weather and some moisture. Eighty degree days in the middle of August are not very common, but they sure are welcome. The price of gas going down also has been a big boon for everyone, especially in the pocketbook, if not just for peace of mind. Hot temperatures still can come our way, but we’re one day closer to fall.

There sure seems to be a lot of hustle and bustle in the country at the moment. Kids (and parents) are getting ready for school, football practices are starting up and freshmen are getting ready for their first year of college. There still seem to be some folks who are working on taking some kind of vacation this year, but mostly just a break before the fall schedule hits. Any break in the gas prices or temperatures sure will help a lot.

After a great start in June, with moisture and grass growing, those several days of extreme heat sure seemed to put a damper on things, although only for a little bit. Even with temps soaring, the cattle market and retail markets apparently found a different gear and kept on going. Looking at the futures market, it sure looks like feeders will be worth a great price come this fall and spring, and fat cattle on the board are above $100 all the way into fall of 2009. Nothing wrong with that kind of market.

For whatever reasons, there seems to be an enormous amount of eye trouble in yearlings this summer. It seems like every set of cattle has had to be treated in one form or another. It certainly hasn’t affected the price at all, but there has to be a small amount of gain lost. The grass looks wonderful, but possibly isn’t giving out the nutrients to put a lot of gain on this summer, although the compensatory gain will be great. There are plenty of green, grazing type cattle available right now, whether they weigh 500 or 800 pounds.

With these kinds of cattle available, and the futures board helping quite a bit, it sure looks like someone could just take these lighter cattle and put some cheap gain on them. It really won’t matter if they gain — a pound or three pounds a day — every pound is worth $114. And grass, even with land selling very high, won’t cost as much as the gain in a growlot or feedyard. Turning out big cattle looks OK, too. Two hundred pounds of gain, or 50 pounds of gain is still just that — gain. And each pounds worth more than $1.



Winter is owner/sales manager of Winter Livestock, which has an auction every Tuesday.