Selling cattle early in Texas

[Fowler]

Looks like beef will be getting higher, Texas cattle ranchers are selling off their young cows due to there is nothing to feed them in the fields.

http://www.kxan.com/dpp/weather/drou...to-sell-cattle


I went to buy hay yesterday and it was 9 bucks a bale!!
We are having a hay shortage due to the drought. And my fields are looking bare.

Anyone up for a rain dance?

[SteveD(TX)]

Yea I've talked to a couple of cattle ranchers lately and they're selling out early. This reminds me of 2006.

[Fowler]

The Aucton lots are full, most arent taking any more cattle. A week before, my DIL sold his cattle for 90 cents a lb. I bet they wont get that now.

[giddy]

They are selling like crazy in Oklahoma too. There is no water or no grass-sometimes both. People around here are watering their cattle from their water wells. Very little hay around here.

[postroad]

Glad I got my own little herd of Dexters.

[YuccaFlatsRanch]

About a year from now the price of meat is going to be astronomical. Right now there is a glut of meat going to market - in a year or so there won't be any available to go to market.

[wwubben]

My neighbor here in north Iowa is hauling hay to Texas and hauling cow calf pairs back to his farm.He said they are hurting big time in Texas.Beef will be sky high.I hope the Texans get some disaster relief to get back on their feet when the drought ends.

[ladycat]

They are selling off the cattle in north Texas, too.

And the wild deer are dying off due to no water or food. The wildlife dept. is saying that it will take years for the deer population to recover.

[fordy]

.....................Well , I'm happy chickens don't eat hay , cause I've just about quit eating beef . , fordy

[ghmerrill]

I wish hay was only $9 a bale here! Our feed store sells grass hay for $12 a bale, I can fit two in the back of my subaru outback.....

[LoneStrChic23]

Same thing here in my neck of the woods.....Sale barn numbers are at least triple what they usually run through. No vegetation left thanks to fires & drought, so no grazing or browse... I see more dirt & rocks than I do plant life

Square bales of coastal are averaging $11 here,....and these are just the 50lb bales.... paid $4 for hay better than this in the past. I lucked out though.....a friend of the family sold off all stock & is letting me get his hay from last year (2nd & 3rd cutting, fertilized, irrigated & barn stored) for $4.50 a bale....Grabbed 10 this week, am picking up the last 20 next week...

Feed stores are out of haygrazer with no future supply in sight....they even pulled it off their price/item board. Alfalfa squares are $16, last years stemmy oat hay (which I use as bedding) is now $8.75 & before it was $2.50-$3.50.

I only have the goats & chickens now.....Very thankful we sold the horses a few years back, no way could I afford to feed them now!

[tinknal]

Plenty of grass and water up north. Future markets depend on where these young cows are going. If they are going to feedlots or slaughter then prices will increase in the future. If they are being bought up by ranchers in areas where there is plenty of feed brood cow numbers should remain stable.

[YuccaFlatsRanch]

I understand most of the cattle in Texas are going to slaughter.

[shelljo]

We've started shipping cattle and pulling them off pastures around here too. When your 10 inches below average in rainfall and you've had 30 days of 100 degree heat, it's time to move the cattle out.

[Curtis B]

I was watching AG Day this morning, and some crop adjusters are talking 10 bu per acre for corn in OK. From the talk at the feed store yesterday it sounds like Kansas corn is looking almost as bad. I think we are close to 20" below average this year.

[ladycat]

Originally Posted by Curtis B

I was watching AG Day this morning, and some crop adjusters are talking 10 bu per acre for corn in OK. From the talk at the feed store yesterday it sounds like Kansas corn is looking almost as bad. I think we are close to 20" below average this year.

I looked up info about the corn crop. There are a lot of articles, some pessimistic and some optimistic.

Here's one I found:

"Because of an arbitrary federal mandate, larger and larger amounts of ethanol will be produced from the corn crop, and less will be used to feed the animals needed for America's dinner plates."

Roenigk adds that some analysts expect this year’s corn crop could shrink below current USDA projections. “If that is correct,” he says, “then even less corn will be available for poultry and livestock feed because the ethanol sector will always get enough to fulfill the mandate. Ethanol producers will always be able to outbid livestock and poultry producers because the fuel industry is required by law to buy ethanol."

http://www.cattlenetwork.com/cattle-...8.html?ref=348

If we do have a poor crop, what about that ethanol mandate? What if it came to the point where there was only enough available for ethanol and not enough left for livestock?

[tinknal]

Corn was very late going in the ground here this spring and I had little optimism of any kind of crop around here this spring, but this last week of heat has resulted in incredible growth. Fields that were nearly bare on the 4th are now at least 4' tall.

[Curtis B]

Maybe the north is going to have to support everyone south. I know I have sold off everything but the sheep, goats and poultry. The Last of the pigs will be gone in about a month other than the one for my freezer ( I hope I can feed it with garden scraps). Hay is in short supply round here also, I am still looking for some for a reasonable price, from what I have seen Kansas hay has gone up almost 75% this year. I don't know how you folks in Texas have dealt with it for so many years.

[ladycat]

Originally Posted by tinknal

Corn was very late going in the ground here this spring and I had little optimism of any kind of crop around here this spring, but this last week of heat has resulted in incredible growth. Fields that were nearly bare on the 4th are now at least 4' tall.

Hopefully it won't get TOO hot.

[ladycat]

News video about one of our local cattle auctions:

http://www.newschannel6now.com/story...aking-auctions