question for those in the cattle business

[sasqy]

Problem we have, is they all have names here and are hand fed.
Can’t sell your pets. Thank goodness I only keep 6 Cows 1 Bull, but I wind up with 6 calves through the year too. I paid $75 for rounds here west of DFW and was excited. It’s going for $100-$150 around here due to the drought causing shortages.
Guess We’ll just try to keep up with them as long as I can.
“Humble Hill”

[brokeno]

Just keep praying and the rains may start coming. A lot of cows have gone to market in the last few months. That should help the market next year because there should be a shortage if you can hang on that long. Like mentioned feed, hay, fertilizer and fuel have doubled in price but market cattle prices is less than last year. Let it rain.

[SCHC]

Have cut back numbers beginning 2 yrs ago. Have a few more going to the sale in the next couple of weeks. Unless pricing gets better, may soon sell all and go to a wildlife exemption. It’s not worth it anymore with pricing of diesel, fertilizer, etc. Thank goodness we don’t count on this for a living. Lots of work for little to no return.

[RMW]

We have a little over a 1000 head, gotten lucky we’ve caught a few decent rains the last few months here along the coast. We were really hoping the tropical disturbance was going to bring a drought buster but didn’t happen. If gets worse we definitely would have to downsize, feeding hay this time of year gets expensive quick

[Low Fence]

I’ve already seen 1st cutting junk @ $90 a bale + delivery. I need about 1000 a year5x6… our first cutting made an impressive 250

My feed bill is over $10k A WEEK!

Weigh cows are the same and milk finally went up…. But is about 1/3 what it should be


Lol I got over $100 a bale in parts alone in first cutting

[doghouse]

Maybe not in my life time, but sometime in the future meat at the local grocery store will be extremely expensive. Nearly all the land sales in Mills county have been to city folks. Nearly all of them are going with the wild life management program thru the local tax office. I don't blame them. Running cattle is a loosing proposition right now. Calves bringing 1.60 per lb doesn't cut it.

[Low Fence]

Maybe not in my life time, but sometime in the future meat at the local grocery store will be extremely expensive. Nearly all the land sales in Mills county have been to city folks. Nearly all of them are going with the wild life management program thru the local tax office. I don't blame them. Running cattle is a loosing proposition right now. Calves bringing 1.60 per lb doesn't cut it.

Holstein bull calves now won’t pay the commission $7-10

I can remember if you went to the sale barn you had to lock the trailer or people would fill your trailer up. Lol

Processing makes the money

[planomustang]

Slightly off topic, but I drove through SE Collin County, today, to look at a piece of equipment. In that part of the county, there is still quite a lot of corn fields. Everyone I saw was completely burned up. The stalks were no more than 4' tall, with absolutely no corn cobs.

[dclifton]

Yep. Heard it said many times. Farmer/rancher is the only business in America that buys everything at retail and sells at wholesale. It’s a rough year. We are going to try to stick it out. But if we don’t get rain we will be selling down to nothing and starting over next year. Hope to get the chance to sprig a lot more costal next year.

[rut-ro]

Just keep praying and the rains may start coming. A lot of cows have gone to market in the last few months. That should help the market next year because there should be a shortage if you can hang on that long. Like mentioned feed, hay, fertilizer and fuel have doubled in price but market cattle prices is less than last year. Let it rain.

When I get back to the farm ill have to look at our 2012 numbers and see how they compared.

I know we still have a lot of dead trees around from 2011.

[Rubberdown]

2011 was the first drought I experienced while messing with cattle. It sucked. We will see how this compares.

[Dusty Britches]

.......
Both in 2018 we were averaging $1.68 our last sale 2 weeks ago we averaged $ 1.60
..........

Wait, this caught my eye. Last week the average stocker (550 weight) price was $190.04 in Texas. The five year average for last week is $163.49. Last year it was $166.43.

Feeders (750 weight) was $166.12. The five year average for last week is $145.12. Last year it was $148.10.



Yes, this year for cattle producers will be a lost leader if you feed hay.

I do know of a few liquidations but they were not due to costs or prices but the health of the cattleman. I also know a few places that liquidated to save their grass and will buy back in when the rain returns.

[Randy]

I wish I had an answer for you. I am afraid this is the year that is going to get me.

I've got one cutting in, no rain, what grass I have is burning up, high commodity prices and cattle to feed til spring.

[cj7zrcool]

I plan on doing what I have been doing. Not feeding any hay unless we have ice or snow. I do range cube them on a semi regular basis during the winter. My stocking rate is about 1/5 of what most of the surrounding places stock. I made it through the 2011 drought without feeding any hay. My biggest problem was keeping neighbors cows out of my place. I actually make money when I sell my cattle. They need to earn their keep. Pampering and babying them leads to no profit. Do people ever wonder how cattle survived before feeding hay became a fad?

We've only got 35 head, but when you haven't received any measurable rain in weeks, your place resembles the surface of Mars more every day, & you can visually see the weight loss, then you have little choice; sell out or supplemental feed. I bought (14) bales of last year's fertilized third cutting coastal yesterday from an acquaintance for $60/ea and felt like I hit the lotto. Only need another 100-110 to get to Spring.

[tpack]

We've only got 35 head, but when you haven't received any measurable rain in weeks, your place resembles the surface of Mars more every day, & you can visually see the weight loss, then you have little choice; sell out or supplemental feed. I bought (14) bales of last year's fertilized third cutting coastal yesterday from an acquaintance for $60/ea and felt like I hit the lotto. Only need another 100-110 to get to Spring.

I don`t have a dog in the race, but my son does. He feeds most of his hay every year during the winter and sells the rest to a few people he does business with. This year's hay crop was a flop, and he has grazed everything down to the ground. I knew his hay situation and started suggesting selling everything in April if thing kept going the way they were. He took everything to the sale 3 weeks ago and told me yesterday that he was glad that he did. First time for no cattle to be on the family place in over 60 years.