Barn 3/9

[BC]

I was expecting the calf market to be a good deal cheaper today because the futures board for live cattle and feeder cattle had lost ground Wednsday, Thursday and Friday. Calves were steady with last weeks market. Saw an 830 lb steer bring $1.32

 

[bigbull338]

i doubt if the futures market will push cattle prices up or down since theres a major shortage of weigh cattle an finished calves.

 

[Caustic Burno]

Dang sorry didn't see you had already started the same thread about sale today.

 

[denvermartinfarms]

600LB steers were up to 1.60 here this week. 4 to 5wts were 1.78 to 1.93. Saughter cows and bulls were a touch cheaper.

 

[Caustic Burno]

Volume was really light at our barn today I figured a lot had to do with Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.

 

[kenny thomas]

600LB steers were up to 1.60 here this week. 4 to 5wts were 1.78 to 1.93. Saughter cows and bulls were a touch cheaper.

Sure wish it was that way in the east. Ours are .40 cheaper than that.

 

[denvermartinfarms]

600LB steers were up to 1.60 here this week. 4 to 5wts were 1.78 to 1.93. Saughter cows and bulls were a touch cheaper.

Sure wish it was that way in the east. Ours are .40 cheaper than that.

What are your 200lb to 300lb steers bringing there.

 

[kenny thomas]

Very rare to see less than 300lb here. But the best of the 3wts last week were 1.60 or so.

 

[denvermartinfarms]

Very rare to see less than 300lb here. But the best of the 3wts last week were 1.60 or so.

Here in this area the best of the 3wts were 2.15.

 

[kenny thomas]

Problem we have also is there has not been enough calves to make load lots. Numbers are very low in this area.

 

[Caustic Burno]

Problem we have also is there has not been enough calves to make load lots. Numbers are very low in this area.

Crockett is the big barn here used to sell 2 to 3 thousand head a week it is now 3 to 4 hundred.
This is going to be real interesting through the next couple of year's. We were talking yesterday at the barn (Livingston) most common reason people were not restocking or retaining was the drought totally changed everyone's idea's on stocking rates. No one thought anyting about a pair to the acre or two I know I didn't. Now I am at a pair to 4 to 5 and not going back up.

 

[bigbull338]

CB theres talk that the low #s going through the sale barns will force some of them to close in 2 or 3yrs.

 

[BC]

Problem we have also is there has not been enough calves to make load lots. Numbers are very low in this area.

Crockett is the big barn here used to sell 2 to 3 thousand head a week it is now 3 to 4 hundred.
This is going to be real interesting through the next couple of year's. We were talking yesterday at the barn (Livingston) most common reason people were not restocking or retaining was the drought totally changed everyone's idea's on stocking rates. No one thought anyting about a pair to the acre or two I know I didn't. Now I am at a pair to 4 to 5 and not going back up.

CB, I was able to hang on to 80% of my cows because Ihad already subscribed to stocking at a cow to 5 acres. I got that advice over 20 years ago from the man that owned the sale barn here when I moved to this county. Didn't listen then, but the dry year of 1996 forced me to sell down at a time when the market was flooded. I learned my lesson and have been able to weather the dry spells since then.

 

[Caustic Burno]

Problem we have also is there has not been enough calves to make load lots. Numbers are very low in this area.

Crockett is the big barn here used to sell 2 to 3 thousand head a week it is now 3 to 4 hundred.
This is going to be real interesting through the next couple of year's. We were talking yesterday at the barn (Livingston) most common reason people were not restocking or retaining was the drought totally changed everyone's idea's on stocking rates. No one thought anyting about a pair to the acre or two I know I didn't. Now I am at a pair to 4 to 5 and not going back up.

CB, I was able to hang on to 80% of my cows because Ihad already subscribed to stocking at a cow to 5 acres. I got that advice over 20 years ago from the man that owned the sale barn here when I moved to this county. Didn't listen then, but the dry year of 1996 forced me to sell down at a time when the market was flooded. I learned my lesson and have been able to weather the dry spells since then.

None of our other drought's really effected my stocking rates, but my county and the ones south recieve the most rainfall in Texas. I feel you would be safe at 1 in 3. The problem was when everyone was at 1 in 1 they kept hanging on till there was no pasture left, and they had gotten to that O shyt moment.

 

[greybeard]

And the fact CB, that there was so little hay they couldn't even get thru late summer-early fall 2011.
Now, lots are running scared and I can't blame 'em--I ain't forgot either. I'm stocked 1 animal to 5 ac right now--20 total on about 100 ac. Could probably go more but not much more--rainy winter/spring don't mean we'll have moisture in summer and fall.

 

[denvermartinfarms]

Problem we have also is there has not been enough calves to make load lots. Numbers are very low in this area.

That was the problem here 2 and 3 weeks ago with snow and ice on the roads, some of the sales that run 2000 had 250 or no sale at all, and the biggest sales that run 6000 to 10000 had 1500. Not a week to be buying a load of the same kind of cattle, but i did get some bargains, just all different shapes and sizes.

 

[Caustic Burno]

And the fact CB, that there was so little hay they couldn't even get thru late summer-early fall 2011.
Now, lots are running scared and I can't blame 'em--I ain't forgot either. I'm stocked 1 animal to 5 ac right now--20 total on about 100 ac. Could probably go more but not much more--rainy winter/spring don't mean we'll have moisture in summer and fall.

Where you and I are located in normal rainfall years on fertilized pasture I could easily run a pair per acre.
I would have grass out the butt and did for years. My pastures are in good shape compared to many as I started destocking the first year of the drought. The hanging on is what got so many in trouble. I understand why so many did, their heart hated to loose what they built over a lifetime. Thinking with their heart versus logic caused a lot to loose everything.