its been a very good time to dollar cost average winter stocker cattle back during the least 3 weeks. rolling back costs on high prices calves that were contracted back in the summer. this has in some instances, where we and a few other operators i know were over protected on sets of cattle ahead of filling up ranches, allowed the break-even cost of a total set that was used against the board when pricing put options to protect one's self to go down, making the positions more lucrative relative to the cost of the cattle.
this is a welcome boost to profits in a deteriorating market.
there have been a few other opportunities in all the doom and gloom. light weight (350lbs.) Mexicans have gotten very attractive at several border crossings, allowing a decent return to be secured.
that said, i assure the previous poster that fat cattle can very easily lose $500/head. virtually all our non-homeraised cattle are protected in one form or another, especially when we feed cattle. nonetheless, in our personal worst closeout, we had a set of steers that were bought way too high and fed way too average and sold at a very unfortunate time, this unprotected set of cattle lost $570/head. I framed a copy of that closeout and hung in our office, its good reminder of why we only speculate on a small percentage of our inventory.
