Sale Barn Full

[Limomike]

That is the way it was around here last year. The drought had alot of folks selling off their cattle at the sale barns. The barns were loaded with record numbers of cattle being brought in. Now a year later, its just the opposite. Plenty of grass to cut and bale. Everyone seems to have plenty of hay for the winter; and I am doing the same thing Caustic mentioned. Brushoggin pastures I dont normally have to.

 

[dun]

That is the way it was around here last year. The drought had alot of folks selling off their cattle at the sale barns. The barns were loaded with record numbers of cattle being brought in. Now a year later, its just the opposite. Plenty of grass to cut and bale. Everyone seems to have plenty of hay for the winter; and I am doing the same thing Caustic mentioned. Brushoggin pastures I dont normally have to.

I hope folks don;t get the idea to buy some of the western cattle. A couple of years ago they stared bringing in western cattle from the drought areas and selling them aorund here. Prices were better then where they came from but still cheap by local standards. The people I know that bought them learned that cheap cows are;nt a bargain when they've never been in smaller pastures. Cost of fixing the fences all of the time eat up profits pretty quickly

 

[flaboy?]

This week Ocala (FL) did almost twice as much as the same week last year. Not sure why. Last year was much dryer than this year. Could be folks thinking/reading about hay shortages.

 

[CUZ]

I hope folks don;t get the idea to buy some of the western cattle. . . . they've never been in smaller pastures. Cost of fixing the fences all of the time eat up profits pretty quickly

That's a great point. I would have never thought of the cows adjusting to smaller pastures vs their normal roaming habits.

 

[gberry]

A couple of interesting things in this thread. First that comes to mind is how few head are run through sale barns in this area. My dad says that 30 years ago the small barn in our town (long since out of business) would have sales that started at 10 am and might not end till midnight or later. I guess that's a sign of the times with all the development in the panhandle.

Most of Southern cattle company's land is leased, but they do have some nice facilities.

I don't know why the barns are so full now. Maybe everyone is concerned about finding hay for the winter. Although the drought has been pretty severe, we have had enough rain the past couple of months to have plenty of grass at the present time. Of course, that will change if it doesn't start raining again soon.

 

[KS Cattle]

I hope folks don;t get the idea to buy some of the western cattle. . . . they've never been in smaller pastures. Cost of fixing the fences all of the time eat up profits pretty quickly

That's a great point. I would have never thought of the cows adjusting to smaller pastures vs their normal roaming habits.

That's why we won't buy calves from Missouri. Too many put together's.

 

[Limomike]

A couple of interesting things in this thread. First that comes to mind is how few head are run through sale barns in this area. My dad says that 30 years ago the small barn in our town (long since out of business) would have sales that started at 10 am and might not end till midnight or later. I guess that's a sign of the times with all the development in the panhandle.

Most of Southern cattle company's land is leased, but they do have some nice facilities.

I don't know why the barns are so full now. Maybe everyone is concerned about finding hay for the winter. Although the drought has been pretty severe, we have had enough rain the past couple of months to have plenty of grass at the present time. Of course, that will change if it doesn't start raining again soon.

That is a sign of the times. Drought=selling off herds, or culling deep.