Small to medium diaries here can not currently find enough auctioneers to sell their cows at the farm, so they haul them in to the sales barns... I think milk production is still going up with the large dairy expansions. Go industrial or go home! But I never was a good follower - - so I am buying da wife $ 900 springing nurse cows.
Taking heads like to discuss when all the Chinese are going to switch to eating sweet and sour beef, but it will not be soon.
I think some of the more profitable beef operations are diversified with crops - - which gives them an outlet for poor, froze out, low test wt., aftermath, meadow feeds.
Meanwhile - - there was subdued bidding at sales barn today. I sold 7 wt. heifer pen culls for $852 and bought back big BM heavy breds for $925. Seems like a good trade, except for the one black bitch that wants to eat me.