From the Barns: Uncharted waters

“He who has forage is king.” My kids are likely to have this saying etched into my tombstone as they have no doubt heard it multiple times. I love chopping silage. The sheer volume of feed you make every day leaves any other forage or hay making venture in the dust. Watching the packing tractor get higher and higher on the silage pile never gets old and this year it is especially rewarding as corn yields are out of sight. There is a reason corn prices are not very good, and if what we are seeing yield-wise is the norm everywhere else in the Corn Belt, I doubt the price is going to get much better.

We traveled to north-central Iowa this last weekend for Kaden’s first college football game and saw a tremendous corn crop waiting everywhere along our route to be harvested. Feed cost will not be any issue as we start putting this year’s calf crop on feed. What this year’s calves are worth to sell, feed, breed or whatever marketing scheme we choose is a whole other kettle of fish, however. Prices for every class of cattle are over-the-moon high and the only question I hear is, “When will this bubble burst?” The answer of course is, “Who knows?”

The uncertainty of treading in these uncharted waters has everybody’s head spinning. It is, however, a lot more fun trying to figure out a stratospheric high market than trying to make it all work when prices are in the basement — and cattlemen have had to do that plenty of times in my memory, as well. Enjoy the good times while they last.

The cows are all on autopilot while we get the corn harvested and I’m sure Ian will be chasing the chopper out of the fields and closing up gates so the cows and calves can graze what’s left behind by the harvesting effort. We will be along as soon as time allows to apply manure and then seed wheat in anticipation of a little fall rain to get the wheat grazing started.

Turning down record-high prices for fat cattle seems really dumb until even higher prices are offered the following week. This little dance we do every week with the packer-buyers will make you nuts, but that’s just the way it is and I do not see it changing anytime soon.

Many of my afternoons are cut short this time of year as Linda and I slip off to watch Karter and Kailyn run in some cross-country race. These events start at four o’clock and you can’t be late because they only take 20 minutes to complete. If you miss the kickoff, you miss the whole thing. Punctuality is not my specialty, but I’m much better than I used to be.

Linda and I are so blessed to have all our grandkids here on the ranch and love attending all their events, but there are a lot of events and occasionally I still need to make an appearance out at the ranch so the guys think I’m interested.

Lots to do this harvest season — please be careful and enjoy the ride.