From the Barns: In cautious times

New year, but as usual it doesn’t feel like anything has changed. Seems like maybe it has been a quieter month around here, but at the end of the day we are pretty much working the same long hours, doing the normal everyday tasks that come along with owning a cattle farm.

The artificial insemination has slowed down. We did get all the synchronizing wrapped up and did a lot of time breeding this year. Now, it is AI only for the select group of cows that David is specifically wanting to get an AI calf from. Otherwise, bulls are out with the majority of cows and heifers. I see them doing their job from time to time and looks like they are being aggressive in trying to settle the cows. They are holding up well despite the work they are performing, but we do keep a close eye on them in case a problem develops.

We did have a spell of some respiratory illness a few weeks ago, both in weaned calves and nursing calves. Everything had been fully vaccinated, including the babies that had gotten the nasal vaccine against bovine respiratory disease, or BRD. However, the weather has been very topsy-turvy for much of the past month. We would get some bitterly cold days, then we might have a quick warmup, then a sharp drop in temperature again.

One day, overnight actually, we woke up to a 40- to 50-degree drop in temperatures. Also, some of the really cool days have had an air of dampness to them. None of these things are conducive to good cattle health. These fluctuations can do much damage to the health of our animals, so I guess that I am not that surprised that we are seeing some problems, despite the preventative measures we take to avoid such issues.

We did end up selling a load of fats the day after Christmas. It was good that we were able to hold off that long, as the market did work its way back up. I think we gained nearly $25 per hundredweight on the dressed weight price off the low that it had reached. I think we could possibly have more to sell in about a month from now.

The wheat we planted for grazing is looking really good. In that case, the increase in temperatures with some moisture has been beneficial. We got some additional growth and the color looks great as it appears it is utilizing the nitrogen that we spread along with the sowing. I think we might be able to do some grazing soon. However, if we get much rain, like they are calling for later this week, we might have to hold off as we don’t want to pug up muddy fields.

We are supposed to have some new groups of feeder calves coming in shortly, so we are hoping that will pan out as we can use some additional numbers. Otherwise, we are not sure what this month will hold. No doubt it will be dictated by the weather and what we are able to do, but there are many projects to accomplish. 2025 was great for high cattle prices, but the risk and uncertainty of the cattle business is still there and I know many of us remain cautious about what the future holds. Let’s pray for a good 2026 for all of us connected to this life and work we call agriculture.