From the Barns: Truth will prevail

It stays ridiculously dark so late in the morning this time of year I have far too much time on my hands, so I prowl around the house dreaming up bright ideas to run past my crew. These ideas are fueled by extra cups of cappuccino I have time to consume because it’s still dark. It’s a vicious cycle, but fortunately we also have an ever-expanding list of broken toys that need repaired before spring so everything finds some sense of balance.

The winter weather hasn’t been too hateful so far with enough frozen mornings to make cow feeding pleasurable and yet thawed out enough days to allow for some recreational manure applications.

The guys are utilizing some warm days to wean calves and preg check groups of cows. It seems our cow herd has aged despite keeping back virtually every breeding age heifer that passes inspection. I keep thinking we should buy a big string of cows to supplement our breeding program, but the sticker shock of pricing bred cows rivals what it costs to buy a new tractor these days.

My old brain can’t seem to wrap around what stuff costs these days, or maybe it’s wisdom creeping in and I remember price corrections in days gone by. Who knows, but it’s sure an interesting time we live in.

The fat market is back on an upward tear again following an attempt by packers to break the market by using every rumor known to man and the Board of Trade as an excuse to drive the cash market lower. Ultimately, truth prevails and the fundamental fact that there just aren’t many fat cattle around has become reality and the market has reacted accordingly.

The fact that it takes time to build a cow herd is reality and that reality is playing out in the cattle market. There is no natural quick change going to happen — only some man-made, manufactured plot can ruin what we in the cattle business have going on for some time in the future.

The only thing that rivals the too-dark mornings is the too-early evenings also this time of year. An early evening siesta in my BarcaLounger can only be prevented when the boys have a basketball game to attend. Good thing for sports and popcorn or I could be mistaken for a groundhog.