From the Barns: Facts are still facts

The only thing constant in the cattle business is change. Since we last communicated, Tyson surprised the beef world by closing its plant in Joslin in northwestern Illinois without warning, then President Donald Trump went a little off the rails and tried to singlehandedly change the beef industry, history and common sense and provide what to some seemed like a solution to historically high ground beef prices. Looks to me like he needs better help and maybe a better listening ear.

These bad-news items gave packers and the Board of Trade the negativity they needed to move the cash market lower. Nothing sells better than bad news it seems. The part that infuriates me is that facts are facts. There are no more cattle to be had. That number hasn’t changed. Consumers still want to buy the beef we have. This is not a food-illness deal like the lettuce folks are in right now. There’s still plenty of shackle space available at other plants. Sure, trucking will be an issue as we sort out where the cattle will be slaughtered, but rest assured they will find a home somewhere.

This is just the excuse needed by packers to buy them lower and increase their share of profits. We will add some tonnage to the market as feeders keep the pen gate closed a while and let the dust settle.

Feed cost is going up a little, but there certainly is no panic to sell. The heat we have been experiencing lately will help with the tonnage issue as cattle have really gone off feed and slowed gains a couple of times. When it does cool off, however, the cattle on feed will be wolves at the bunk and probably pick up some compensatory gains.

Meanwhile, down on the farm, the silage season has arrived and, except for the dusty, dry roads, chopping is going great. We finished our north cow pile and will plow into the feedyard pile immediately. The excessive heat has really moved the corn along so the race is on to complete harvest before the corn gets too dry. Barring any unexpected precipitation, we should be done chopping early enough to apply manure to fields and get wheat in the ground in a timely fashion.

Linda and I took a side-by-side tour to evaluate the cornfields and while out there we checked out the forage sorghum we planted following wheat harvest. For several years we have planted corn post-wheat, but went with forage sorghum this year to hedge a bet of it being dry. Forage sorghum takes about half the water that corn needs and that was the deciding factor. We planted the forage sorghum mid-July after wheat harvest and manure application. The plants are now over head high and really on the move. Another added benefit is the volunteer wheat crop covering the ground beneath the forage sorghum. When we get around to harvesting the sorghum a few days after the first frost, cattle turnout will be immediate with a great grass crop ready to graze.

We took advantage of a couple of cool days just before football practice commenced for the year and got through the rest of our cow herds with the initial calf processing.

The timing of football and calf wrestling may be of more benefit than I imagined. The defensive play of my grandsons appears that they are as adept at throwing running backs as they are at throwing calves when the need arises — maybe I should get the whole team out to help? See you along the gridiron!