farmerjan
Herd Master
- Joined
- Aug 16, 2016
- Messages
- 8,458
- Reaction score
- 30,700
- Points
- 708
- Location
- Shenandoah Valley Virginia
@Ridgetop mentioned the burn ban in Texas, in her journal about their quick trip down to the new farm.... @Baymule also mentioned the dry conditions and the fire that was close to her recently. Heard from some friends that the meteorologists -weather guessers - have done some looking at records and in many places these friends say that the actual water recorded is more than 3 INCHES LESS than rainfall amounts in the horrific drought in 2011.
They are also saying that the numbers of livestock being sold is triple what it normally is this time of year. Cannot afford to buy 100-200 PER ROLL of hay to feed ...it will never come close to pencilling out... besides which there is no hay to be found.
One of the guys on a cattle forum I frequent, said they baled about 75 rolls of sorghum... and due to the situation, that feeding it did not make sense so he advertised it for $90 a roll and it was gone by nightfall.
There is a video on the forum of one of the farmers going down the road, and the line of trucks/trailers to go into the stockyard to sell was for MILES.... IN BOTH DIRECTIONS. I have looked up some of the stockyards and their normal numbers this time of year run 500-1,000 head... most are running 2,000 to 3500. One had several herd dispersals... and one had over 700 cows.... not cull cows but bred/breeding cows.....
Scary times... I told DS that we needed to see about keeping as many heifers as we could, for future sales as breeding stock.... This is what happened back after the 2011 drought... Cattle prices went very high for several years as farmers/ranchers tried to replace and replenish their herds....
Meat may come down a bit in the stores as the number of cattle sold increases the supply, but it will wind up going up after the glut to sell drops off because there won't be the cattle to replace them.
They are also saying that the numbers of livestock being sold is triple what it normally is this time of year. Cannot afford to buy 100-200 PER ROLL of hay to feed ...it will never come close to pencilling out... besides which there is no hay to be found.
One of the guys on a cattle forum I frequent, said they baled about 75 rolls of sorghum... and due to the situation, that feeding it did not make sense so he advertised it for $90 a roll and it was gone by nightfall.
There is a video on the forum of one of the farmers going down the road, and the line of trucks/trailers to go into the stockyard to sell was for MILES.... IN BOTH DIRECTIONS. I have looked up some of the stockyards and their normal numbers this time of year run 500-1,000 head... most are running 2,000 to 3500. One had several herd dispersals... and one had over 700 cows.... not cull cows but bred/breeding cows.....
Scary times... I told DS that we needed to see about keeping as many heifers as we could, for future sales as breeding stock.... This is what happened back after the 2011 drought... Cattle prices went very high for several years as farmers/ranchers tried to replace and replenish their herds....
Meat may come down a bit in the stores as the number of cattle sold increases the supply, but it will wind up going up after the glut to sell drops off because there won't be the cattle to replace them.