Livestock Field and Office Staff Deserve Recognition

By Pat Lampert

I would like to open by thanking our livestock staff for outstanding work through three quarters of the year. The last three years the COVID-19 issue has taken a toll on many businesses. Complications from not being able to work at all or working from home, packing plants and trucking issues, as well as market volatility, made it quite challenging.

The National Farmers livestock staff did not miss a beat during these challenging times. They did not stop. Business continued, cattle kept coming, and each and every collection point continued to operate.

I believe the reason for this year’s success is a tribute to what staff have accomplished during an unprecedented time period.

In the last issue, Jeff Rose wrote about record price highs, and that markets usually experience a downturn in the beginning of the summer.

With tight slaughter numbers the last eight months, we have seen record high cash cattle and CME prices during these summer months. Very unusual. Will it continue? The jury is still out on that question.

We have the smallest cow-calf crop since 1952. According to experts, we could see high cattle prices through 2025. If you remember, we had a similar situation in 2014 and 2015, with record highs at that time. However, it didn’t last long.

Corn is always the motor that drives the cattle business. With corn softening a bit and record CME prices, feeders also are hitting record highs. But there is profit potential in these calves. Maybe not as much as you would like, but profit.

With higher calf prices and interest rates, it might make sense to take a hard look at pricing a portion of your cattle ahead.
We also have seen record highs in cull cow markets the past few months. We are in the time of year where there is big demand for hamburger and we look for that market to stay at a decent level for quite some time.

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