Not Golden Calves, Golden Cows
I’m Susan Allen, so would you pay more than $2000 for a good producing beef cow? With historically high cattle prices that might be the only option for those in the process of rebuilding their herd, stay tuned for today’s Open Range. With the US cattle herd at the lowest number it’s been in generations it’s a great time to be selling weaned calves but maybe not for rebuilding a herd. A recent Drovers article stated that due to the 2011 drought cattle will be extremely valuable, in fact in some cases and regions of the country they projected prices exceeding $2000 for a good producing cow. Meaning it’ imperative due to the high cost of cattle coupled with increasing input costs like fuel and feed to know that the difference between making it or breaking it could boil down to culling non-producing cattle or even the time of year you purchase the cow because the cows value ften increases the closer it is to the sale of the calf. Ranchers that decided to grow their herd this year should be able to determine if they will have enough grass for more cows and possibly consider creative alternatives that don’t require grazing like stockers or retained ownership of calves because with prices this high profit margins can quickly shrink and the current scenario isn't expected to change much in the foreseeable future especially when the 2012 US calf crop at 35 million head is the lowest in 60 years.
