Confused and Perplexed
I think I'm confused - I mean more than normal. I'm Jeff Keane; I'll be back in one minute with the source of my recent perplexity.I'm in a real state of bewilderment and it's my own fault. I think I read too much information for my limited cerebral power to process and come to a definite conclusion. I just read four articles in Beef Producer magazine with four different outlooks for the future of the cattle industry. First, one commentary stated the livestock industry, including beef, is losing its competitive edge and the future looks rocky. International demand growth is less certain than domestic high feed costs. Also, the "animal rights" organizations have stated to eliminate animal agriculture. Quite an uplifting article. Next, I read the economic recovery - whenever that happens - will help beef and beef exports continue to improve. With the national cow herd numbers down, a recovering beef demand will find smaller beef supplies pushing fed cattle prices to one dollar per pound. Now that's more like it, but wait, here's another little news note that relates beef recovery will be slow and predicting beef prices is not easy since ethanol production has now intertwined oil and feed corn prices. Lastly, one small article cited a survey showing 73 percent of consumers prefer the taste of beef far above two other major proteins. Let's see - up, down, maybe, no, or slow that is confusing, but I just decided to move forward and accentuate the positive. I'm Jeff Keane.
