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Just a scoop full
(July 2)--Some of the wheat in our area has been cut while others are waiting for it to dry out long enough to be able to get in the field. This is the most unusual year that this area has seen. Most every field has weeds growing fast, giving farmers less hope. Some of the wheat is sprouting in the head. For some, this year promised the most, with all these excellent rains, and now is producing the least. I have heard more than one farmer say, "I am planting farmland to grass." One farmer spoke up and said, "What if wheat goes to $10 per bushel?" He responded "I don't care if it gets to $20 per bushel." Not every farmer is facing disaster as some have cut some good or decent wheat. For the last week in June the feeder cattle market was excellent. Availability of feeder cattle is very slim. Most every rancher has more grass than they could ever have expected. For the most part there is not much reason for anyone to need to sell a feeder unless he simply likes the price. A load of black steers weighing 850 pounds brought $112.85 per hundredweight. Also 900- to 930-pound steers brought from $105 to $$108 per hundredweight. That's amazing for the price of fat cattle. I do not think fat cattle should have gotten that cheap. But as long as we sell them cheaper they will buy them. Even with some farmers being depressed with the wheat crop--we still live in the greatest land of all--the United States. A lot of people will never know what it is to have the freedom we have. Let's not take that for granted. Freedom is not free. Let's remember all the Service men and women who have and are serving in the military. Some have made the ultimate sacrifice so that you and I might still have these freedoms. Editor's note: Jerry Nine, Woodward, Okla., is a lifetime cattleman who grew up on his family's ranch near Laverne, Okla.
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