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Just a scoop full
(Nov. 7)--Are you a positive or a negative person? Or are you one that is always positive that it is definitely going to be negative. I probably fit in the category that is too positive. But there is nothing that I hate worse than being around someone that is always negative. There are a few people that are never satisfied until they have made everyone around them miserable. In most places where a farmer or rancher can get a cup of coffee the topic of conversation will cover a very broad area. Almost every year, just before winter, you will always hear someone say, "I bet we have a terrible winter this year. We are due for one." No better than I like winter--I just want to hit them. One said the other day, "I'm going to hold my calves 'till after the first of the year--I'm sure the market will be the cheapest it is going to get when I sell." Another said, " I bet our first moisture will be a huge snow storm." It's really quite comical, if you will stop and listen. It is the time of year when calves can easily get sick. Normally, after it freezes, the health situation gets better, as far as starting calves. Also, this time of year, an old cow can get weak very easily. Particularly, if she has lost her teeth and is nursing a calf. The packers are covered up with cows. Most ranchers want to cull their old cows when they wean their calves. This is easy, but not always the most profitable. That old cow's yield goes down sharply in the fall. We have fallen $15 per cwt. on killing cows, in the last three months. If you will sort your old cull cows out the year ahead of selling them and either sell them in the summer or as a bred cow--you will often be dollars ahead. Actually our older bred cows brought as much in the spring as the pair is bringing now, because a lot of them are too thin. Editor's Note: Jerry Nine, Woodward, Okla., is a lifetime cattleman who grew up on his family's ranch near Laverne, Okla. Date: 11/14/07
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