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Just a scoop full(Aug.12)--I was talking to a cattle feeder and feedlot manager the other day with both of us expressing our concerns over the cattle feeding industry today. He admitted that they were in the minority as far as selling fat cattle, because they have refused to provide the packer with cattle they do not have to compete for, that week. He said about 15 or 20 years ago he had a packer tell him that if they could get 20 percent of their kill provided to them each week that they did not have to compete for--then that alone gave them a huge advantage. And that was when we had 10 to 15 packers buying fat cattle each week. Today, there are basically four packers and they have 65 percent of each week's kill provided to them that they do not have to compete for. They know they are going to slaughter them, regardless of what the market is. And a lot of those cattle are to be priced at whatever the balance of fat cattle left can get. If you have 65 percent of your needs met for each week as a packer, then you can see the packer does not have to be near as aggressive and hardly ever is put in a panic to keep cattle on the kill floor. That's the only reason our feeder cattle market is aggressive now. Simply because they are having to compete each week for them. I will be the first to tell you that I do not claim to be an extremely intelligent person. But all I see for the individual cattleman or feedlot owner is that those percentages are probably going to get worse. Can anything be done about this? I think it would be safe to say that if we continue to do business like we have these past few years, then I would agree with some of you that the inevitable is coming. I want to see my kids and grandkids have the same opportunity that we have had in the cattle business, if they choose. Please pray that God will keep our cattle industry from going down the tubes. Unless the smaller cattle feeder can make some money in this next year, then I think it will surprise a lot, of how quick our industry will change. The packer or retailer should like it right where it is, with us providing them cattle cheaper than they can grow them.
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