|
|
|
AdvertisementOverflow crowd attends KSU Stocker Field Day
The 10th annual Beef Stocker Field Day at Kansas State University was held Sept. 24 at the KSU Beef Stocker Unit. An overflow crowd heard presentations from K-State researchers and from two producer panels. Kevin Dhuyvetter, K-State agricultural economist, began the event with a presentation entitled "Buying and Selling Right." Dhuyvetter said as a seller the producer needs to know what buyers want, then do his best to sell it to them. A buyer needs to recognize how the different traits are discounted and which traits pay a premium and figure out how they fit into his operation. "Find out what the markets are and figure out where you fit in," Dhuyvetter said. Several factors affect price including lot size, uniformity, muscling, condition, health, genetics (breed of cattle), whether or not they are dehorned, and whether they are bulls, steers, or heifers. The price of corn and whether or not people are making money in the cattle business at that particular time affect price, as well. Some of these factors change over time. Dhuyvetter said studies done years ago show Angus calves were discounted relative to Herefords. In a 1993 study, it was the other way around. "Breed impacts price, but it does change from time to time," Dhuyvetter said. Weight impacts price but it is not constant. It varies with the market and price of corn. The impact of cattle weight is different when corn is $2 versus corn at $5. Uneven lots bring a discount as compared to uniform lots. Extremes tend to bring discounts. "It is not a market where once you have the answer you have it solved," Dhuyvetter said. "It is dynamic and it changes over time." Researchers at K-State recently completed a study where they collected sale day information from Dodge City, Kan., and Joplin, Mo. They collected data from 22 sales and more than 8,000 lots of cattle, beginning last fall and ending this spring. Information collected on each lot included location of sale, data, and order in sale, number in lot, price weight, sex, breed/color, frame size, muscle, fill, condition, health, uniformity, and horns. They showed lot size and uniformity are very important, breed/color impacts price, dehorned and castrated cattle bring a premium, sellers should market healthy cattle, and stay away from extremes. Interestingly, the study showed time of sale is important. Cattle selling in the second or third quarter of the sale brought bigger premiums. Dhuyvetter said order of sale is hard to manage, however. To help stocker-feeder operators deal with all of these factors, K-State has developed a variety of tools. These are spreadsheets where producers can plug in their own data to help them determine the best buying or selling price for their livestock. One of these is the Feeder Cattle Price Analyzer. Dhuyvetter gave several examples of how producers might use these risk management tools. Producers can go to Beefbasis.com or agmanager.info to view these tools for themselves. Cattle health is important whether you are buying or selling. Dr. Dan Thomson, K-State Veterinary Science, told producers at the Beef Stocker Field Day to think outside the box. "When I go into a facility that has a high level of mortality, a high death loss situation, I ask two questions," said Thomson. "Is this a morbidity issue or is this a case fatality issue?" Thomson said morbidity is simply an increase in pull rates. If a stocker-feeder operation has an increase in pull rates and they are pulling the right cattle, they will have an increase in death loss. "Very seldom do people keep track of morbidity rate properly," Thomson said. "Understanding how many calves we treated is as important when we are trying to diagnose the issue on the ranch as the number that died." To determine the case fatality rate, Thomson said to take the number of cattle treated that died and divide by the total number of cattle treated. Thomson said he liked the case fatality rate between five and eight percent. At that, a producer is pulling a few extra but not too deep. "When I get to one or two percent case fatality rate, that is when I start thinking I am pulling too deep and I am using drugs on cattle I don't need to treat." As an example, Thomson said, take a producer who had one percent death loss last year and a five percent death loss this year. "At this point, he wants to either change drugs or vets; and he is not particular about which he is going to change," Thomson said. Last year, this fictional producer had a 10 percent pull rate and this year he had a pull rate of 50 percent. Based on the math, the case fatality rate for both years was 10 percent. "Morbidity was the issue. The drug worked the same as it had before; we just treated a lot more cattle," Thomson said. The Beef Stocker Field day included two producer panels. Jerry Bohn, Pratt Feeders; Warren Weibert, Decatur County Feed Yard; and Jim Reeves, JMR Cattle Co., talked about partnering with feedlots. Mike Collinge, Hamilton, Kan.; Tim Miser, Cottonwood Falls, Kan.; and Alan Hess, Alma, Kan., discussed custom grazing arrangements. Doug Rich can be reached by phone at 785-749-5304 or by e-mail at richhpj@aol.com.
Advertisement
Copyright/Privacy
Copyright 1995-2009. High Plains Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Any republishing of these pages, including electronic reproduction of the editorial archives or classified advertising, is strictly prohibited. If you have questions or comments you can reach us at High Plains Journal 1500 E. Wyatt Earp Blvd., P.O. Box 760, Dodge City, KS 67801 or call 1-800-452-7171. Email: webmaster@hpj.com |
Market Snapshot Inside Futures |
60929