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Just a scoop full
By Jerry Nine The weather has been beautiful so far this winter. I heard one rancher say this morning that we will probably pay for that nice of a winter, as he said it will probably be miserable in late March or April. I say let's worry about that later and enjoy the nice weather now. Some ranchers must think there is someone up above us all that just can't stand for everybody to be happy. I saw an ole high school friend that I graduated with--well, let's just say a few years ago. He had cancer and about died but looked like he was doing good. I asked him if he was healthy now. His wife spoke up and said to me, "He looked terrible for a while. Well, he was as thin as you are." I guess I didn't realize how terrible I really looked until she cleared that up. The cow and bull slaughter price is very good. We normally have four or five buyers for packer cows. But the last two weeks we have had seven outfits represented. We sold one cow that was very gaunt and straight-bellied for $93.50 cwt. If we can get some moisture in the next two months our bred cow and pair demand should be great. A lot of pastures are extremely short and probably need moisture. But probably there will be a lot of ranchers that need and want to figure how to get some income back in their operation and a good share of them will be right back in the market. Whenever our northern buyers quit coming to our area as they wanted to get our cows acclimated or adjusted to their colder weather--I figured our bred cow prices would drop drastically. However, with a little wheat pasture around and some moisture our local buyers started buying cows again about the time the northern buyers quit. A friend of mine said his dad told him about 15 years ago that he would never see fat cattle bring a dollar a pound in his lifetime. And now they are a lot higher than that. That simply reminds me that we should never use that word "never." 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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