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Just a scoop fullBy Jerry Nine (Jan. 25)--Record cattle prices are bringing cattle to the auction. Each week we set new record-high prices, amazed at the levels we are at that continue to get higher. Cattle are not any higher than a lot of other items. I went to the grocery store the other day and picked up a very small bag of potato chips that cost $4. You could have smashed those chips down and had about the size of one large potato. And I'm sure that guy raising those potatoes isn't getting rich. But we might consider packaging our meat in a larger sack with the same smaller amount. Some of our area received a nice rain with a lot of the area I run cattle in not getting any. But I am thankful for what moisture there was anywhere around. Our cow numbers at the auction after being shut down for two weeks started out at 1,700. The next week went to 700 and this week 380. I look for all our cattle numbers to stay very limited in our area. The highest killing cow brought $86.50 per hundredweight this past week, which was $2 higher than the previous week. We also had an extra cow packer buyer, which tells me the numbers are limited elsewhere. It seems like in this business sometimes it is so easy to make money while other times it is so difficult. I talked to one customer that bought old, thin cows and put them on wheat. He said you can tell that they are getting fatter every time you look at them. He is going to get a big advancement in price per pound plus 200 to 300 pounds of gain. But that is good. I like to see people make money. A friend of mine is very ornery. He went into the drugstore to buy a package of condoms. They said, "Do you need a sack for that?" He said, "No, she is not that ugly." Normally, when cattle get high, I like to buy smaller cattle to try to hold down the dollars per head as much as possible. I'm not sure that is any cheaper but I can make believe it is better. But if these cattle get any higher I will soon have to buy a bunch of bottles and powdered milk. One gal that works at the sale helped her dad raise small calves when she was younger. I asked her what was the most calves they ever had on the bottle at one time and she said 300 head. No wonder she married early--to get out of the house.
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