From the Barns: We’re not lobster

We’ve been taking advantage of the dry soil conditions and doing a lot of deep soil tillage ahead of our manure application this year. Surely, we have created some compaction issues with all the trucks and harvest equipment when we were making cow feed, so this year has been our opportunity to fix that. Hopefully, we will see some return to our spending on high-priced diesel fuel.

The fat market continues to creep higher, but so does the cost of feed. I hope there’s a little cash left for profit when it all washes out. We’re certainly handling more money, but I’m afraid the margin may not be any larger. My other concern is that while higher prices are certainly welcome, how much can our customers stand? A good steak needs to be a weekly, or more often, staple in the American diet, not a luxury item reserved for only special occasions. We’re not lobster, nor do we want to be.

The cows have cleaned up all the crop aftermath and are out searching for whatever they skipped over earlier last summer. Cow feeding has become the norm every morning except for the cows that have access to the wheat pasture we planted and a couple of groups that have some stockpiled fescue available.

We are working through the cow herds and revaccinating the calves, sorting and shipping dry cows and cleaning up any bull calves we missed on the first go-round in preparation for weaning the calves. The groups of calves that are eating corn silage along with their mothers will get weaned first since they are used to eating feed. The other calves will get introduced to feed as those herds move onto supplemental groceries as winter dictates.

The high price for trucking cattle due to diesel prices coupled with a short corn crop in the west has cattle feeders scrambling to find space to feed their calf crop. A waiting list for space at our feed yard has developed and our calves must compete for space there, as well. Timely marketing helps create space, but you can’t hurry perfection and the premiums being offered for high quality finished cattle means a little longer in the feed yard is in order. Keeping the calves out in the country makes sense, but when winter arrives getting them gathered up will, too.

We installed a bunch of new LED lighting at the feed yard last summer when we didn’t need any extra light, but now that it’s staying dark so long in the morning and gets dark by 5 o’clock in the afternoon it’s really paying off. When you are stumbling around in the shed in the dark getting trucks and loaders fired up for the day it’s nice to be able to see what made that bump noise back in the corner.

When I got back to the ranch after our annual elk hunting trip, I was disgusted at how that trip had been so much work. Not that the trip was any different, but how I had reacted to it. I am just plain out of shape and have decided to take the bull by the horns and do something about it. I have enlisted a couple of my pals, LJ and Banker Bob, and we are meeting at the local workout center in town a couple of mornings a week at 6 o’clock and letting the taskmaster there abuse three old fat guys for an hour. Honestly, I feel better. Maybe it’s only mental and only time will tell, but we’re sticking with it. There’s room for a few more folks, if you’re inclined.

We’ve had our chance to be thankful for all we’ve been blessed with and now Christmas is just around the corner. From our outfit to yours, we wish you a very merry Christmas.