From the Barns: Wild market swing

Dry field conditions have made for some good days of manure application, but both the wheat and our other pastures have been slow to get going without adequate moisture. We received about an inch and a half of rain the end of last week and I’m sure when sunshine and warm temps return the whole place will really pop with new green feed for the cows.

The cows have grown tired of hay and corn silage and seem to hover over any new green shoots popping up in the fencerows and have all the fences well trimmed and tracked in their search for a different diet. We will finish up getting the cows to their respective calving locations this week before they start dropping calves all over the place. I’ve seen one or two early arrivals so it’s high time to get everybody shuffled around before things get really exciting.

Nate has kept the fat marketing really current selling into these record high prices. The futures market is reacting as expected with all this tariff news creating plenty of uncertainty which usually trends lower as most players look to eliminate risk. It will be a wild spring and summer for sure.

I sure like these mornings with the sun coming up so much earlier. Turkeys are talking just over the hill when I head out so it must be spring. My army of grandsons will be showing up at dark-thirty soon to chase the old gobblers and get back to grandma’s breakfast before school or heading out to check cows — I can hardly wait!

Our workdays have to get started early if we intend to get any volume of work accomplished as track season has started and checking out mid-afternoon to make some track meet has gotten to be habitual. I have good intentions of going back after the meet for a couple of hours, but the fatigue that sets in watching our grandkids compete coupled with the 4 a.m. start time has me craving my recliner just as soon as we get home. Any well-intentioned restart of my workday just isn’t in the cards. Alas, so much to do and so little time to do it. It just doesn’t get any better. Be safe.