Another good run in the cattle markets this week. Bob Rodenberger at Stockman’s Livestock Auction in Apache says even with the Holiday week, it’s been a great market, “The market was tremendous everywhere. Monday’s markets were good. The demand for grazing cattle good. The demand is good for cattle right now. I mean, we’re living in la la land. And I don’t want to be blindsided by something, But in general, you know, we got tremendous demand. Go back to the old saying, “Cash is King.” Cash is leading the board.”
Rodenberger says we are seeing the perfect storm right now, and he doesn’t want producers to get complacent, “The board is not leading it; the cash is. We’re not seeing any heifer retention, which will be the key factor.” Rodenberger says this market is demand-driven, and he feels we’ve got a couple of years into this, “Weather is going to dictate our market; if we stay in a drought situation, we’re going to continue to see liquidation. I mean, there’s no option to that. East of us are in better shape, but if you’re East of 35 you’re in pretty good shape, if you’re West of 35, You got about a 50 to 75-mile barrier, West of 35, and then from that point, West is just dry. Dry, dry.”
One Thing Rodenberger would like to caution producers on is to to keep in mind is that market reports are an excellent tool to use but may not give an accurate representation of the kind of cattle producers are running. Those cattle may not always fit into the category of the quoted reports, “My advice is to call your commission man, call your auction barn owner get him to visit with you about it. The market is higher, but not everybody’s cattle fit in that top tier that is quoted.”
