KC Sheperd, Farm Director, is back talking with Bob Rodenberger, a partner with Stockman Oklahoma Livestock Marketing, as he gives the latest on the cattle markets.
“We’re pretty steady to what we were a year ago. I don’t know how that’s gonna pan out,” Rodenberger said. “I mean, I know, overall, we’re down numbers, but we’re seeing pretty general runs right now.”
Runs seem to be comparable from this time last year, Rodenberger said, as he is seeing softness in demand, but the market is still good, in his opinion.
“People are trying to get their fields worked,” Rodenberger said. “Some people got some rain, and, you know, it’s that time of year where people kind of get to do two things at once, and they’re kind of backing off the calf market a little bit.”
Rodenberger thinks the softness in the market has to do with people who both farm and run cattle having to switch gears and put more hours in the fields.
“A lot of our cattle are coming from north out of Texas, southeast Oklahoma, and Arkansas,” Rodenberger said. ” We’re gonna see more brahman inputs, you know, and that will be part of the tweak on the market.”
Rodenberger said due to the environment of the region that is supplying a lot of cattle in the market currently, there are different types of cattle coming through. A Brahman influence in north Texas and southeast Oklahoma is putting a tweak in the market, he added.
“They’re slow and they’re trying to play their cards to slow down you know that they don’t need them as bad as we think they do,” Rodenberger said.
Recently, there’s been a slowdown in slaughter speeds, Rodenberger said, as he thinks this is a type of bluff from the slaughter industry to continue keeping meat prices high.
“This was probably 80% of the calls this week,” Rodenberger said. “‘Hey, I’m in good shape on grass. I got a good hay supply. My water’s decently adequate. I’ve got these calves. It’s 45 days early. You tell him what they’re worth. I’m gonna go out and sell them because it could quit raining, and we’ll be in trouble again.”
Rodenberger said he is seeing a lot of people have adequate supplies to keep cattle around and not take them to market. His advice is to still sell them, unless you have the availability to put the cattle on wheat and hold them out until the spring.
