Well, the cattle markets have had many an up and down over the past few months, but Bob Rodenberger at Stockman’s Livestock Auction in Apache, says We are still better off than we were a year ago, “You go back and look at a year ago, we’re still selling caves $50-$100 higher we were a year ago. We’re still selling feeder cattle $50 higher than we were a year ago. Fat cattle are still higher than they were a year ago. So we’re in a more advantaged market than we were a year ago. Know our expenses are higher, but so is our profit comparatively.”
Rodenberger says the runs have been pretty normal, if not a little bit lighter this year, “At the End of November, We were down about 10%, so that’s about 9,000 cattle. Overall I think the OKC Stockyards will be down 10 to 12% like every sale barn is going to be. Because that’s how much we reduced our cow herd.”
Rodbenber says right now, the replacement market is also not quite back yet and that it might take a little bit for us to see that in the market. Right now, Rodenberger says producers have to have plenty of water to stay out of the drought situation. “We’re still selling cows. We killed more cows in the month of November than we did a year ago. Just for that month, not the total for the year. So, the cow kill is still going on. And that equates to a smaller herd down the road. We got to remember that we’ve also increased this carcass size enough that it’s taken up part of what we’ve lost in total cow numbers. You add five to 10 pounds on a carcass, and you’re killing 600,000 carcasses a week. That adds up pretty quickly. So we’ve taken up maybe 1 or 2% of what we’ve reduced in cow herds in meat production.”
Sale Dates for the Holidays for Oklahoma National Stockyards:
December 11th–Regular Sale day
December 18–Regular Sale day and Beef Battalion Auction
Sale dates for Stockman’s Livestock Auction in Apache:
The last sale is This Thursday, and we will open back up on the 4th of January.
