Farm Director KC Sheperd is back talking with Bob Rodenberger, a partner with Stockman Oklahoma Livestock, as he gives the latest on the cattle markets.
“We have got people trying to buy calves to get on wheat quick enough to get some of this wheat eaten up because you have got cheap wheat, but it has maintained a high calf market,” Rodenberger said. “If you have got calves to sell and you are in a dilemma, you can’t make a bad decision when your average calf is bringing 1500 to 1900 per head when you sell your valves depending on how big they are.”
Rodenberger said cattle coming right off the cow weighing 500 to 700 pounds have the biggest advantage now because they have grazing value.
“Agriculture is in really good shape,” Rodenberger said.
The industry has become so efficient that Rodenberger said it is now taking less cattle to produce the same amount of product from years prior.
“A year ago, our carcasses were 20 pounds bigger than they were the year prior” Rodenberger said. “That is like having 600,000 extra cattle coming out of the feed yard, and we got fewer cattle. We don’t have to have more cattle to have more beef.”
For those producers wanting to get more money out of the cattle they sell, Rodenberger suggested looking into things they can change in their operation to bring more profit.
“That guy that is running a set of cows that is part longhorn and he is putting an English bull on them; the industry knows the difference today,” Rodenberger said. “He can bring 300 dollars per head less than your neighbors that are running the better quality cattle.”
