The elevated prices of cattle have created an environment of high risk for cattle producers which makes margin protection like livestock risk protection or LRP more important than ever before. Farm Director KC Sheperd caught up with Clay Burtrum of Farm Data Services in Stillwater.
“We are in the highest volatile markets we have ever seen in the cattle industry,” Burtrum remarked.
Cattle producers across the state are in the midst of calving season and Burtrum said that insuring them for $1,600 each for a $50 or $60 premium per head is an easy way to rest easier at night.
“Maybe you don’t want to spend that much,” he said. “Maybe you want to insure them for $1,000 per head and only spend ten of fifteen dollars. Those are some of the options we could look at on those cattle that are hitting the ground right now.”
There is also an option for calves before they hit the ground. “With LRP, there is an option for every single cattle producer – from the unborn to the guy that wants to send them to the feedlot,” Burtrum touted.
LRP is designed to put a floor under a person’s cattle and leave the top side risk protection open; producers can insure as many cattle as they choose – from one to 25,000. Unborn calves, stockers, feeders, Brahman, and dairy cattle can be insured, and producers don’t pay for it until their contract has ended
“As the market goes up, the LRP goes up,” Burtrum explained. “You can insure more value for more cost as the market changes daily. When these cattle are costing upwards of $2,000 for a five-to-seven-weight calf, we have to keep ourselves in business. You want to lock in that bottom line and keep yourself bankable for the future.”
Burtrum invited doubtful producers to provide their email addresses to him so he can sign them up for the daily email updates sent out by Farm Data Services. “It doesn’t obligate you to do anything or buy anything, but you can look at those prices and I can walk you through the different scenarios of how we work through those different classes of cattle.”
LRP has been available for more than twenty years but has grown in popularity due to the current market environment.
“We, at Farm Data Services, are always willing to talk LRP,” Burtrum invited. “Or answer crop insurance questions or general questions about what is going on in ag because a lot is going on in the ag industry today.”
Interested or curious persons can get more information at farmdataservices.com, follow Burtrum on social media, or call his cell: (405) 747-9865.
