Month: May 2020

Just a lot of Bull

There is no way around it. If you have cows you have to have bulls. Bulls are expensive to buy, expensive to feed and a pain to deal with. These are our boys. For the most part they are Balancer (Angus/Gelbvieh cross) with a couple of Sim/Angus cross. We have been using Balancer bulls for over ten years.

We start calving in mid-February so bull turnout was May 10th. The bulls spend the winter together in a 50 acre pasture. Generally they get along really well, but there is definitely a hierarchy. The younger bulls won’t even get close to the older, bigger bulls. There may be a few minor problems when they are turned out in the bull pen, like a bull ending up in the road because two others pitched him over the fence. They do literally gang up on one bull. Now you know where the term bully came from.

In the winter pasture.

Before they can go out with the cows they have to go through the pre-breeding tests. Dr. DePriest showed up to check each of the 16 bulls. The bulls also received a vibrio/lepto vaccination and get dewormed. Hopefully everything goes smoothly (no one gets hurt and all fences remain standing) and they all test well.

Collecting and checking the semen.
  • Measuring scrotal circumference
  • He doesn’t look very happy.

One bull did not pass. He was injured last breeding season and will not be able to breed cows this year. He will be headed down the road. Everybody else will go out to pasture.

Four bulls are going in with 105 cows. They were all purchased as 18 month old bulls from B/F Cattle Company in 2014 so this will be their 7th season. Still have good feet, good body condition, and good test scores. Feet are a big problem with bulls. Fescue, rocky hills and their weight all take a toll, but these four are still good.
Off the trailer and into the pasture to check out the girls. These two bulls are in a pasture with 58 cows.

Bulls are fun to watch until they tear something up. The minute they think you are trying to move them they start fighting. And there is no way to break up a fight. That is 1,800 pounds of muscle totally focused on beating up another 1,800 pound critter. They don’t hear or see anything else. They will plow into and through fences, trucks, or trees. They concentrate totally on that other bull and nothing else matters until one of them gives up.

Have you ever watched kids play king of the mountain? A bull will stand in a gate opening, bow his neck to look tough and dare the other bulls to go through. It’s hilarious unless you’re the one trying to get them through the gate!

If you put bulls side by side in pens they will try to show who is the toughest by bellowing, pawing the ground and just carrying on. I’ve noticed sometimes the one that makes the most noise is the one that stays out of the way when there isn’t a fence between them anymore. The noise they make will make you wonder what kind of wild animal is out there!

For 75 days these guys will be busy earning their keep. Then they will come home and go out to pasture to relax until next breeding season.

Bulls can be the easiest and the hardest creatures to get a long with. Hmmm, I think that goes for most male creatures!

Until next time!

Don’t forget to close the gate!

E-Cow-Nomics

FAT CATTLE

I just watched the president of Tyson Foods on the news telling people that there will be no meat on the store shelves which guarantees the shelves will empty even sooner. Of course he was blaming the pandemic for plant closures. The anchor thanked him for working so hard to keep food coming and for giving out 60 million to their employees. Isn’t he a wonderful, generous guy? Well, here are the numbers for the beef side of the equation. Keep in mind that these numbers are averages and estimates based on general numbers. In reality it is a very complicated business, but the general numbers will let you draw some definite conclusions.

On 4/29/20 per USDA reporting the choice cutout value was 357.38/cwt. Cutout value represents the estimated value of a beef carcass based on prices being paid for boxed beef cuts by retailers. The average price paid for live cattle was 97.98/cwt with the average weight of 1,499 and the average dressing percentage of 63.71%. Now let me carry those numbers a little farther.

1499 lbs x .9798 = 1,468.72 paid to the feedlot. The feedlot deducts the feed bill from that amount. Currently that feed bill will run somewhere between 450 and 550 per steer depending on the feed costs, days, etc., so the rancher who owns that steer will receive $968.72. Think about that for a minute. 968.72 for at least 18 months of work and expense. There is no shortage of available slaughter ready cattle. The backlog continues to grow each day as do the cattle (and their feed bill) who are being fed weeks longer than they should be.

Now let’s go to the other side.

1499 lbs x .6371 =955 lbs hanging weight. 955 lbs x 3.5738 = 3,412.98 3,412.98 less the cost of the animal 1,468.72 is 1,944.26. Wow, that is quite the margin. Now that packer is going to say he has expenses, so let’s keep digging.

I went back a year ago to see what things looked like then. The choice beef cutout value per the USDA on 4/30/19 was 231.84. Live cattle on May 1st of 2019 sold for 126.00. That number is not an average. That is what we sold cattle for on that date at a pay weight of 1,372 lbs. That looks a lot better for the rancher. Let’s see if the packer was losing money in 2019.

With those numbers in mind I looked at the Sterling Beef Profit Tracker for the week of March 29, 2019. According to that report packers margins were $140.07 and the cattle owner $149.27. So if the packers could make 140/head while paying 126/cwt and receiving 231.84 what do you actually think they are pocketing now? 126.00/cwt equals a profit for the rancher of $149 so what do you think the loss is at 97.98/cwt?

So remember that guy who is so worried about keeping everyone fed and taking care of his employees. Let’s look at the USDA numbers again. The April 29th, 2020 slaughter is 72,000 head down 49,000 hd from the previous year. I used a margin of $1600 each (using the previous year numbers, I came up with 186 for expenses per animal so I gave them a generous expense increase for this year and came up with a 1,600 margin).

April 29th 2020 – 72,000 hd slaughtered x $1,600 = $115,200,000.00

April 29th 2019 – 121,000 hd slaughtered x $140 = $16,940,000.00

That is the profit made in one day. Doesn’t look like the reduced slaughter capacity is hurting the packers at all does it?

I don’t begrudge anyone making a profit but there is something really, really wrong with this picture.

80% of all meat (chicken, pork and beef) processed in this country goes through the hands of 4 packers – Tyson, Cargill, National Beef and JBS. JBS is a Brazilian company so the money they make won’t even stay in this country.

4 companies – 80%

This is not a new problem. The cattle industry has been trying to get the attention of politicians and consumers for years without any luck. Now we see the results of allowing 4 companies to control our meat industry. The huge profits they are making are built on the losses of the American Rancher and the pocketbook of the American Consumer.

We need everyone to speak up. Call your congressman, sign a petition, email your cousin who works for the brother of your state senator, just do something to get someone to listen!

And if you can, buy locally produced food! You will get a better quality product and the money you spend will stay in your community.

Just a footnote here. As of today, May 7th, Choice cutout reached 458.54/cwt, a 100 dollar increase in a week, with retailers forced to bid increasingly higher prices. Live cattle sold today for 99.79/cwt an increase of 2.00/cwt. You can see these daily reports on the USDA website.

Until next time.

Don’t forget to shut the gate.