Agricultural News
Drought Hammers US Beef Cow Herd
Tue, 02 Aug 2011 06:23:29 CDT
According to Steve Meyer of Paragon Economics- the situation in cow calf country is really getting extreme because of the drought conditions being faced. In the latest Daily Livestock Report electronically published by the CME, "The seemingly endless saga of what we will feed the critters in the U.S. and how much those feedstuffs might cost, extended to forages this year by the severe southern drought, continues. And while the situation regarding concentrate diets (ie. those made up primarily of grains and protein meals) fed to simple-stomached animas carries a high price tag, the situation facing beef cow and stocker operations is, in many areas, critical.
"USDA's weekly Crop Progress update reported today that 35% of the nation's range and pasture land was in either poor or very poor condition as of Sunday. That percentage is not all that out of the ordinary since the average for the same week over the last 5 years is 32.8%. But two features of the ratings are important. First, the percentage of failing pastures is MUCH HIGHER than last year when, nationwide, only 14% of pastures and range acres were rated poor and very poor during the same week. Second, the really serious situation are in places that normally keep a LARGE NUMBER OF BEEF COWS. The Southern Plains (comprised of Texas and Oklahoma) has an almost astonishing 89.5% of grazing lands rated in the two worst categories. Think about that. It means that in these two states that on January 1 held 23% of all beef cows, only 9% of acres is rated Fair and 1.5% is rated Good. No acres in either state were rated Excellent."
We discussed these things over this past weekend with Meyer as he spoke to the 2011 OCA Convention in Midwest City, Oklahoma. The issue of drought and other factors impacting the cow calf end of the cattle business is our focus on today's Beef Buzz.
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Network- but is also a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the listen bar below for today's show- and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today. If you want to hear our full conversation with Steve Meyer, it's a Podcast that can be accessed on our website- click here.
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