KC Sheperd, Farm Director, is back talking with Bob Rodenberger, a partner with Stockman Oklahoma Livestock Marketing, as he gives the latest on the cattle markets.
Rodenberger said that sales experienced a slowdown during the Fourth of July week, but they are returning to normal this week, and markets are good across the board.
“The only thing bothering the fat cattle market is boxed beef is going down,” he said. “Which is normal for this time of year, but we’ve been exceptionally higher than normal so they are starting to readjust that.”
He said that fat cattle in the North are selling in the mid to high nineties, and in the Texas panhandle/Kansas area, they are selling in the mid-eighties to low nineties.
“Calves are higher than they were a year ago. If you go out in March, April, and May and look at your LRP, and you can lock in a good margin again,” Rodenberger said. “Forget about anybody projecting the future, lock in what you know to be a fact, and if it goes up, you still get it. If it goes down, you are locked in.”
He said that water and grass shortages have resulted in higher volumes of older cows being sold with the salvage value of their calves being a deciding factor. He agrees with other reports that heifer retention is still not being practiced.
