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The Texas Side Of Things

published: April 16th 2010
by: Jim Banner

Can you believe April is already here!  It seems as though only a couple of weeks ago I was finishing up with the San Antonio All Breed Sale and now I’m finishing up my income taxes.  The scary part is that before I know it Christmas will be here and the end of 2010 will only be memory…hopefully a good memory!
    Special years like this one, when Texas is blessed with abundant moisture, the wild flowers flourish all across our great state.  At the present time South and Central Texas is alive with beautiful bluebonnets, Indian paintbrushes and all kinds of other yellow and white flowers adorning the country side with plenty of color.  Now I’ve been in  other states during the spring months and I’d have to say that Texas has the most beautiful spring time in the United States… when it rains!
    In my last couple of columns I mentioned the apparent uncertainty of the female replacement market this spring. It seemed to me that one week the replacement sales would be bullish and the next they might be just okay.  Recently some of us from the San Antonio area met with Dr. Jason Cleere to begin the planning process for the 2010 Texas A&M Short Course and it was apparent that most attending felt very confident that the present day cattle business was on track to have a very good year.  Jay Gray, General Mana-ger for Graham Land & Cattle; Dr. Joe Paschal and Dr. Rick Machen both from AgriLife Extension, felt that the economy worldwide was improving and when combined with lower supplies and an increasing demand that possibly the cattle industry would be profitable again.
    Also I talked to Tom Johnson the other night about his recent replacement female sale held in Groesbeck, Texas and he said it was a bang up good one. He sold cattle not only here in Texas but also into Florida, Alabama, Louisiana and Arkansas.  From what he said the pairs, breds and opens all brought outstanding prices and for all breeds and colors. Hopefully this is the sign of confidence we’ve been looking for in the commercial sector…one which has been missing.
    Now my last little bit of optimism…on Tuesday fed cattle closed at $98 and from what Dr. Marcus Hoelscher reported on page 11 of SLS, the feedlots are current and feeders are reporting profits of $65 to $85 compared to losses of $170 to $190 per head last year. The market reports from all the sale barns located throughout the sate are reporting higher calf prices with a very active demand.  These are definitely good signs for our industry.
    As reported on the front page, we will soon be adding a new weather column to Southern Livestock Standard and Southern Livestock.com; a feature that we believe will be informative and helpful in your daily business decisions.  We have been following Brian Bledsoe for the last couple of years and believe him to be more than an average weatherman.  He has forecast the weather for Silveus Insurance Group with an amazing accuracy and that’s why we decided to provide you his information so you can make informative decisions.  By the way I checked with Brian and he personally guaranteed me that he doesn’t use the Farmer Almanac to predict the weather.  We have always attempted to be unique in the livestock publishing business and with this new feature column; I believe we will once again be providing to our readers the kind of information you expect and need.
    All of this positive information leads me to believe that 2010 is shaping up to be a great year in the cattle industry and as all of you know…we really do deserve it!

UNTIL NEXT TIME,
THINK TEXAS!!!