Eastern Iowa Farmer Fall 2020

dear diary
However, I suppose I shouldn’t complain.
It is moisture, and who knows what
the rest of spring holds? It may be the
last measurable precipitation we get for a
while.
The kids absolutely loved getting to
wear their snow pants one more time
and making snowballs and a snowman. I
loved the backdrop it provided to snap a
few pictures of our many cows and calves
in the pastures. Just another opportunity
God took to prove just how beautiful he
makes things if we simply stop and take
the time to enjoy the views.
Thursday, April 29
#14 “The Packer”
James, along with his brother
and family farm operation, feed
cattle for a living, as well as
operate a cow-calf herd, and farm
a few thousand acres of row crops
and hay.
Since the beginning of the end of
what we once knew as normal, we have
unfortunately not seen a cattle buyer.
On a normal given week, there will be
two or three cattle buyers stop and drive
through and look at pens of cattle. They
usually offer a bid toward the end of the
week on pens of cattle they are interested
in, and we either accept or decline the
bid.
Our acceptance or pass of the bid
depends on the weight of the cattle, our
knowledge of a break-even point to either
make or lose money, and knowledge
of predictions of the market. However
you look at it, it is a gamble, and while
we may cut the fat hog on one set of cattle,
we will certainly lose our behind on
the next yard of cattle – but such is the
game of life, and you can’t win them all.
By this point at the end of April, there
has not been one cattle buyer on our
property in more than five weeks. We
still fed cattle like we did with the average
steer gaining somewhere between 3
to 4 pounds a day. My short math tells
me five weeks at seven days a week is
thirty-five days. Thirty-five days at 3
pounds a day equals 105 pounds these
steers have gained in just over a month
on the low end of the spectrum.
Those cattle that were 1,400-ish
pounds at the beginning of the shutdown
are now pushing too big at this point for
the packing plants to take. Their rail system
is set up for a specific-sized carcass,
and in the circumstances we face currently,
we are producing a steer that has a
much larger carcass than deemed ideal.
So, there we sit, watching and waiting,
our livelihood all in the hands of the
cattle buyer. And, on this particular day,
we were forced to make a decision. With
thousands of cattle on feed, and with the
help of technology and having a general
idea of just what the steers were weighing,
we knew time was against us and we
had to make the decision to sell.
Sell them, no big deal! But wait. The
last time we sold, a few weeks prior to
the shutdown we were getting $1.16 a
pound live weight. But today, not even a
dollar. To be honest, we were offered 20
cents less than what we had been getting.
And when adding up what we had been
updated building...
same
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service!
Serving and investing
in Jackson County
for 95 years.
nissen-caven
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Call Judie, Chris or Kristi
for more information
563.652.5171
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90 Eastern Iowa Farmer | fall 2020 eifarmer.com