Grab those prices

摘要

These are exciting times in the cattle business, and every rancher wants to take advantage of record prices. Be sure to use a sharp pencil as you make your post-weaning marketing plans for 2013 calves.The lightweight market is presumably being driven by demand for stocker cattle for wheat and southern grazing, and Figure 1 summarizes eastern Wyoming/western Nebraska's record sale-barn prices for mid-January 2014. My statistical analysis shows 550-lb.steer calves averaged $220/cwt., and 800-lb. steers averaged $171/cwt.