Welcome to the Friday edition of the HOT BARN REPORT
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Karina Jones, Field Director for R-Calf USA joins us each Friday from her ranch in the heart of Nebraska covering new and important cattle industry news and policy.
Welcome to the first HBR in December and thanks for joining me today on Hot Barn Report.
After long days of chopping ice, feeding cattle in the cold, attending to our normal day to day ranch duties, and then walking in to face a pile of bills on the office desk; I will admit that there isn’t really much about my life that resembles life on the Dutton Ranch. Maybe I’m just bitter that I have to make all the meals around here and do the laundry. I think most of you would agree, that for those of us living this life, the show Yellowstone is pretty unrelatable, it is more of a romanticized fantasy of what we do.
But, last week, there was a scene that felt like could have happened at my place or yours and I think it is worth talking about. Neighbors gathering to move cattle down a lonely strip of two lane highway, with a few young kids horseback and Border Collies in the mix. The cattle drive would lead to a branding, the good ole rope and drag kind with a Folgers can among the cast of characters as the “nut bucket.” After the work was over a branding pen meal was served to the cowboys while a good bit of fellowship, conversing, and enjoying whatever was in those coolers was taking place.
The conversation that was at the center of the scene felt so real, so right now! Rip Wheeler took notice that the neighbor’s son was back to the ranch, among the working men. The neighbor shrugged and revealed that his son’s visit was only temporary, that he had graduated from college and a career, a real future awaited him in Boise. The father seemed impartial and Rip seemed unsurprised. Infact, both almost seemed detached and maybe a bit encouraged that this young man wouldn’t have to face the challenges in our industry, like these diesel and feed costs. And that by some miracle the boy was lucky to not be held back by our way of life and weighed down by our burdens.
In that moment, these men surrendered to each other that the world is coming down fast on our way of life and I’m not sure there will be many of us to survive it or fight to save it. There was a lot about that passage that felt so real.
Maybe I am just sensitive to this matter because right now we are in the middle of dispersal season. I know, I know, I shouldn’t be surprised and it comes around every year. After the calves have been weaned and before calving starts, we see the bulk of cattle herd dispersals take place. It used to be a time of passing the torch to the next generation of cattle producers hungry to carry on someone’s legacy they had built in to their herd. This year feels different. There doesn’t seem to be much optimism out there of rebuilding the nations cowherd. Between the drought and input costs, much of our industry seems pretty beaten down.
We do need a win in this industry and I’m not talking about watered down compromises made by lawmakers who are backed by PAC funds that you and I don’t support. We need strong Americans to fight for a strong America. I just hope that there will be enough of us left to finish the fight.
Speaking of strong American cattle markets, check out the “Diamond Dozen” Hot Barns: Stockmens livestock, Lemmon livestock, North Platte Stockyards, St. Onge/Newell, Platte Livestock Market, Tri County Stockyards, Torrington Livestock, Creighton Livestock Market, Bassett Livestock Auction, Mobridge Livestock, Ogallala Livestock Auction Market, and Presho Livestock. Catch them all on CattleUSA.com.
This Week on CattleUSA.com
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