By Jennifer Stultz
Tri-County Tribune Editor
jstultz@cherryroad.com
Pratt Livestock is the place to find good, green, home-raised grazing steers by the pot load, or top-quality bred cows, or everything from baby calves to fat steers. One just has to have the money to buy them. The cattle are not really the color green, but they are worth gold at this time of year.
On Thursday, February 27, cattle prices were high, just like those seen around the rest of the plains state, with good quality, bred cows bringing anywhere from $2,900 to $3,500 each. Baby calves sold for prices in the $700-$1,000 range, while weaned calves (350-700 lbs. each) brought an average between $2.75 -$4 per lb., and feeders in the 230 lb. range priced out at $3.05 per pound.
“Prices are high, haven’t seen this since about 2014, 2015,” said Pratt Livestock Assistant Manager Steve Stratford. “There are a lot of people buying and selling, but that does not necessarily mean anyone is making a profit. Input costs are extraordinarily high right now. If we weren’t getting these high prices for the cattle, a lot of people would be going out of business. As it is, we are just making more money with bigger beef.”
Stratford said there were fewer cattle producers today than there were five to ten years ago, but the cattle themselves have gotten bigger, growing faster, putting on more weight to translate into more beef to feed more people, but nobody was getting rich.
“The profitability is not there where it should be,” Stratford said. “The cost of the equipment we are tearing up, the pickups, the trailers, the haulers, the feeders, that is all astronomical.”
Stratford said those who had excess forage, good hay, home-produced grain to feed, they were the ones with the hedging tools to make it pay in the current cattle market.
“Commodity funds control the prices,” he said. “But if there are people with forage or grain and way to put wheat gain on cattle, then they are in good shape to make some money on this.”
He did not estimate how long cattle prices would be higher than normal but Stratford said those with money to invest were buying replacement heifers and quality bred cows at good prices, many rebuilding herds that were decimated and sold off during recent drought years.
Those with a penchant for the sound of lowing cattle and the smell of, well, money, might want to stop in at Pratt Livestock on Thursdays to better understand the current state of the cattle industry. The parking lot is packed, the auction seats stair-stepped so everybody can see the action, and the cattle come in hot and steamy (depending on how cold it is outside). The best part is those real beef burgers available in the on-site cafe (along with a number of specials and great side items) at lunch time. The Cattleman’s Cafe is open only on Thursdays at Pratt Livestock, east of Pratt right on U.S. Hwy. 54/400.
