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IN beef producers examining options
This year’s drought has Indiana beef producers trying to figure out what is best for their operations. Indiana Beef Cattle Association executive vice president Joe Moore says for some producers that means looking into feeding alternative feedstuffs and for others that means potentially reducing their herd size.
Moore says the only firm indicator they have in the office of what Indiana producers are doing is the checkoff remittance. “The month of July is the first month this year we’ve seen a pretty good spike in cattle sales,” he says. “We know that because the $1/head contribution that was paid in 2011 was about 40 percent less than was paid in July 2012. So we know producers are out there selling cattle off.”
Moore says in the short-term – that means the price of cattle will go down.
However – for producers who can weather the current conditions – he says the reward could be great. “In a few months, 10, 11, 12 months down the road when the cattle are through the system we’re going to see cattle come back up,” he says. “And I believe come back up very sharply.”
He says Purdue Extension offers excellent information for cattle producers.
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