More breeding stock is being sent to the sale barn amid soaring input costs and drought conditions
National Cattleman's Beef Association CEO Colin Woodall says this year's drought is more widespread than the regional droughts seen in years past, when producers could send their cattle to other parts of the country to graze until it started raining again. "There's no place to go because everybody is struggling to find the forage they need to feed their cattle," Woodall told FOX Business.
"It's all about costs. When you look at those who make a decision to send their cattle to market to either thin down their herd or completely eliminate their herd, it is always going to be attributed to the increase of their input costs. And that is everything from the cost of feed, cost of hay and cost of diesel for tractors, diesel for the truck,And there's so many things that go into producing cattle that the producers just don't have any control over.
The increased number of cows and heifers sold for slaughter means herd depletion will continue, and building it back will take years."A heifer is two years old before she produces her first baby," John Kleiboeker, who owns a seedstock operation in California, Missouri, explained. "That calf is another 18 months after that. So you're talking about close to 40 months from the time that little baby heifer is born until she has produced a pound of beef.
For the past five years, he said, he has purchased anywhere from 110 to 120 big round bales from the same supplier's first cut of hay. This year, the first cut only produced 57, but the cost was up 50% from last year to $75 per bale.
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