Should You Expand Your Cowherd?
Should you Expand Your Cowherd? is the topic of today’s lead headline on BEEF Daily. And, I would guess that is the exact question alot of you are asking yourselves this fall.
After preg-checking cows last weekend, my dad and I are in debate about how many cows we should cull and how many replacement heifers we should keep. In 2007, we made pretty aggressive cuts in our cowherd, so the big issue this year is the number of heifers to retain and feed throughout the winter.
Maybe I’m just an overzealous college kid, eager to expand the herd and see new opportunities arise, but I think that now is the time to expand. I know everyone is seriously concerned about the current state of our economy. Moreover, those cattlemen that are exiting the industry right now must think I’m downright insane, but I think now is the time to keep and feed cattle. My dad argues that now is the time to be careful about your expenses and inputs, and we should just maintain the numbers we currently have.
How about you? Are you expanding, maintaining or getting out? What decisions are you facing this fall?
October 21st, 2008 at 2:56 pm
In the recent light of the Shruggish Economy, many producers that I have talked to have told me that times like this if you can pencil it out in the long run and stay for the long haul on average you will come out ahead. These people that jump in and out of the markets have a higher risk at loosing more money than lose that stay in it for a longer period of time. On our own farm we plan on culling a few cows, but also bring back more replacement heifers to strengthen the herd as far a genetics, and we have the pasture land to run more cattle, with out any problems.
October 21st, 2008 at 4:03 pm
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