Cattle Heading South?

[ASRG]

Was talking to a guy who does some computer work for XL Brooks feedlot and he tells me they are all in a dither setting up to start shipping finished cattle south to their plant in the US.

He told me cattle are backing up in the feedlot, with very few cattle coming in.
Maybe they need the room for the fall cow run? Put a few low priced cows on a maitenence diet and wait for the crisis to blow over?

If you ran a feedlot right now, would cheap cows be a good idea right now? Would it make more sense than buying expensive calves and expensive barley?

[grassfarmer]

If I was speculating on cull cows this fall I wouldn't be
putting them in a feedlot - keep them out on the
farms and ranches and use the ample cheap forage
that is around. They don't need to be in a feedlot.

[BFW]

Exactly. Leave them out on grass. The last place they need to be is in feedlot eating barley at $6 per bushel.

[per]

Many of their captive supply already have Zilmax or Ractopamine and that sets the date that they need to be killed by. They are scrambling to get it done before the best before date.

GF is right, the cull cows are likely fat enough. They just need to be wintered along like any other cow. An opportunity for those of you with extra capacity. North America still will need them.