A pretty good fall?

[cowman]

I don't know about the rest of you but where I live we sure have had a good run of weather this fall? I'm not sure how much feed we've saved but never started feeding anything until Nov. 20 and then pretty light rations until this week!...Well then it got a wee bit ugly, but still the cows are out in the afternoon still hustling!
Now I don't know about you but I sure like seeing those cows out picking away at whatevers there?
It was sort of a tough year for making hay but it sure was good for the grass this year? The calves did really well and they weighed up good this fall. I don't know how other people think, but for me personally, I'd rather have that great big heavy calf in the fall than fall all over myself worrying about whether I get $1.20 or $1.01! Now mind you I'm not into forgetting the bottom line!
But all in all this was not a bad year...the weight made up for the cruddy price!
I do believe things are looking up? Perhaps when all you youngsters are old and gray you'll have stories to tell your grand kids about the "wreck of '02"!!!

[cowman]

Should have read "wreck of 03"! I must be getting senile!

[grassfarmer]

The weather in this part of Alberta certainly has been a blessing. Can you imagine the scenario if we had another drought and needed to reduce the cowherd? Apart from that things are grim - you are sharing in the complacency that is descending over producers Cowman. Falling for the "once the border opens all will be rosy" nonsense. Take a look at "www.bsesolution.com" which outlines again the fact that our problems are many even if the border opens. Rumour has it Cargill gained control of another feedlot in Eastern Alberta recently - how rosy is that?

[cowman]

I will check that site out grassfarmer! And I can really agree with you on the drought thing! As far as I'm concerned the 2002 drought was worse for me than BSE! I'd never seen anything like that! For me personally it was devastating! I guess I'd never experienced a year when it just wouldn't rain!

[kpb]

cowman, on a different thread than this one you and I have discussed the fact that some cattlemen are going to make a pile of dough in this market.But since you started this thread I'd like to address the current conditions here. I agree with you totally that the weather this fall has been good, the feed is plentiful and, for those of use who background calves, the conditions could not be better.
In the Quebec Cows post I pointed out that backgrounders and grassers can gross over $300 easily on a calf bought this fall--that will mean a net of about $150 according to my usual cowboy budget. Now a cattleman ought to be able to feed and grass 800 to 1,000 calves without too much sweat and that means a pretty good return to me. But that's if the border does NOT open by the fall.
If the border opens I think the net will be twice that. I hate to disagree with you grassfarmer but, to me, this is the best opportunity to make a pile of dough that I've seen in 15 years. I've been backgrounding for a long time and I've seldom seen such a little spread between light feeders and 1,000 lb. yearlings. That spells a big opportunity to me if things just stay the way they are now. But the real sweetener is that the border might also open in the next 7 or 8 months and make the whole backgrounded inventory worth a whole lot more.