Cattlemen can thank their lucky stars

Cattlemen can count their lucky stars that they sold fed cattle to the meat packers on Wednesday last week, before the Stock Market melted down on Thursday and Friday. Of course commodities, such as cattle futures, joined the meltdown at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and grain futures at the Chicago Board of Trade, and later week trade would have been much lower.

As it was, many received $1 higher prices at $91 in the cash trade, after several weeks of dropping prices from a high of $99 about six weeks ago. The fundamentals of the cattle business are strong--cattle numbers well under control, grain costs dropping and consumer demand for beef still hanging in there. But some things are beyond the control of mere cattle producers, and all they can do is stand back and watch the broader world economy make a shambles out of their corner.

Once the Stock Market hits a bottom, and nobody knows when that will be, and prices begin to stabilize, profitability should return to cattle. All the economic indicators are strong. Even foreign beef sales have been climbing, although growth will slow as the U.S. dollar has gotten stronger against other currencies.

We can all mourn the overall U.S. and world economic collapse. But the cattle industry has great potential for coming back strong.