First hard freeze hits farm areas

One of the seminal events of winter for farmers and ranchers has hit: the first hard freeze of winter.

In many areas, this means the winter grass has hardened, there is no more growth or maturation on the crops--so have to be gotten out of the ground with all haste, while they're still useable.

Many cattle buyers don't get serious about buying calves for winter feed until the first freeze. They know that ranchers then have to sell, as they're out of feed, and might get a better deal. It's a standard sign post every winter, and it's just happened.

Cash feeder cattle prices have dropped in the last month, due both to seasonal factors and the general economic crash. The good news is that they haven't dropped as much as cattle futures or as much as the Stock Market debacle and credit crunch indicated they might.

It has been a warm fall in most areas, allowing many of the late-maturing crops to finish and be harvested, and for ranchers to hang on to their calves longer than they are able to in many years.

As bad as it would be possible to think it is, for cattlemen and farmers, things look a lot brighter than you might expect.