Livestock like leftovers

Tonight, rather than go out and blow $10-$20 for dinner at a restaurant, I rummaged through the freezer and frig, and came up with enough chicken, peppers, mushrooms and onions to make a stir-fry, that actually wasn't too bad. It was all made out of stuff that had been there a long time, and was close to be being tossed.

That's how farmers and ranchers have to think about feeding their livestock in these volatile times. Corn stalks, beet tops and other leftovers after the harvest in the fields, work fine for cattle feed, and cost virtually nothing. Cattle like them, and while there is some soil nutrient value in plowing them under, its not enough to avoid fertilizer next year.

Of course, ranchers want to graze their pastures as long as they can before they are covered with snow, but then they have to look for others sources to feed until the pastures turn green again in the spring.

In a tough year like this one is turning out to be, buying hay or grain and hauling it in, can throw an operation so impossibly into the red that cattle prices can never be high enough to pay it out. These are the kinds of losses you never recover, and piled up year after year, can put you out of business.

It's easy to be a brilliant manager when livestock prices are high, the weather's good and grain's cheap. Your mettle is really tested in times like this, when it's all working against you.