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Could The Lack Of Lightweight Cattle In Latest Cattle On Feed Mean A Hole In The Supply Of Cattle Early This Summer?

One of the numbers in the most recent cattle on feed report seemed a little "off" to me. The overall placement number seemed okay, but the number of lightweight cattle was well under what you would expect a month to month report would show- the placements of calves under 600 pounds was down seventeen percent from a year ago in the February first cattle on feed report. And it was not just me- in talking with Oklahoma State University Extension Livestock Market Economist Dr. Derrell Peel, that number stuck out to him as well.
 
Ron Hays(that's the me) and Derrell Peel look at that number in today's Beef Buzz. Peel tells us that it is not just well under the 2015 number- it is also well under the number for lightweight calves placed in January 2014 as well.
 
One of the possible explanations is that there is more good quality wheat pasture available this winter- and that younger animals are likely on wheat pasture instead of being pushed on into a feedlot. Peel adds that while the heavy weight placement number is a little higher than a year ago- but not like several months in 2015 when we saw much huge numbers in the 800 pound and heavier category.
 
Peel says that there are signs that we are back to what you might call a "normal" cattle market although "I'm not sure if we know what normal is at this point." Peel adds that the relationship across the cattle pipeline make more sense than they did at times in 2015. 
 
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Join us for our daily twilight chores on our working sheep farm and watch how we feed sheep the old-fashioned way with barely any technology. Buckets may not be exciting to watch, but they are an inexpensive, fast, and efficient way to feed sheep requiring practically no input costs except for the grain itself and a little manpower. At the moment, we have about 600 Suffolk and Dorset sheep and lambs on our working sheep farm in Ontario, Canada. We feed them twice a day, and in the growing seasons, they are also free to go to pasture. Daily chores consist mainly of feeding the sheep and letting them out to pasture at this time of year. We feed twice a day, which sometimes entails rolling out a bale of hay and, at other times, forking left over hay out so that they can reach it. Feeding grain just takes minutes to do in each barn.