Peel Recommends Producers Make Their Strategic Plan For Rest Of Decade

Apr 10, 2015

The cattle market outlook is highly variable for 2015. Oklahoma State University Extension Livestock Market Economist Dr. Derrell Peel said a lot will depend on which sector a producer is involved in and continued process of drought recovery.

"You want to take advantage of these markets as the best you can, but you have to work with your forage resources," Peel said. "Other folks, I think are being much more aggressive in general. Particularly the cow-calf sector, definitely sitting in the driver’s seat now. We don’t have enough cattle and the market is increasingly telling them to do that.

Peel recommends cow-calf producers make their expectations for the next three to five years. He said producers need to ask themselves if they think cattle prices will remain strong for several more years and can justify paying these high costs for breeding animals. If you don’t believe that, he said producers need to determine their plan to take advantage of these high prices.

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Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.