Cattle Producers Dealing With Desperate Situation

Jun 08, 2021

Dry conditions continue to create challenges for many cattle producers.

Allan Munroe is owner of Killarney Auction Mart.

"We're getting these little shots of rain that green things up and give us a little bit of optimism but the crops are slow emerging, the pastures are very slow, there's a lot of guys still feeding their cows, not wanting to throw them out on the pasture and damage what is there. The rule always was 'a day in the spring can give you a week in the fall' as far as grazing. Guys are being very cautious but it's just very, very slow coming and we're seeing a lot of action at the market this June that we normally wouldn't."

He notes it's a little bit of survival mode right now, because the feed is not out there.

"You can't just go buy a load of round bales right now. The grass isn't growing. There's a lot of these guys that have been through this before, with talk of 1988 and going back to 1959. You talk to some of the older fellows and it's just a matter of making sure you don't run out and moving some cattle and making those tough choices and those deep cuts early and a head of time so you don't end up completely against the wall with no feed for your animals at all."

Munroe says they plan to put a sale on June 28th because of the high number of cattle booked for the 14th.

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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.