Cattle prices have had a great run in 2014. Prices have reached unprecedented levels and it doesn't look like they will be coming down anytime soon. Normally the market would be experiencing seasonal pressure on calf and yearling prices this time of year, but that hasn't been the case this year. Oklahoma State University Livestock Market Economist Dr. Derrell Peel said there are a lot of folks chasing after the available cattle in auction barns this fall. He said there has seen some differentiation for weaned calves and unweaned calves.
"Obviously at these values unweaned calves are pretty risky from a buyer standpoint so there has been some differentiation values in those but in general we have see prices increase this fall as demand out stripes supply of cattle that's available," Peel said.
Through the years there has been a pretty good premium for producers that precondition calves. Peel said that is still the case even at the stratospheric prices of the general cattle market.
"It appears we are going to get on percentage terms about a normal premium, at least that that's the indication so far," Peel said. "In dollars per head its actually a bigger premium when you think of the percentage at these price levels. But again from a seller's standpoint you might think well its going to be hard to get a premium when we are at record price levels.
From a seller's standpoint that insurance you are getting with those precondition calves, knowing their health status is in good shape is worth a lot to them this year given the values that are on the line. It looks like these preconditioned calves are going to sell well this fall."
Dr. Peel believes there is some wheat pasture out there that will help put on some addition pounds of gain on many of these cattle being bought at these preconditioned auctions as well as through the normal auction barn process. Wheat pasture growth will be slowed down for the next week or so with these winter-like temperatures, but still Dr. Peel feels pretty good where we stand in terms of wheat pasture for 2014 - 2015.
"We got in wheat early this year, it's the best wheat pasture in terms of establishment that we have had in about five years," Peel said. "We were starting to get kind of dry, some of the wheat pasture was kind of stalled out. This rain was extremely timely in terms of providing good widespread coverage across much of Oklahoma. It's going to move the pasture forward at this point. With the cooler temperatures we got now, the moisture will be very effectively used.
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