HORACE MCQUEEN: Wet is a Blessing!

Our dry spell is over — hopefully for several more months. Pastures, hay meadows and garden spots received well needed moisture that has been absent.

Green up is starting to show along roadsides and on farms where ryegrass — and weeds — are appearing. A short commodity today is quality hay.

Not a lot of the good stuff available for sale — so some cattle are being fed hay that is flat “sorry”.

Timber prices are just so-so. Not going to make timber producers rich but at least they have a saleable product.

A neighbor shared with me the bids for two timber stands on his farms. Large pine, over 13 inches, was $42 a ton — with smaller trees at $22 to $30. Chip N Saw was bid $15 a ton. And for pine pulpwood $7 a ton. Hardwood saw logs priced at $30 to $42 a ton. Hardwood pulpwood was $10 to $13 a ton. My neighbor uses a consulting forester to help manage his timberlands and secure bids for when he wants to sell.

Cattle growers in several states have voted on adding another $1 a head in beef check off fees. In Oklahoma and California cattle producers made their voices heard when they voted “no” to a state check off.

None of the millions of dollars “contributed” by cattle raisers can be used to promote US beef. What a shame!

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