Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Tis the Season of Peace and Good Will -- let Americans be at Peace in their Continued Role in this Great World in Furtherance of the Good

Excerpts below are from the 1896 publication "A Man's Value to Society", preface to Chapter 8 "The Enthusiasm of Friendship".


"He that walketh with wise men shall be wise"   Solomon

"The only way to have a friend is to be one."  Emerson

"A talent is perfected in solitude; a character in the stream of the world."    Goethe

"It is certain that either wise bearing or ignorant carriage is caught as men take diseases, one of another; therefore let men take heed of their company."  Shakespeare

"Beyond all wealth, honor or oven health, is the attachment we form to noble souls, because to become one with the good, generous and true, is to become, in a measure, good generous and true ourselves."  Thomas Arnold

"Cicero said:  'Friendship can make riches splendid.'  Friendship can plan many things for its wealth to execute.  It can plan a good winter evening for a group, and it can plan an afternoon for a hundred children.  It can roll in a Christmas log for a large hearth.  It can spread happiness to the right and left.  It can spend money most beautifully and make gold to shine.  Civilization itself is of the heart."  Shelby




My niece, Taylor, with her sweet young one, Lexie, that she babysits on her days off from her Target job that is restricted to a mere 20 hours because of current laws.  Let the both of them always be as happy in the years to come as they were today..............


Monday, November 24, 2014



This excerpt struck me as pertinent tonight from "A Man's Value to Society", Copyright 1896:

 "Disobedience is slavery. Obedience is liberty. . . . disobedience to the law of morals gives waste and want and wretchedness. That individual or nation is hastening toward poverty that does not love the right and hate the wrong. So certain is the penalty of wrongdoing that sins seems infinitely stupid. Every transgression is is like an iron plate thrown into the air: gravity will pull it back upon the wrongdoer's head to wound him."
Let their be peace . . . and faith in our civil system, for each of us. Obama says: "Understandable reaction?" Hardly. Gun shots, rocks and bottles thrown, police cars attacked, fires and .... whatever else. Absurd. Shameful. Hardly Understandable. Burden falls on the baiters and the mainstream media and the rabid liberals who regularly lay waste to the the old Christian laws of morals that has  lead to waste and want and wretchedness" . . . among some other rather significant others of influence.




Saturday, November 22, 2014

Newborn British White Calves Caterwauling


Fussy newborns!  They are a bit indignant and confused as their dams abandoned them for fresh hay. It went from a peaceful easy morning of measuring and tagging them all (don't think I've ever tagged that many at once) to chaos as soon as Mike put out the first bale.


Wednesday, October 22, 2014

An excellent article from the Lampasas Dispatch Record examining the cost and value of raising your own replacement heifers vs buying them in today's market environment.  



By BLAIR FANNIN
Texas A&M AgriLife Extension
When it comes to replacement heifers in beef cattle operations, producers are faced with a dilemma: Raise them, buy them or sell them and “take the money and run,” said a Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service economist.
It’s becoming an all too familiar situation among Texas ranchers, said Stan Bevers, an AgriLife Extension economist at Vernon who recently presented a study at the Texas A&M Beef Cattle Short Course.
Where's the story?PointsMentioned Map2 Points Mentioned
“We looked at what the market is right now for replacement heifers,” he said. “We were targeting heavy bred heifers, and they were anywhere from $1,650 to $2,300 a head. The second number was what it was costing the rancher to raise them themselves.
“One operation we tracked were heifers weaned in 2010 and 2011, what those heifers were and what their accumulated expenses were over the two years to the point where they were heavy bred. Their expenses totaled $1,100 to $1,400 a head. That ranch was pretty efficient and did a good job of reducing their expenses.”
Bevers said since this ranch was located in Oklahoma, one would need to add $300-$400 a head to that for Texasranchers and regional market prices to develop replacement heifers.
“That comes out to $1,400 to $1,800 to develop replacement heifers in Texas,” Bevers said.
He said if you look at the current market price, it shows it’s cheaper to “raise them yourself if you are a pretty efficient, cost-reducing type operator.”
“The final number we looked at is if I have to pay much over market cost for them or if I choose to raise a heifer on my own, what is she going to return me over her life?” he said. “We started with a twoyear old heifer that’s going to be having her first calf and added eight years to that. That means we’ve gone out 10 years into the future, so now she is 10 years old, and we came up with what I can pay for her, which was $2,301 a head.”
Bevers said that leaves three numbers to consider.
“We know the market is $1,650 to $2,300, and it takes $1,400 to $1,500 to raise her, and now she is worth $2,300 in my herd economically.
“What do you do with those numbers? Well, if nothing else, it illustrates how complex this decision is right now,” he said. “It’s not right or wrong. It’s based on what type of operation you have and your costs. You finally have to decide to pull the trigger and say this is what we are going to have to do.”
Bevers threw in a fourth number – what feedlots are paying for commercial heifers destined for the beef market. Right now, it’s about $1.93 to $2.03 a pound, he said.
“You are talking about a heifer in the 750-pound range that’s worth $1,500 on the market, and that’s for beef,” he said. “So, if you don’t keep her as a replacement heifer, you now have a floor price of about $1,500 a head. If you don’t want to take her and put her back in your operation, the feedlot is going to take her for $1,500 and turn her into beef later down the road.”

Sunday, October 19, 2014

Jimmie's Observations on the 2nd Annual MN British White Cattle Sale


I spent some time the past few days watching online auctions of registered cattle, reading through the trade magazines for the results of commercial sales as well as registered, as I'm getting ready to put a group of females and some bulls up for sale. So, I much appreciated Kim Hilty's reporting of sales results at the latest British White auction in MN a few days ago. 
B&B British White Heifers at the MN 2nd Annual Sale


As with most items, live bovines, or goods, the price ultimately reflects the quality of the product, the visual, and of course the demand, and not to be discounted is the sales platform, whether it be the individual or an auction -- presentation and attitude and information are paramount.

You can see in the sales results the buyer's desire for bred heifers or cows vs open ones. I would also say the prices for Fall bred cows are disappointing, perhaps more would have been realized at a sale barn, but as Kim says here, you have to remember that those that were Clean, Good Quality, and halter broke (not my thing, I prefer tail breaking  ) brought the highest dollar and it is just the 2nd annual auction, so the buyers could pick and choose - not so different from a Lowline sale I watched this weekend online. Had there been more buyers, I've no doubt the results would have been greater at that Lowline sale in Athens, Texas.

That said, Kim's reporting of fall bred cows, coupled with what the 8 young bull calves sold for, some of which were weaned upon sale -- not so bad at all. Combine the top fall bred cow with the top bull calf, you've got $3300 in value for the pair, combine the bottom fall bred cow at $1300 with the bottom bull calf at $900 for $2200, again not bad, presumably it was quality and conformation that made the difference. 


Compare these results with the Bohaty sale this last spring, where the base price was I think $2500 for bred heifers But then the Bohaty's have spent years supporting their buyers after the sale, provide 100% of the information a buyer needs to make a decision. . . Visit them on Facebook here:https://www.facebook.com/BohatysBritishWhites . 
Briarstone bull calves at the 2014 2nd Annual MN British White Cattle auction

See www.whitecattle.org for additional information on the ABWPA that has for many many years provided registry and primary focus on the British White bovine, and gives their full support to the new Minnesota British White Cattle organization.

My best to all British White breeders here in the USA and across the world..........