Extension Notes: Feeder calves selling for top dollar
Over 1,500 feeder calves went through the local sale barn this past Wednesday night, and if you’re selling you’re in the right place.
Many folks have told me that they’ve never in their lives found a bargain. There weren’t any at the local feeder calf sale last week. Any calf with a little weight brought over six hundred dollars and many of them brought more than eight hundred dollars.
Over a million dollars worth of feeder cattle were sold last week. Prices should stay strong, if not this high, for months to come.
Opening the border is going to ruin cattle prices. We’re already taking the meat from thousands of Canadian cows.
Prices are listed below for #1 and #2 grade calves from the black, black white face and Charolais cross pens.
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Med & Lg. 1
Steers: Heifers:
350-400: 152.00-161.00 130.00-137.00
400-450: 148.00-156.00 128.00-132.25
450-500: 137.50-145.50 122.50-124.25
500-550: 134.50-139.50 120.50-122.00
550-600: 126.75-128.25 119.00-122.85
600-700: 117.00-124.50 108.00-110.00
700-800: 10.75-111.25 102.00-108.00
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Med & Lg 2
Steers: Heifers:
300-350: ————– 134.00-138.00
350-400: 143.00-148.00 123.00-132.00
400-450:134.00-156.50 125.00-130.00
450-500:126.50-149.00 119.00-122.00
500-600:126.00-129.85 116.00-118.00
600-700:117.00-122.10 104.50-107.00
700-800: 107.50-110.10 100.00-109.00
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The Warren County Barn will be have its special Select-Vac sale on Wednesday, Aug. 17. This sale is for weaned, vaccinated and de-wormed calves. The last two Select-Vac Sales have brought prices above the current market to the farmers. For more information give me a call or contact David Mason Simpson at the sale barn.
CATTLEMEN’S FIELD DAY
The Extension Service and the Warren County Cattlemen’s Association is having a Field Day at the Warren County Fairgrounds on Saturday morning, June 18.
The program will feature a comparison between several different cattle squeeze chutes, high tensile fencing demonstration and animal health demonstration. We’ll also have several beef and farm vendors on hand talking about their products. More information next week, but mark your calendar now for Saturday, June 18.
SIGN UP FOR 2005 TOBACCO BUYOUT PAYMENTS ENDS June 17
The sign-up period for receiving the 2005 payment from the tobacco buyout ends on June 17. Eligible recipients who have not signed up by that date will not receive the 2005 payment.
Eligible recipients are those who owned land with a tobacco quota on Oct. 22, 2004, and those who shared in the risk of production of quota tobacco in the 2002, 2003 and 2004 marketing seasons. Those who “shared in the risk of production” are considered producers.
Quota owners and producers who have not signed up by June 17 will still be eligible for payments in 2006 and later years, but they will lose the 2005 payment.
The federal tobacco program is ending with the 2004 marketing season. There will be no assigned quotas in 2005, no price supports and no restrictions on production. Eligible quota owners and producers can receive payments for the next 10 years, at an annual rate of 70 cents per pound for quota owned and 30 cents per pound for tobacco produced (based on 2002 effective quota produced). But they must visit their FSA office by June 17 to sign up in order to receive the 2005 payment.
Based on conversations with FSA personnel, it appears there are still a substantial number of recipients who have not signed up. This is particularly true of small quota owners. Up to 50 percent of quota owners in some areas had not signed up as of May 31. The sign-up at this time is to establish eligibility for payments, and not for deciding how to take them.
Eligible quota owners and growers who own quota in more than one county or who grew tobacco in more than one county should remember that they have to sign up separately for each county, at the local FSA office for that county. If they wait to late, they may find they don’t have time to make it to all of the offices they need to visit.
If you’ve got questions or need more information go by the local Farm Service Agency office or call then at 473-2277.
SOYBEAN RUST REPORT
Plant Pathologists report that they have found a second field of volunteer soybeans in Seminole County GA with Soybean Rust pustules and spores. This field is about 4 miles from the first field found.
The number of rust pustules still remains low in those areas. They have tried to destroy all the areas of beans and Kudzu with soybean rust. A snap bean field across the dirt road from the volunteer soybeans in Seminole Co. is still free of rust, mainly because it has been sprayed with fungicides.
Terrell County, Ga., remains positive for soybean rust as reported earlier. None of their sentinel plots in Georgia have given any indication of rust, even though several are in the blooming stage. Most commercial soybeans are not yet in the blooming stage in Georgia.