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Drought forces corn and cattle decisions

The drought’s effect on crops in Missouri and other states has led to tough decisions. Missouri FSA Chief Loan Officer Dan Gieseke says some farmers are chopping their corn for silage but that comes with risks,  “Some farmers are simply mowing it and trying to gain some feed value there but there are some dangers in that especially the possibility of accumulated nitrates in the stalk of the corn crop which can be quite toxic to cattle.”

With virtually no hay available in Missouri and pastures burning up, he says a lot of cattle are going to market.

“There’s been increased sales at the markets and there have been some markets that have scheduled some additional sale days. You know, if they normally have just a Tuesday sale, they’re doing a Tuesday and a Thursday, to accommodate all the people that are trying to sell cattle.”

He adds that a lot of producers are selling off their older cows, “Probably two or three years before they would think about selling that cow. But, they’re trying to be as pragmatic as possible about it and cutting down the herd size and saving their youngest stock.”

Gieseke says there are signs of weakness beginning to show up in the market due to the sheer volume of cattle going to market.