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Kansas rancher says margins can’t get any thinner, no more cuts left

A Northeast Kansas cattle producer says record input costs and historic drought have put extreme pressure on margins.

“We have cut corners so tight.  You can’t starve a profit out of a cow.”

Phillip Perry of Oskaloosa tells Brownfield he runs a cow/calf herd with his wife. “We have looked and looked at our operation.  We do everything pretty much ourselves so labor is not an issue. I just don’t know where we can cut too much more.”

He says he will cut back on some fertilizer for his corn crop, won’t sacrifice feed rations at the cost of animal health. “We tried some of those tricks and they’ll bite you somewhere else. Corn is a source of energy and if you want that calf to grow, you need to keep some of that in the ration.”

Perry says pasture growth was extremely limited this year but has a good amount of hay carryover for the winter.

And, he says, he’s optimistic that the cattle market will say supportive in 2023.

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