April 24, 2015
CapitalPress.com
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13
Dairy/Livestock
Analyst: Cow/calf producers in for another good year
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
BURLEY, Idaho — While
cattle prices are expected to
soften in the last half of the
year, average annual prices
for feeder and fed cattle in
2015 are expected to be even
higher than the record-break-
ing 2014.
The U.S. cattle supply is
still tight, and beef demand is
strong, said Jessica Sampson,
ag economist with Livestock
Marketing Information Cen-
ter, during last week’s Idaho
Range Livestock Symposium.
Returns on cow/calf opera-
tions in 2014 were more than
$500 per cow, and producers
can expect another good year,
she said.
Southern Plains 500- to
600-pound steer calves are
selling close to $290 per hun-
dredweight. Last year’s an-
Carol Ryan Dumas/Capital Press
Jessica Sampson, ag economist with the Livestock Marketing
Information Center, visits with Tony Svejcar, USDA-ARS rangeland
scientist, during a break at the Idaho Range Livestock Symposium
in Burley on April 8.
nual average price on those
steers was $245 per hundred-
weight. LMIC estimates the
2015 average between $270
and $275 per hundredweight,
she said.
Sterling Marketing of
Vale, Ore., puts annual aver-
age returns to cow/calf oper-
ators at $548 per cow in 2014
and estimates those returns to
rise to $688 in 2015.
Cattle prices in the first
quarter of 2015 were higher
than the same period last year
and are expected to peak in
the first half of the year. LMIC
forecasts prices to move
slightly lower in the second
half, with year-over-year de-
clines but no sharp drops,
Sampson said.
Cattle producers are hold-
ing back cows from slaugh-
ter and retaining heifers, but
there’ll be a lag before the
associated beef increases are
realized, she said.
Fed cattle prices have
softened to about $160 per
hundredweight after reaching
a high of $172 per hundred-
weight last year. The average
annual price in 2014 was $154
per hundredweight with annu-
al feedlot returns averaging
about $35 per head, she said.
This year’s annual average
price should be about $160
per head, but feedlots are ex-
periencing significant red ink,
with estimated losses more
than $300 per head in Febru-
ary, she said.
“Feedlots have only dealt
with this severe of closeouts
twice before, during the sum-
mer of 2012 and late 2008,”
she said.
Corn costs have crept up
since the fall, but the real deal
breaker is the high cost of
feeder cattle placed on feed in
late 2014 and the price they’re
now selling for at slaughter,
she said.
Breakeven on those feeder
cattle is about $190 per hun-
dredweight, and the current
cash market on fed cattle
is about $160 per hundred-
weight, she said.
LMIC expects breakev-
ens to decrease in the coming
months due to lower feeder
cattle prices, but current fore-
casts put feedlots in the red
for several more months, she
said.
Sterling Marketing pegged
last week’s feedlot losses at
nearly $175 per head.
Cattle prices in all sectors
will average higher this year
but won’t match the double
digit percentage increases of
2014, Sampson said.
Last year was a perfect
storm for cattle and beef mar-
kets with strong demand and
production issues in pork and
chicken, which kept prices up
for those competing meats,
she said.
Total demand for U.S.
beef increased 5 percent on
volume despite a 12 percent
increase in retail prices. Beef
exports were up slightly but
saw a double-digit percentage
increase in value year-over-
year, she said.
LMIC expects softer beef
exports and surging pork and
chicken production in 2015.
Producer-handlers raise Southern Idaho Livestock Hall of Fame honors inductees
5,000 head annually, still buying
concerns over Calif. FMMO
calves in Idaho, but have moved
the feedlot to Colorado to take
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
By CAROL RYAN DUMAS
Capital Press
Dairy producer-handlers say
a proposal by large dairy co-
ops to establish a federal milk
marketing order in California
would cost them an important
exemption from the state’s milk
pool on a portion of their milk,
putting their businesses at risk.
An alternative proposal by
California Producer Handlers
Association would maintain
those exemptions.
California Dairies Inc.,
Dairy Farmers of America and
Land O’Lakes petitioned the
Department of Agriculture to
create the federal order seek-
ing more equitable milk pric-
ing for California producers as
compared with milk producers
in the rest of the nation.
USDA Agricultural Mar-
keting Service accepted alter-
native proposals for a federal
marketing order through April
10 and will determine whether
a hearing to establish a market-
ing order is warranted.
Two of the critical factors in
garnering producer support for
a federal order are mandatory
pooling of milk — wherein
processors would be required
to pool milk and pay regulat-
ed minimum prices — and
maintaining the state’s quota
system, which pays quota cer-
tificate owners a higher price
for their milk.
Concerns from produc-
er-handlers, which both pro-
duce and process milk, are
seated in the co-ops’ proposal
to end the exemption, which
was provided by California’s
1967 Pooling Act.
The act came about due to
abuses by processors and dis-
tributors in an environment of
extreme competition for Class
1 contracts, causing market
distortion, CPHA stated.
The quota system was a
means to compensate produc-
ers selling into the higher-val-
ue Class I market and gain
their support for establishing a
state order, which would pool
milk and distributed payments
more evenly to producers of
milk across all utilizations.
Recognizing that produc-
er-handlers are buying their
own milk and creating their
own Class I markets — and not
subject to the same destructive
trade practices and price pres-
sures as producers selling to
processors — the Pooling Act
exempted small producer-han-
dlers from the pool and gave
larger producer-handlers quo-
ta exemptions on a portion of
their milk.
Under the co-ops’ pro-
posal, small producer-han-
dlers would remain exempt.
But larger producer-handlers
would have to contribute Class
I prices to the pool on the milk
they processed and the pool
would pay them the blended
quota price on the milk they
produced, CPHA said.
Quota exemptions come
with strict ownership require-
ments tied to the original fam-
ily holding the exemption.
Producer-handlers cannot sell
their business or their quota
without losing the quota ex-
emption.
Quota and quota exemp-
tions grew along with Class I
sales, and producer-handlers
were also allowed a one-year
window in 1993 to sell or buy
exempt quota to or from other
producer-handlers.
Collectively, the four re-
maining
producer-handlers
who would be affected invest-
ed 9.3 million to acquire that
exempted quota and for the
past 48 years have structured
their businesses around the ex-
emptions, CPHA stated.
Today, they represent 3.8
percent of Class I milk produc-
tion in the state, with exempt
quota representing 0.6 percent
of total milk production. Main-
taining the exemptions honors
the original intent of the quota
system, and the overall impact
to the market is nominal at best,
CPHA stated.
TWIN FALLS, Idaho —
The Southern Idaho Livestock
Hall of Fame honored its newest
inductees April 14, at its 86th
annual banquet.
This year’s inductees are:
Wendell dairy producers Hill
and Ann Brandsma began their
Wendell, Idaho, dairy in 1976
with 40 cows. The couple has
worked side by side at the dairy,
increasing the operation to 500
cows with the help of their old-
est son.
They have built their oper-
ation on business and family
values, winning respect for their
honesty, integrity and humility.
They have been actively in-
volved on the local, state and na-
tional level to support the dairy
industry and youth and contrib-
ute to the broader community.
Cow/calf producers DeVern
and Barbara Fuller of Hollister
used innovation to build their
herd of Hereford-Angus crosses
over 60 years in the business.
They ran cattle on the Salm-
on River Cattlemen’s Associ-
ation ranch in northern Neva-
da. DeVern has been involved
with the association since its
inception, serving on its board
of directors and three terms as
president. He also served as a
Carol Ryan Dumas/Capital Press
The newest inductees to the Southern Idaho Livestock Hall of
Fame pose for a photo following the institution’s 56th annual
awards banquet April 14 in Twin Falls. Pictured from left are: (front
row) DeVern and Barbara Fuller, Carole Stennett and Bill Jones;
(back row) Allen and Kim Thompson, Ann and Hill Brandsma, and
Arnold and Cecilia Patterson.
long-time reserve deputy of the
Twin Falls County Fair and rode
with the county sheriff’s posse
for six years.
Sheep producer Bill Jones
of Hagerman followed in his
father’s footsteps, running about
4,400 ewes and lambs in south-
ern Idaho for 30 years before
branching out to raise trout. He
has been honored by BLM and
U.S. Forest Service for his stew-
ardship of the range.
In honor of southern Ida-
ho’s sheep industry, he donated
a sheep monument of life-size
bronze statues depicting sheep,
a herder and his horse and dog
that sits at the entrance to Hag-
erman.
He was also a pioneer in Ida-
ho aquaculture and remains ac-
tively involved in that industry
and a leader in area water efforts
and organizations.
Feedlot operators Arnold
and Cecilia Patterson of Declo
moved from Utah to Idaho to
continue Arnold’s family busi-
ness, buying 133 acres and a
small corral. They were out buy-
ing cattle every day of the week
except Sunday, always paying a
bit above market price and gain-
ing repeat business.
They now feed 4,000 to
advantage of cheaper feed and
closer proximity to slaughter fa-
cilities and beef markets.
Together with their son, the
Thompsons continue to back-
ground some calves at their
feedlot in Idaho and have spe-
cialized in feeding out Holsteins.
Cattle trader Carole Stennett
of Buhl made a career of buying
calves other buyers overlooked,
doctoring and cleaning them up,
then pairing them with similar
calves and selling them for a
profit.
She earned the respect of
bigger buyers by bringing up the
value of orphaned calves and
supporting the overall market.
Cow/calf producers Allen
and Kim Thompson of King
Hill returned to Allen’s family
ranch in 1974. With a degree in
range management and experi-
ence working for BLM, Allen
has focused on best manage-
ment practices to keep the range
viable for the next generation.
The Thompsons have devel-
oped livestock water systems
on the range to keep the cattle
healthy and better utilize the
land. They now ranch with their
daughter and her husband, pass-
ing along the tenets of taking
care of the land and animals.
March milk production increases 1.1 percent
By LEE MIELKE
For the Capital Press
U.S. milk production con-
tinued to top that of a year
ago, according to preliminary
data in Tuesday’s March Milk
Production report, but may be
slowing.
The Agriculture Department
estimates output in the top 23
producing states at 16.9 bil-
lion pounds, up just 1.1 percent
from March 2014. The 50-state
total, at 18.1 billion pounds,
Dairy
Markets
Lee Mielke
was up 1.2 percent from a year
ago.
Revisions lowered the orig-
inal February 23-state estimate
by 10 million pounds, now re-
ported at 15.1 billion pounds,
up 1.7 percent from a year ago.
For the January to March
Quarter, milk output totaled
51.9 billion pounds, up 1.7 per-
cent from a year ago. Cow num-
bers totaled 9.3 million head,
up 17,000 from the October to
December 2014 Quarter and
88,000 more than a year ago.
March cow numbers in the
23 states, at 8.62 million head,
were down 4,000 head from
February but 86,000 more than a
year ago. The 50-State count, at
9.3 million head, is down 5,000
from February but 78,000 more
than a year ago.
March output per cow in
the 23 states averaged 1,959
pounds, up just 2 pounds from
March 2014, and the highest
production per cow for the
month of March since the 23
State series began in 2003.
Troubles remain in Cali-
fornia, where March output
was down 2.9 percent due to
a 60-pound drop per cow and
2,000 fewer cows milked.
Wisconsin, on the other hand,
was up 3.6 percent, thanks to
a 60-pound gain per cow and
5,000 more cows.
in Capital Press’
31 st Annual
June 5 th , 2015
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