Cattle has become Oregon’s No. 1 agricultural commodity, and the rising value of cows provides an interesting choice for ranchers.
Cattle has become Oregon’s No. 1 agricultural commodity, and the rising value of cows provides an interesting choice for ranchers.
The question for the 1,900 members of the Oregon Cattleman’s Association is what to do with this unprecedented boom in cattle prices, which are expected to exceed $1 a pound this year, up from the historical range of between 70 and 90 cents. Do they sell off as many animals as they can and fetch a tidy profit? Or do they hold back the most productive heifers because they can increase herd size, or at least keep churning out thousand-dollar calves? Do they experiment with raising cattle all the way to market, cashing in on demand for local beef? Or do they stick with a model that they’re familiar with, that works?
The decision is about “killing the golden goose,” explains Ron Rowan, director of customer development at Beef Northwest, the largest cattle feeding enterprise in the state. “She’s worth a ton of money. Do you keep her to lay more eggs or do you just kill her, to get the money?”
Read more at The Register-Guard.
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