Soapweed
Well-known member
This little story came out of my dad's autobiography. The time period was the fall of 1951, all of 1952, until February of 1953.
"We had 20 steer calves left over after selling the biggest 50 head for 40 cents a pound. I decided to buy 20 more to put with them so we would have a load to sell as yearlings. I went to the Gordon sale and bought 20 nice steer calves. At that time, cattle went on the scale after they left the ring. From my vantage point on the top row, they looked small. I paid 42 cents a pound for them. It turned out they weighed more than the calves we had sold.
"Winter really set in about mid-November. We had to start feeding hay to the cattle and I knew, and was reminded by Dad and Stan, that we had too many cattle. To take some pressure off our feed situation, we made a deal with some neighbors that they would keep all 40 steer calves until the following fall for half the gain in weight.
"Our partnership calves wintered well and gained well during the summer, but cattle prices fell drastically from the all-time high of the fall before. That fall I found a buyer who was willing to pay 26 cents a pound for the 38 remaining yearlings, two having been casualties for one reason or another. Fritz thought we should hold out for 27 cents, and the market continued to drop. I couldn't find anyone willing to buy them at that price.
"Verle Lantefield had bought my calves a couple years before. I made a deal with him to pay half the shipping expense and take them down to North Bend, near Fremont, and feed them out for half the gain that he put on. Fritz still held out for 27 cents a pound for his share of the gain which amounted to about 200 pounds per head. I bought his share.
"They were in Verle Lantefield's feedlot until February (1953) and topped the market at $22.75 per hundred weight, bringing but very little more per head than I paid for them as calves. Actual loss per head amounted to about $100. I wasn't a very enthusiastic speculator for some time after that."
"We had 20 steer calves left over after selling the biggest 50 head for 40 cents a pound. I decided to buy 20 more to put with them so we would have a load to sell as yearlings. I went to the Gordon sale and bought 20 nice steer calves. At that time, cattle went on the scale after they left the ring. From my vantage point on the top row, they looked small. I paid 42 cents a pound for them. It turned out they weighed more than the calves we had sold.
"Winter really set in about mid-November. We had to start feeding hay to the cattle and I knew, and was reminded by Dad and Stan, that we had too many cattle. To take some pressure off our feed situation, we made a deal with some neighbors that they would keep all 40 steer calves until the following fall for half the gain in weight.
"Our partnership calves wintered well and gained well during the summer, but cattle prices fell drastically from the all-time high of the fall before. That fall I found a buyer who was willing to pay 26 cents a pound for the 38 remaining yearlings, two having been casualties for one reason or another. Fritz thought we should hold out for 27 cents, and the market continued to drop. I couldn't find anyone willing to buy them at that price.
"Verle Lantefield had bought my calves a couple years before. I made a deal with him to pay half the shipping expense and take them down to North Bend, near Fremont, and feed them out for half the gain that he put on. Fritz still held out for 27 cents a pound for his share of the gain which amounted to about 200 pounds per head. I bought his share.
"They were in Verle Lantefield's feedlot until February (1953) and topped the market at $22.75 per hundred weight, bringing but very little more per head than I paid for them as calves. Actual loss per head amounted to about $100. I wasn't a very enthusiastic speculator for some time after that."