Bass: Cattle Producers Continue To Enjoy Success

Cattle producers across the northwest, and across the country have enjoyed good returns over the past couple of years, and it looks like that trend may continue for the foreseeable future.  Phil Bass, University of Idaho Associate Professor said between low cost of feed, high prices for fat cows, and weather that’s been cooperative in the Northwest, things have gone well for producers.  Bass added producers are also enjoying “amazing demand” for American beef.

“Not just domestically, but internationally.  And that's great because that's going to continue to pull the product through and pull the value through all the way to the cow calf operator," Bass said.  "The big question now is how do we sustain the packing base so that when we do eventually start to regrow that herd, we’ll have the hook space as we’ve had.  We don't want to see any plants close down, but I will bet that a number of folks are really nervous about the future.”

Over on the packers side, Bass said they are not recording the kind of profits they enjoyed just a few years ago.

“But my friend John Nalivka at Sterling Marketing in Vale, OR, still is believing that the packers are turning a profit and that's a good thing. Remember that if the packers aren't making any money, we’re not going to be able to sustain that business and raising cattle just kind of becomes a hobby at that point.  And so we got to make sure that everybody's still doing well out there.”

Bass said between increased labor costs, consumable products, and more, packer input costs are very high right now.  He said an interesting problem packers will need to face in the not-too-distant future is the lack of cattle thanks to a small national herd that’s not rebounding like many experts had expected.

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