Mulrony: 2022 Has Been A Challenge

Acknowledging every year has its ups and its down, Cameron Mulrony said 2022 was a challenging year for local cattle producers to say the least.  Mulrony, the Executive Vice President of the Idaho Cattle Association, said the region was very fortunate to get precipitation mid and late spring.  He noted without those showers, 2022 would have been a very, very difficult year.

“When you look at the national scale, you know we saw drought in Texas, we saw drought in Utah, and one thing that's been a little bit different about these scenarios, in my view, is they're kind of widespread. In the past maybe we had a state or two that had a couple years of drought but we could get feed stuffs from other states. And this year, and really the last two years, those droughts have been more West wide which is impacting our you know our feed situation, as far as feed stuff for hay and grain.”

When it comes to the year ahead, Mulrony said there’s a lot of optimism, especially in Idaho.

“We got a couple of [packing] facilities coming online to help process cattle. And even if it doesn't do anything other than shift where the cattle are headed, the value in trucking, or not having to ship those cattle as far, is high. Because you know when you sell your cattle you're usually paying freight on them to get them to their final destination and the closer that point is, the more value you can put on your cattle.”

If you have a story idea for the PNW Ag Network, call (509) 547-9791, or e-mail glenn.vaagen@townsquaremedia.com