Category: Ncba

With growing concern over the realities of a limited calf supply do to the aggressive culled cow rate in the past five years. Ranchers are optimistic in their economic future because of the barriers of re-entry and the inability for supply to increase in the near term. I discussed the cow calf supply issue with… Read More

It seems that a cowboy is judged by a couple different metrics.  He’s judged by the way he wears his cowboy hat, the brand of chew he carries, and the kind of boots he wears.  I really have none of those since I don’t wear a hat, don’t chew and never wear boots.  How would… Read More

With the volatility in the marketplace, producers need to be actively involved in managing risk. There is a multitude of tools available to producers. Some are simple and some are more complex. One of the more useful tools that is maybe a little more challenging for producers to wrap their heads around is options.  Using… Read More

I have now been to the NCBA twice and both were very interesting experiences. In 2010, the cattle industry was begging for different fortunes while in 2011 the meeting was lifted with significant bullsihness for cattle prices. I can remember meeting with Gregg Doud, NCBA Chief Economist at the 2010 meeting where I asked him,… Read More

Agriculture is always looking for ways to gain better exposure in the public eye.  Marketing agriculture to consumers is the challenge of the whole industry with the reality of people getting farther from the farm.  There are small steps and small wins all the time but sometimes people have a great idea that has the… Read More

It’s very interesting to listen to the people that attended the NCBA meeting during the height of the BSE outbreak.  They will tell you that as Canadian’s our presence at the NCBA was met with a tiny bit of friction.  Now the relationship is on much firmer footing and returning to the strength seen in… Read More

One of the highlights of the the NCBA convention every year is the cattle market outlook by CattleFax. As everyone left the session on Friday the consensus of the attendees was, “CattleFax is very bullish.” At the NCBA 2011 convention I had the opportunity to discuss the cattle market with Duane Lenz of CattleFax.  Duane… Read More

By most accounts the 2010 NCBA convention in San Antonio was a huge success.  This was my first NCBA meeting so it is fitting that we talked to Anne Dunford a wily veteran of the NCBA festivities.  Anne wrapped up the week and talked about what she thought were the major things to be pulled… Read More

When your financial margins are under pressure people tend to pay more attention to the nuts and bolts of their operations.  Many consultants would say that you have to be doing this all the time not in just stressful times. At the NCBA tradeshow it was very clear that cattlemen are moving closer to the… Read More

Canada and Mexico have taken the issue of country of origin labelling (COOL) to the World Trade Organization (WTO).  We are basically one year into the implementation of COOL and the financial impact is severe.  The impact on the Canada and Mexico livestock markets has been very hurtful. The interesting thing that I found at… Read More