Cow-calf returns a struggle again this year
Washington Ag Today October 26, 2009 It may be next year before those cow-calf operators who are operating in the red get back in the black. Jim Robb, director of the Livestock Marketing Information Center in Colorado says 2009 has proved a bit more difficult for cow-calf producers than was anticipated. Robb: “Obviously calf prices have declined probably a little bit more than we anticipated in the 4th quarter of this year and some of the feedstuff costs are probably a little bit higher. So we did lower our estimated cow-calf returns. They are going to be very similar to last year for most cow-calf producers. And last year, 2008, was the first time in ten years that many cow-calf producers did not cover their cash costs of production. So it looks increasingly like last year. It looks like in terms of better cow-calf returns, or covering cash costs of production, we have to wait until 2010.” The Livestock Marketing Information Center is a cooperative effort involving state university extension specialists, USDA economists and industry cooperators. Public hearings on the Department of Labor and Industries proposed rate increase for workers’ compensation for 2010 begin this week. The average rate increase overall is 7.6 percent. Production agriculture would see increases ranging from two to 14 percent. Public hearing locations this week include Bellingham on October 29th at one p.m. at the Bellingham Quality Inn; Spokane October 30th at nine a.m. at the Spokane Airport Ramada and Richland October 30th at two p.m. at the Richland Hampton Inn. I’m Bob Hoff and that’s Washington Ag Today on the Northwest Ag Information Network.
