December 27, 2006

 

Wide variation in the conditions of US Plains feedlots

 

 

The condition of US Plains states feedlots appears to vary widely, as does the condition of the cattle they contain, according to trade sources in the Plains.

 

Feedlots south of Amarillo, Texas, were said to be quite muddy, with cattle losing weight through the weekend as they dealt with the extra work of slogging around and the effects of being wet and cold, trade sources said. Cattle weighed just before last week's snowstorm and then reweighed after the storm showed as much as 40 pounds of loss, an analyst/trader said.

 

North of Amarillo, the situation tends to be more variable, but none appear to have dodged the bullet entirely, trade sources said.

 

A veterinarian in southern and south-western Kansas with a practice consisting entirely of feedlots, said conditions range from being "OK" to being "soupy". Rainfall amounts of 1 1/2 to 2 inches followed by up to 6 inches of ice and snow left some lots with a lot of soup, he said.

 

"In my world, there are a lot of wet cattle," the veterinarian said. "There are more respiratory problems and more deads (cattle) than in the previous few weeks."

 

The situation is starting to improve as the lots dry enough to get equipment in to groom the surface and temperatures warm, the feedlot veterinarian said.

 

"There's a lot of scraping (of feedlots) going on to move the soup back, but soup doesn't scrape very well," the veterinarian said.

 

Ken Winter, owner of Winter Feedyard near Dodge City, Kansas, said his area had received "several days of sunshine," allowing the lots to begin drying out and the cattle to get warm. The 1 1/2 inches of rain his lot received were well received, settling the dusty conditions prior to last week's storm and watering the local crops.

 

Veterinarian Wade Taylor of Oakley, Kansas, said areas west of highway 83 in Kansas on into Colorado absorbed "a lot of moisture" from the storm. Chronically ill cattle are dying, and cattle are losing weight, actual and potential, as they deal with the mud, but "nothing major" by historical standards.

 

Many yards are scraping the pens Tuesday, Taylor said.