Full-Service Cattle Sales & Marketing serving the Fallon, Nevada and Outlying Areas.
Feeder Sale will be held in conjunction with the regular Wednesday sales on the 3rd Wednesday of each month
Cattle Futures Market was climbing every day for the last month and we were all hoping it would keep going. Unfortunately, it has been down every day. Our input costs are skyrocketing and we need higher markets just to break even. Packers are at $700 per head profits.
Last month we set the stage to see where our states Cattlemen’s Association would stand on Deb Fischer;s (NE-R) Cattle Market Transparency Act and Grassley’s 50/14 spot market bill. Would they stand up and fight for their neighbors & themselves or cave to the pressure of the NCBA to protect the packers record profits? I was disappointed but not surprised when I read their response in Rachel Dahl’s Fallon Post. She reached out to NCA and asked for their position on the two critical bills. “As far as Nevada Cattlemen’s Association position goes either of thee pieces of legislation, there are numerous examples of regulation/legislation that have attempted to fix the inequities in the cattle markets but have failed for various reasons and in some cases have made things worse. This bill would likely benefit some regions but would not offer much help in Nevada. NCA supports a voluntary Collaborative approach to price discovery before a federal government fix.” I bet you the ranch payment, no one at NCA wrote that. That sounds like Ethan Lane, the Vice President of Government Affairs at the NCBA, to me.
#1 Would not offer much help in Nevada? Wow!! I guess they think we are so isolated that higher fat cattle prices in NE, Co, KS, SD, Nd wouldn;t have an effet on yealing marker tin Nevad, which would in turn affect stocker prices.
#2 Voluntary collaborative approach? They want us to ask the packers to voluntarily pay for fat cattle!! While we are at we should ask them to voluntarily stop using their record profit to invest in fake meat production. If we are in the business of asking Cartels to be nice, maybe we should ask the drug Cartels to stop smuggling drugs and people through our southern boarder. Problem is when there is enough money involved the Cartels can buy off those who are supposed to be policing them. That appears to be exactly what is happening in the cattle industry a well and the main reason why we can’t get anyone to bust up the packer monopolies. Hoping this market situation gets solved on a voluntary basis is like turning your steers out with your cows and hoping they bred.
#3 Before a federal government fix? The government is involved in every single aspect of your livestock production. How many cows you can run and where and when you can graze them, how tall you can build your barn, how big you can build your irrigation storage reservoir, mandatory animal ID they are trying to shove down our throats etc. etc. etc… but heaven forbid the government police the poor packers.
I had several phone calls after last months editorial and the most common thing I heard was, “How could anyone who claims to be working for the livestock industry be against legislation that gives us a fighting chance at marketing fat cattle?” Well, that’s a question I can’t answer. I have my suspicions as to why Nevada Cattleman’s Association would rather bow to NCBA than help their neighbors but I will leave you to decide for yourself.
I will say however, that you need to have a long memory. Down the road when you are at the ballot box remember who sold you out and who stood strong. This is why we loved Donald Trump as our President. He did what he thought was right and he couldn’t be bought off.
Stay strong, don’t waiver and pry for rain. Reach out to your politicians and let them know you support legislation that will help livestock producers and force the Big 4 to share some of their record profits.
Jack Payne, Owner Nevada Livestock Marketing
NATION’S LARGEST FEEDER SALE & THE 55th ANNUAL BULL SALE
Article from THE FALLON POST on March 1, 2021 written by Leanna Lehman:
Fallon is known for many things, one of them being the faint smell of manure in the air. Well, it’s not always faint. Some locals will tell you that is the smell of money. While that is also not always the case, a great deal of the stuff moved through the valley last week (February 18).
Feeder Sale: Nevada Livestock Marketing hosted its Special Feeder Sale cattle auction last Thursday, February 18. For those not in the cattle business, feeder cattle or “feeders” are calves generally less than 12 months. They are weaned steers (castrated males) and heifers that are large enough to go into feedlots, or out on grass.
According to Jack Payne, Nevada Livestock Marketing (NLM) owner, the Feeder Sale was a huge success. In fact, Corbitt Wall, who attended the event, included the highly anticipated sale in a recent Cattle Market Report. Wall noted that 8,000 head of cattle were run through the auction on Thursday and Friday, stating, “It was the biggest sale in the United States last week.” Some of the steers brought top-quota on prices at $195.75 per 100 pounds or in the range of $1,000 per head.. “You won’t see prices like that anywhere,” said Wall, “but you don’t see cattle like that anywhere else either.” Wall also attested to the apparent health and robustness of the animals. “They come off that high desert range, are dried off and you couldn’t kill one of them with a pick ax” Wall Said.
In addition to the astounding volume of cattle that NLM moved through the auction ring, is the even more astounding $6.5 million that rolled through town as a result. Money exchanged hands over several fronts – buyers to sellers, to restaurants and hotels, and for supplies and feed. Not to mention, the hundreds of gallons of fuel that was purchased for the 200+ trucks and semi-trailers that transported the animals.
“The cattleman’s gang says Nevada is an export-only state”, said Payne, referring to local ranchers and the the number of Nevada cattle that are sold by out-of-state entities. “I have always disagreed. Of the 8,000 head that were sold, only 2,000 were from Idaho, Oregon, California, Utah and Wyoming. We are reviving the sale barn way of marketing cattle that the out-of-state video markets have taken away from Nevada, and we are bringing jobs and tax revenues back to Nevada! We have the momentum right now and have to keep it up.”
Bull Sale: The Nevada Cattleman’s Association also held their 55th Annual Fallon All Breeds Bull Sale (FBS) last week. According to the Association, the bulls’ sifting and grading took place Friday morning while the dog trials got underway. Cattleman from California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, and Utah participated in the sale.
Call Jack Payne for more information.
775-225-8889
Have a great day and we look forward to seeing you soon