Stockmen’s Association Meets In Stanley
The North Dakota Stockmen’s Association held its District 6 Spring Roundup at the Mountrail County South Complex in Stanley on Tuesday, June 10. District 6 Director Gary Martens was the host of the meeting. The evening started with a social time along with a local brand inspectors meeting.
Three 4-H and FFA teams were also setting up for a brisket cooking contest. Third place went to the team from the Garrison FFA, second place to Stanley and first place to the cooks from Turtle Lake FFA. Turtle Lake also won the people’s choice award. Martens said he hopes this will become an annual event at the District 6 meeting and that it will continue to grow each year.
Before the program began, supper was catered by John and Julie Woodbury.
The first speaker was Mountrail County Ag Agent Jim Hennessy talking about the weed control programs in Mountrail County. The weed control agency hires twelve to fourteen helpers each season for weed spraying, offering spraying on private lands within the county as well as under township road contracts. They also contract with the state highway system, county roads, USF&W, NDG&F and the county parks.
Hennessy talked about the noxious weeds that they deal with the most including leafy spurge, Absinth wormwood, spotted knapweed, Canada thistle, musk thistle, hounds tongue and common tansy.
He described the agency’s processes as well as the chemicals they use to help control the spread of noxious weeds in Mountrail County. They are also looking at adding the use of drones for those areas where it just is not safe for the side by side sprayers they use.
Mountrail County Weed Agency offers an 80-20 cost share with the county paying 80% of the costs, making it a very cost effective way for landowners to work towards control of the weeds on their property.
Jory Hansen of Lighthouse Commodities was the second speaker. Originally from Berthold, he says that his work focuses mostly on the marketing of commodities and crops, but he has seen some of the work with cattle hedging.
His background in farm business management has led him to wonder why cattle always seem to be on the short of the market. Right now, producers are seeing all-time highs in feeder cattle prices. He says that he anticipates seeing those prices to stay around for at least a while.
That comes from seeing the number of cattle on feed lower in May and also the year over year seasonal trend. Placements are also down which intensifies the demand.
He also points to the price of retail beef and even as the prices continue to increase, the demand is still high by consumers.
Feed prices have also been trending lower, which means that producers are at a point right now where it is affordable to feed cattle.
He said that leads to conclusions including that placements continue to fall and heifer retention is starting. The price of beef is high, but consumers continue to have demand for beef. Prices are likely to stay strong, with him saying producers might want to consider putting a floor on with LRP or put options. Like any other market, though, he says it can change and go down again.
NDSA president Randy Schmitt spoke about the highlights from this year.
He said that the blessings of the recent rains can be seen across the state. As a producer, the markets are good and feels like that could be with producers for a while.
He spoke briefly about the New World screwworm being found in Mexican cattle. He urged producers to keep their ears and eyes peeled. While it was considered eradicated in 1966, the best defense is to work to break the life cycle.