Jackson County farmers are in an unusually good position right now; cotton, peanut, and cattle prices are all high as they go into a new planting and sales season. If only the weather cooperates, producers of all three should have a year in the black.
Cotton prices have slipped a bit from the level that made a higher number of farmers choose to plant that crop over peanuts, or at least devote more acreage to it, but the numbers are still relatively high and should keep farmers interested.
At the same time, peanuts continue to draw top prices and many farmers will be rotating into it from cotton to take advantage. There are other good reasons to switch after a couple of years growing the same crop on the same field. Rotation is necessary because, without it, pests that favor a certain plant have more time to build up on the land and potentially destroy the crops.
The change-up also helps the soil recover from depletion of nutrients favored by various plants. While cotton may draw more heavily upon one resource, peanuts may need less of that and more of something else in more plentiful supply because cotton didn’t need as much of the same nutrient.
While cotton and peanut farmers are looking at a good forecast, cattle farmers may have the best forecast they’ve seen in decades.
Prices are higher for cows than they’ve been in a long while, and may even be at record levels. Droughts in New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma caused livestock producers there to cull their herds early and the result is a cow shortage not seen since the early 1950s. Buyer competition is driving prices to a level perhaps unseen.
Last week, 500 pound steers were selling at $1.75 a pound. While prices have been climbing above a dollar for the past couple of years, this is a believed by many to be an unprecedented gain.
In addition to high price expected, some farmers may also consider keeping some heifers in hopes of building up their herds, but must also consider the fact that build-up takes a couple of years. Prices may not be at these levels by then.
Meanwhile, the producers may well have been paying higher costs of caring for their animals. The price of feed, fuel and other costs are on the upswing as the prices rise.
Because farmers often find themselves operating on the margins of profit and loss, and with so many uncertainties to think about, they have much to think about over the next few weeks.
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