Cattle Market Outlook, Economic Ranch Tools and Risk Management

Bridger Feuz, Livestock Marketing Specialist at the University of Wyoming Extension, will be speaking at the MonDak Ag Days and Trade Show on Thursday, March 1st at 10:00 a.m. MST. He will be speaking on the topic, "Cattle Market Outlook" and at 11:30 a.m. MST he will also be talking about economic ranch tools and risk management.

"Ranchers face many challenges each day that require their attention. These challenges include things like dealing with and preventing disease, getting cows fed or moved to the right pasture, getting cows bred, getting calves on the ground and started out right, and many others. These daily challenges require a lot of time and effort to get them done right. Because of this time commitment on these essential tasks, often things like marketing, economic analysis, and risk management get put on the back burner," said Feuz.

With this in mind, the Wyoming Ranch Tools website (www.uwyoextension.org/ranchtools) was created to help producers make marketing and economic analysis decisions. The tools on the site are designed to help producers answer the question "Will I be better or worse off if I make a change to my operation?" Feuz explained, "Example questions that ranchers are facing: Should I use a crossbreeding program that would increase production, but reduce efficiency? Should I consider marketing my calves early or later to take advantage of market trends? Does it make economic sense to market yearlings instead of calves? What can I afford to pay for replacement cows or heifers? Is it better to market calves direct, at an auction barn, or should I use a video auction? Is the price slide in my calf contract fair?"

Fuez's workshop is funded by a partnership with the USDA, Risk Management Agency (RMA). In the workshop, he will use tools on the Wyoming Ranch Tools website to demonstrate their use for real-life ranching situations. He will cover topics on budgeting and cow valuation tools for making decisions on a ranch and also tools including livestock risk protection for mitigating risk in volatile markets.

The workshop will be composed of three individuals: Bridger Feuz, and two Area Extension Educators at University of Wyoming Extension, Hudson Hill and Barton Stam. Hill will discuss tools for monitoring and managing nutrition in a cowherd and Stam will be speaking about tools for building a range management plan and strategy. Hudson will be speaking at 10:45 a.m. MST and Stam will be speaking at 1:30 p.m. MST on Thursday, March 1st.

Ranchers who have attended the workshop, Making Everyday Decisions to Manage Your Beef Cows, have reported it to be useful and directly applicable to their ranches. 100% of respondents have indicated that they would recommend this workshop to other producers.