A SPECIAL PRODUCERS’ REPORT OF AG ALERT ® C A L I F O R N I A Dairy & Livestock ®
Sheep graze on dry pasture at McCormack Sheep Ranch in Rio Vista in June. Exceptional drought conditions are forcing sheep ranchers to ponder difficult decisions on selling off animals.
Sheep ranchers face harsh decisions amid drought ByBob Johnson
feed values and on the break-even value of investing in genetics. While the calculators will help crunch the numbers, Feuz said two unknowns could profoundly affect even the best decisions: How long will the drought last? And what will happenwithmarket prices? When Wyoming cattle ranchers suffered a terrible 2014 drought, Feuz went against the grain. Hewas proven right after advising investing in feed and holding on to animals, because higher beef prices were on the horizon. He said he wonders if sheep ranchers might be rewarded after the current western drought if they follow the same strategy. “The three-yearmarket outlook for lambs is verygood,”Feuz said. “Whocanremember whenwe got $2 a pound for lambs three years in a row? If you’re going to liquidate ewes now, you’ve got to go back into themarket in a fewyears. Put some pencil to it before you make adecision. Even if feedcomeswith sticker shock, itmay still be thebest thing todo.” Whether the decision is ultimately to sell part of the flock or invest in feed andhope for better times, researchers at a California seminar on sheep operations strongly advised ranchers onmaking informed decisions about when they have to decide. “Themost difficult part of comingupwitha strategy is knowingwhenyouhave tomake adecision,” saidDanMacon,UniversityofCaliforniaCooperativeExtension livestockand
Sheep ranchers face difficult drought-year decisions on whether to spend more on feed tomake up for reduced production in severely parched pastures or to reduce costs by selling some of their animals at less-than-optimal prices. The choice ismademore complicatedas they try to factor inunknowns, includinghow long the drought will last, howmuch their animalsmay beworth if they hang on a year or two and howexpensive it could be to rebuild their flocks. “Does it make sense to go out and buy hay, or should you sell some of your animals?” askedBridger Feuz, University ofWyoming Cooperative Extensionmarketing specialist. Feuz is one of several agricultural experts throughout theWest who are advising sheep ranchers onmaking informed decisions in these times of exceptional drought, extreme water shortages and vanishing pastureland. Those ranchers’ decisions havebecomeonlymore acute as severedry conditions con- tinue to devastate vast forage lands inCalifornia and theWest. Earlier this summer, Feuz advised California ranchers on using a budget approach to their decisions by listing their new costs, income lost, new income received and reduced costs. Other researchers aremaking available software that helpswith those calculations. Feuz has a webpage (uwyoextension.org/ranchtools/) that features partial and break- even budgets. It also includes guides on when capital investment is needed, on relative
See SHEEP, Page 12
September 22, 2021 Ag Alert 11
Powered by FlippingBook