From the Fields - Cassie Oyarzun

By Cassie Oyarzun, Modoc County cattle rancher and hay producer

Cattle markets are strong. They dipped a bit but still pretty record-high prices. I foresee things remaining pretty high through the end of the year. Because prices are high, the extra income allows you to build a cushion for years that (the market) is going to fall off—because it will eventually as cattle supplies start to increase. Having that extra income allows you to do a few improvements and add heifers to grow your herd a little bit. We retain heifers every year, but the increased prices allow you a bit of freedom to retain a few more heifers.

The cattle look good because it’s been a good feed year in our area of Modoc County. It was a little dry as the summer went along, but feed has held out. Calves have gained good. Fortunately, we haven’t had too much fire in our area—a little bit, but not too much. The range ground is holding strong, and nobody’s been run off.

Hay markets are pretty low. Hay is moving slow. We sell a little bit of hay occasionally, but we’re holding onto everything and going to utilize it for feed because it’s just not worth selling at the moment. I think hay markets are low because people are still working through an oversupply from last year. There was a lot of cow hay that hit the market. Tonnages were higher, but quality wasn’t quite there, so there’s a lot of hay that’s still out there on inventory. Until we work through that oversupply, I think the hay markets are going to continue to stay low. The export market hasn’t been super strong.

The (hay) yield has been good this year, and quality has been good. There hasn’t been as much rain this summer, so a lot of producers in the area have been able to make higher-quality hay than they did last year. But the market for it is slow.