040124 Tennessee Cattle Market on Even Keel

Lawrenceburg, TN - “Hey lawdy, lawdy, Miss Molly, here comes sweet momma back.”

The words roll off the tongue of auctioneer Tom Bailey during the weekly livestock sale at the Lawrence County Stockyard. Numbers rattle off in rapid-fire succession over the arena's PA system as a young cow scampers back and forth in the small display pen, bewildered by its sudden entry from a cattle chute into the auction arena.

“17, 17, 17, 18, 18, 19, 20, 21, 21, 21.

“A dollar 21, 21, 21, 21, a dollar 21 and a half.

“I've got a dollar 22, a dollar 22, a dollar 22, 22 and a half, now three.

“A dollar 23, 23 and a half, 23, 23, 23, a dollar 23.

“God Bless America.”

It's been three weeks since news broke about the first case of “mad cow” disease in the United States, and Middle Tennessee cattle producers are still apprehensive about what the market will hold for them this year.

Cattle sales were off 78% from the previous year during the first week of auctions in the state in the new year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Market News Service. Cattle volumes rebounded somewhat this past week, although total heads offered at the auction here on Wednesday were 20% below the previous year's mark.

Statewide, the numbers were off about 30% this past week, though prices have remained strong, said Lewis Langell, who runs the USDA's Tennessee market news operation.

Dozens of people watch the confused animal as it runs in one direction, then another inside the iron- railed pen. It's looking to regain some sense of direction as two handlers with blue-tipped paddles on opposite sides of the arena nudge it across the sand-covered floor toward the exit door just to the left of the auction booth.

Some people are selling. Some are buying. But most are just watching to see how the market will react to the Dec. 23 announcement that a U.S. cow tested positive for bovine spongiform encephalopathy. Although several countries have halted U.S. beef imports, the domestic market hasn't shown any signs of cutbacks.

“I was afraid consumers would panic and stop eating beef,” Gary Daniel, a cattleman from Collinwood, said outside the auction arena. “They'd put us out of business if they did that.”

Dr. Ken Blue, a Lawrence County veterinarian who specializes in cattle, credits the industry and the U.S. Department of Agriculture for lessening the impact on the market. Tests and industry safety procedures have been in place for more than a decade, and they are being refined all the time to ensure a better quality of safe beef, he said.

Daniel, who has been in the cattle business all of his life, speculates that the quick response from the USDA and other government agencies in tracking down the cow's meat and the search for other cattle that might have been exposed to the disease have helped alleviate fears among consumers.

“Everything you read and everybody I talk to say consumers still like beef and want beef,” Daniel said. “It makes us proud that they have confidence in us. We've got the safest product in the world, but you never know what panic does to you.”

Inside the arena, sales continued.

“Hey looka here boy.

“91, 91, 91, 92, 92, 92, 92, 93, 93, 93, 94, make it 94.”

Another animal enters the display pen. It's male but auctioneer Bailey isn't sure of its social status in the cattle world. It presents its hindquarters toward him as it rumbles around the ring, hoping to evade the loud “thwack” of the blue plastic-tipped paddles. (A steer has been neutered while a bull's anatomy is intact.)

“He might be a steer, he might be a bull — he's a bull.

“I've got 94 and a half, 95, 95 and a half …

The price keeps going up, topping $1.09 a pound for the young bull, which weighs more than 350 pounds.

“The prices have held pretty well,” said Allie Bird, whose family owns stockyards in Lawrenceburg and Lexington and a stake in a third stockyard in Maury County.

Bird, who has been involved in the business most of her adult life, has been in charge of the family concern since her father, Guy Walker, died just before Christmas in 2001. Guy Walker bought the Lexington stockyard in 1963. The Walker family has owned the Lawrenceburg facility since 1999.

“Some of the buyers were complaining that they had to pay too much,” Bird said after Wednesday's auction.

There were more cattle offered for sale this past week than in the previous week, but the numbers still were well below sales during the same week last year.

Producers are concerned about what impact the two-week holiday hiatus, compounded by cold weather in the north and “mad cow” reports, might have on their sales.

Vernon King, a Lewis County cattleman, brought two head of cattle to the auction. He said he hasn't seen any impact on his operations and expects business to continue as usual.

“I'm happy,” he said.

Edward Pigg, who has more than 100 head of cattle on his ranch in nearby Summertown, said he also hasn't seen an impact on his business.

“Sales have been good the past two years,” Pigg said.

Cattle amounted to almost $410 million in sales in the state in 2001 and more than $343 million in 2002, according to the Tennessee Department of Agriculture.

Agricultural commodities accounted for more than $2 billion a year in sales in Tennessee in 2001 and 2002. Beef, which amounts to a little less than 20% of all sales, is the largest single agricultural commodity sold in the state.

Even a brief lull in beef sales could have dire effects on the industry.

“That was the initial thing that had me worried — if everybody would stop eating meat for six weeks,” Daniel said.

Business has been especially good the past six months, which Daniel credits to the growing popularity of the protein-rich Atkins Diet, of which beef forms the centerpiece. But a significant cut in consumption would hurt.

“For those of us that sell cattle, that's our livelihood,” Daniel said. “It's what buys groceries in my house.”

Most of the cattle sold in Tennessee are “feeder stock,” calves that will end up grazing in pastures in Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado or other western states. Later in the cycle, they will be shipped to feed lots near slaughter houses, the final stage before they end up as a steak on someone's table.

A minority of the sales offered involved “culled cattle,” those that no longer serve the producer's need, such as a cow that didn't get pregnant when the rest of the herd did or a dairy cow that doesn't give milk any longer. Those usually end up as hamburger, Blue said.

“Hey looka here, lawdy, lawdy, yes sirreee.

I've got 90, 91, 91, 91, 91, 91.

Ninety-one and a half, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 95, 95.

Dollar bill and a half, dollar one, dollar one, dollar one and a half .

Dollar one and a half, dollar one and a half, dollar one and a half.

Yeah, help me.”

Cattle prices have been steady, though volumes have been down for the past four years, Bird notes. She is advising cattle producers to continue their operations as normally as they can right now.

“I don't see any drop-off in prices,” she said. “The better cattle are bringing good prices. … The sales will pick up as the month wears on.”

Etheridge cattleman Jerry Clanton was among the observers Wednesday who still has a “wait and see” attitude.

“I don't think people have quit eating hamburger,” Clanton said. “I just want to see what is going to happen. I can hold onto them for a while longer.”

Source: Tennessean.com

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