March 25—I am writing to you today from unsunny North Central Arkansas at the beautiful Chimney Rock Cattle Co, Concord, Arkansas. My clean clothes are running low and my bracket is busted, but in a few more days, I’ll make it home for Easter weekend.

            If you missed the Texas A&M – Houston basketball game, you missed a classic. I hated to see my Aggies lose in overtime, but I can honestly say I have never seen two teams play harder than in this game. Neither side gave in—there was no quit to be seen. And I honestly believe that neither side left anything in the tank. 

            I think Houston can go far in the tournament. But I can also say that I believe that A&M could had they won, given the way the way they have been playing. So often in basketball, it is about the matchups. And when you face off two teams that each have three tough minded, smart guards like they did, we were destined to witness a historic matchup.

            I still have Purdue picked to win it all. Their length inside is difficult for anyone to compete with them. There will no doubt be other well played games throughout the tournament. But I truly don’t believe that the committee had any idea that a 1 and 9 seed matchup would be as competitive as it was.

            I’m sure most have you have seen how well the spring sales have been. Some ranches have even posted record high average on bulls and females. High demand and short supply are the order of the day. It will be that way for feeder calves,and the same for seedstock. The volume of seedstock sales is as low or perhaps lower than 2012—the year after one of the worst droughts our part of the world has seen.

            So, if you are waiting for prices to drop before you jump in, you may find yourself waiting for a number of years.