July 2024 is officially here and, in my opinion, it’s already been better than last year just because the dailytemperature isn’t hitting 105 degrees. Vicki and I just returned from the Rio Grande Valley area and it looks spectacular.From Corpus Christi all the way to Raymondville, the countryside looked like the Garden of Eden from the recent tropical storms that hit the area. We’ve all heard about the tremendous rainfall in the Houston area and East Texas so I’m assuming they have more water than they need. Meanwhile in the Texas Hill Country and West Texas, things are starting toturn brown. Although some areas received recent showers, apparently, they’ve been somewhat spotty. As for now, we at least have an abundance of grass. But like I said, it sure is turning brown and our next worry will be that it doesn’t catch on fire.

Most of the ranchers I visited with recently were very excited, not about the calf market, but about the packer bull and cow markets. I sold a bull last week that weighed 2,230 pounds, brought $1.50/lb. and paid out $3,345. Another gentleman sent me his recent sale barn receipt which showed that he sold two bulls that brought $3,159 and $3,156. He also sold a packer cow that weighed 1,520 pounds and brought $1.43/lb. to gross $2,173. Never in my lifetime have Iseen a market where packer bulls and cows would gross more money than feeder calves. Although this is a good sign if you are a beef producer, I’m kind of wondering if the American consumer will back away from fast food hamburgers and other cuts of beef or if corporate America will adjust their profit margins to keep loyal customers from changing theireating lifestyles. Either way, I still believe we producers deserve to see these kinds of prices for our cattle. Think about it. It’s been 11 years since the last time the cattle market was this strong — 11 years ago. What other industry in Americawould keep producing an annual product just to make a small profit or just to break even? I can’t think of one. Can you?

So, you are probably wondering from what source I get my in-depth market information. Texas A&M, the internet, USDA? No, mine is a more reliable source than any of those I just listed–my local feed store, of course. For you see, in small towns, the local feed store is the best gathering spot to find out political insight and opinions, market reports, andof course, all the local scuttlebutt for the community. For men, the local feed store is equivalent to women going to the beauty salon. Yes, they want to look nice but in reality, it’s the happening place to catch up on gossip.

But then again, sometimes the local feed store is a great source of humor and that’s exactly what I recently witnessed. I stopped in the other day at my feed store because I needed some PVC fittings to fix a broken water line. Itjust so happened that a good friend of mine was helping me find exactly what I needed to complete the job. We werelocated all the way in the back of the store discussing the best way to fix the leak when the young lady working the front counter came and found us. She asked my friend to come back to the front counter and he replied that he would in a minute or two, but she looked at him and said, “No, immediately!” He then asked her why. Her reply was that an elderly man had just walked into the store very slowly as if he was on drugs or something and was having a full-blownconversation with himself. My friend and I looked at each other and chuckled. We both agreed that didn’t seem toounusual and in fact, we both had done the same thing from time to time. But she insisted that my friend come back with her immediately to the front counter because she was frightened of the customer. So, of course he went with her, and Ifollowed them to the front of the store. Sure enough, there he was — an older man in his 70’s, and he was indeed having aconversation with himself. At first, we were somewhat stunned but then the man turned his face towards us and that’s when we could see that he had a small earpiece located in his right ear. It was then that we realized he wasn’t crazy, hewas just talking to someone on his phone.

So, we all had a big laugh and hopefully, all learned a valuable lesson that day. First, don’t assume someone is crazy just because they are acting strangely and second, remember to take your earbuds out before entering the feed store. Ifyou don’t, you might just be the topic of conversation the next day at the local feed store.