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Economist: take a moment to appreciate the markets

A livestock economist says farmers should take a moment to appreciate the cattle market. Don Close, Chief Research & Analytics Officer with Terrain says when the industry gets to these new all-time plateaus as it relates to prices, “Enjoy it.”

He tells Brownfield the cattle market has shown incredible growth over his career.  “I took the price where fed steers were trading when I first started in the business to a $2.00 steer,” he says.  “On a nominal basis, prices increased 536% over the years I’ve been in the business. It’s phenomenal.”

He says the market can’t continue to climb at the pace it has been.

Close says there is still potential for prices to move higher, which means producers are taking on a lot of risk. “You can pay too much for a gold coin,” he says. And moving forward, he says producers should be cautiously optimistic. “If they’re not going to have some kind of risk management program in place, don’t buy the cattle,” he says. “There’s just too much exposure.

Brownfield interviewed Close during the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s recent Summer Business Meeting. 

AUDIO: Don Close, Terrain