Extension Office offers information on cattle business

Arkansas Cattle Auction scheduled for March 11, good place to begin

The Arkansas Cattle Auction is a good place to begin for those wanting to raise cattle.

"This is a Spring Replacement Stock sale, which means these are female cattle that have not calved, or just recently calved, and are sold for the purpose of producing calves.," said Sarah Stone with the St. Francis County Extension Office. "Not only is this a good opportunity to replace cattle sold last year during the drought, but it’s also a great way to get started on a herd."

The auction has been scheduled for Saturday, March 11.

The event will take place at 605 E. Booth Rd. in Searcy.

"We will have our spring replacement stock sale," said Rany Goodman with Arkansas Cattle Auction Co. LLC. "Nearly 500 head consigned."

Goodman stated there would be 100 home raised, fancy black and black baldy heifers weighing 1,100 pounds on average and 100 bred to registered Angus bulls.

"They're preconditioned and fully vaccinated to start calving mid March with a 60 day calving window," Goodman said of the bulls.

There will also be 40 home raised black cows four to five years old with six calves, balance bred to black bulls, 50 black, black baldy cows with 20 calves at side, 55 black and black baldy cows with 25 calves at side, 25 red angus and some Santa Gertrudis cross with 15 calves at side and 100 black, red and charolais cows running with black bulls, mostly heavy bred, according to Goodman.

Stone added that the Extension Service was also a good step in starting in the cattle business.

"The Extension Service can offer assistance to anyone wanting to get started with the livestock enterprise budgets and weekly information from the Extension Agricultural Economist," said Stone.

(Continued from Page 1) According to Stone, the Extension Service does provide livestock enterprise budgets that are designed to assist Arkansas cattle producers and stakeholders in evaluating their expected costs and returns in the production year.

"The information is based on an Excel spreadsheet that allows you to enter your information (feed costs, vet and medicine costs, labor, etc) and allows you to look at different scenarios based on marketing possibility," explained Stone. "People can find the list of budgets available at the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture website: https://www.uaex.uada.edu/farm-ranch/economicsmarketing/farmplanning/budgets/livestockbudgets.aspx"

Stone added, Extension Agricultural Economist James Mitchell stated in his latest update that calf prices have increased by $10-20 per cwt in a lot of the Southern markets since the end of 2022 and he continues to see those prices improve as we move into spring.

"While Mitchell mentioned the trend of higher prices, he warned producers to not just reach for the “top of the price range” but to take note and understand that there are price differences across groups of cattle being sold," said Stone.

“Price differentials by weight, often called price slide, tend to be wider on lighter cattle. And they will widen as the overall market increases, which we are likely to see this year. There is also a tendency for producers to sell earlier in strong markets in order to capitalize on higher price levels. In some cases, this can lead to much lower revenues per head,” Mitchell stated.

For more information on raising cattle contact the St. Francis County Extension Office if you would like to be subscribed to the weekly cattle notes and updates produced by U of A and surrounding Universities.

For more information on the upcoming cattle auction contact Goodman at 501-9400532.