In hindsight, perhaps the dark clouds brought on by droughts two and three years ago did have their silver lining. At least they did force some ranchers, like Hondo’s Maurice and June Conrad to sell off half their cowherd. That, in turn, meant it wasn’t such a burden to hold over the calves last fall when the border with the United States snapped shut in response to a mad cow that was discovered near Fairview in May.
That means they’ll have just 47 cows calving this year, instead of the 100 they had several years ago. So feeding the calves a little longer wasn’t as costly. Over the winter they’ve sold off a few feeders at a time but only when the price was good.
“We’ll keep some of the heifers for replacement,” says Maurice, explaining that they were also able to get rid of some of their older cows – the culls – when prices at the auction market crawled to the ‘acceptable’ levels.
Yesterday (Apr. 20) they celebrated the 40th anniversary of being on their farm. And while there have been more destitute times, the Conrads don’t remember many.
“It’s like we’re budgeting year ‘round,” says June, saying farmers are certainly watching their pennies.
“We don’t spend like we used to,” she admits. “Now it’s more of the ‘needs’.
“We ask ourselves ‘Do we really need it?’ before we buy things.”
The crisis brought on by BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) also means keeping a close eye on the bank balance, she adds. And it can mean selling some of the feeders if prices are right to avoid costly interest payments.
“We shop around for everything – from fertilizers to fuels. Maurice is the first one to grab the flyers these days – even for groceries,” she adds with a laugh.
Watching the bottom line means cutting wherever possible, she adds, even in the breed of cattle they’re growing for market.
Long-time breeders of purebred Simmental cattle, they’ve bought two Aberdeen Angus bulls to reduce feed costs and promote ease of operation in the commercial part of their herd, says June.
“Angus are smaller animals, so that makes them easy calves.”
“We sleep at night” rather than checking pregnant cows, Maurice adds with a laugh.
“And small stature means small bones and that each requires less feed,” June continues. They’re also using more of their own animal byproducts rather than opting for the more expensive brands of fertilizer.
They applaud the Agriculture Service Board in their area for its ‘Farm Gate to Your Plate’ initiative that links farmers with slaughter-ready animals to hungry consumers, thus cutting out the middleman.
They also like the idea of some rural municipalities to build co-operative processing plants, to further reduce farmers’ costs while keeping the price of meat affordable.
But they haven’t yet ‘invested’ in any such operations. It would allow them free access to slaughter facilities, June adds, but the details are scant.
“If we won the lottery, sure we’d buy right away,” she says with a laugh.
But times are tough on the ranch and money just isn’t that easy to come by since BSE descended.

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