2014 LOGAN COUNTY FARM OUTLOOK MAGAZINE LINCOLN DAILY NEWS.com MARCH 27, 2014 29
Walking your crop out of the field
W
hen the price of corn plummeted from its high
of just short of $8/bushel in 2012 to just over
$4/bushel in 2013, many producers were looking for
ways to keep a roof over their heads. Low or no profit
means these are lean times for the farming community.
Farmers come from a creative heritage, and they spend
their time trying to figure out how to squeeze a profit
from their labors and their crops. In the old days,
farmers extended their profits by feeding a portion of
the corn they grew to their livestock and then selling
the livestock off at a profit. They literally “walked
their crop out of the field.”
Wayne Conrady has been walking the crop out of his
field all his life. Wayne said that with the low prices
for corn right now and the current prices for both
cattle and hogs, a producer can make a good profit on
the corn that they grow by feeding it. Even with the
high cost of processing, there is currently a living to
be made in cows and pigs.
In Conrady’s operation they are feeding heifers,
selling off the steers and are currently looking forward
to the start of calving season, any moment now. At the
time of the interview Conrady said, “It’s disastrous
trying to calve in this cold weather.”
In fact, Conrady describes raising livestock as an
adventure of sorts. “You don’t see us in town getting
breakfast in the morning,” he said. “Instead, we get up
early every day and go out hoping there is no calamity
or catastrophe looking you in the face.”
During the 17-below-zero weather, Conrady spent all
day trying to thaw water so the cattle could drink. And
during the summer of 2012, he spent every afternoon
hauling water to their pasture over near Middletown,
just so the cattle could drink.
Conrady told the story that good management is what
makes a livestock operation successful. You have to
have good practices and carry them through.
He said it’s just like he tells the help: “If you open the
gate, you should shut it right away. But they open
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