In July, Scott George, co-owner of George Farms, traveled to Billings for a cattle auction.  Normally, George said, there are about 900 head of cattle for auction. This year, there were around 4,000. Many ranchers were liquidating their herds, and there were mother cows on the auction block.

Jim Magagna, executive vice president for the Wyoming Stockgrowers Association, said the major auction markets of Wyoming — in Torrington and Riverton — have also seen increased volume, including cow/calf pairs and early weaned calves. 

Producers don’t have enough feed for their cattle or it’s too expensive. The pandemic of 2020, which wreaked havoc on the cattle industry, is now being followed by a drought and above normal temperatures that reduce yields and lower the quality of alfalfa. 

To feed livestock, “guys are cutting corn when it’s 3 and 4 foot tall, because that’s all they got,” George said. Some are cutting oats for feed. 

This year, hay prices have doubled or even tripled over what they were in 2020, and it’s often hard to find any for sale. 

George has had friends in Utah, Idaho and Montana calling to see if George Farms has any hay they can sell. George said last fall, he had people calling as far away as Minnesota looking for hay.

The further people have to go to find feed, the more shipping costs rise. Fuel costs are way up, and there’s a labor shortage in the trucking industry, meaning companies are having to pay more to get drivers — factors that only add to the feed costs. 

Fortunately for George Farms, they grow all their own feed, so for the time being, they can feed their livestock. 

Brett Crosby of Shell, who has ranches in the Big Horn Basin, Sheridan and Montana, said he is having a lot of trouble finding winter feed. 

“People are buying hay right out of the fields, so there’s not going to be any winter hay available,” Crosby said. 

Feed is one of the most costly expenditures in the ranching business, and with prices through the roof, it’s not going to be a good year for the cattlemen. 

“We’re not going to be profitable this year,” Crosby said. “Between the drought and input cost, even the higher expected prices will not offset the higher costs.”

Pests and quality

Kenton Murray, co-owner of Willwood-based Murraymere Farms, said they, too, grow their own hay. They’ve got enough to support their cattle operation, but Murray wishes he had more. With prices through the roof, hay is a profitable crop right now. 

Unlike places like eastern Wyoming and Idaho, the Big Horn Basin has enough irrigation water this year, but the warm temperatures at night are lowering the quality of the alfalfa. 

Jeremiah Vardiman, agriculture and horticulture extension educator for the University of Wyoming Extension, said when overnight temperatures are so warm, the alfalfa is breaking down sugars into energy. 

“It’s utilizing the nutrients we’re trying to capture,” Vardiman explained. 

Crosby said he’s having to put nutrient supplements into his feed to keep his animals healthy. 

During drought conditions, pest populations grow as well. 

Vardiman said this year it’s been a “mixed bag” as far as Basin producers are concerned. While some are seeing a problem, others are not. Vardiman said it’s more common to see grasshopper problems on alfalfa fields that border rangeland. 

George is having a lot of trouble with aphids on his acres. Without a really cold winter to kill off the critters and their eggs, there’s a lot more of them this year.  

“We aerial sprayed, and we still have aphids like crazy,” George said. 

Murray said he’s hearing a lot about insect pressure with his friends in the industry, and they are making a difficult situation much harder. 

“It can be devastating,” Murray said. 

Down the road

As with so much in the agricultural world, it’s anyone’s guess what the future holds. Crosby thinks calf prices are going to improve next year, which will help offset the losses many ranchers are likely to see in 2021.

“If people can hang on for a year, calf prices next year should be good, but this year, people are going to be living on their equity,” Crosby said. 

However, it seems the feed prices aren’t likely to improve in 2022. 

“You’re going to see feed costs escalate for the next couple of years,” George said. 

Magagna, with the stockgrowers association, said it’s hard to predict how that will pan out for producers going into the fall. All those liquidated herds going to market are going to need to go on to pasture this winter, and the feed situation will likely be worse. That will almost certainly result in higher beef prices for the consumer.

“That’s going to be unavoidable,” Magagna said. 

The Farm Service Agency with the United States Department of Agriculture has some programs for drought relief that may help some ranchers that are hit hard by this year’s feed shortage. 

However, Magagna said these federal programs have very narrow requirements for eligibility, and they can be so bureaucratically slow to respond. 

“I don’t think they’re a comprehensive answer to the problem,” Magagna said. 

For now, most producers will just need to wait until things improve.