Cattle prices may rise at auction yard

A north state legend in the beef cattle industry says prices may go up in the coming months because of a shortage of animals.

As Ching Lee reports in the California Farm Bureau Federation's Ag Alert:

Ellington Peek, owner and founder of Shasta Livestock Auction Yard and Western Video Market, said usually this time of year there's plenty of cattle from Texas and Oklahoma on the market, but this year many ranchers are trying to rebuild their herds.

He noted that cattle prices have softened a bit from what they were two months ago, but he predicted they will start to go up again soon—"maybe not before June or July, but sometime this summer," he said.

"Our (cattle) numbers are down out here (in California) too," he said. "When they find out that there aren't too many cattle sitting in California, it's going to make a difference. I think (prices) will be a little bit higher, but maybe not much."

Lee confirms what I've been reporting in recent weeks -- that early spring rains have done wonders for rangelands.

I'll have my monthly weather wrap for April up online today. Look for some rainfall totals on this blog later this morning, and the story at CapitalPress.com.