Monday, October 17, 2011

Our Job in the Cattle Industry!

Hey!

Hope this week is treating you well.  I had several people ask me what Rose Cattle Company does and how we impact the industry.   Of course I answered them and thought that would be a great blog so here it goes!  Rose Cattle Company was started when my father decided to become a cattle broker. Or a cattle buyer, or a cattle trader.  The major of my fathers job changes daily, but he makes and receives calls daily from feedlots and other people who own cattle.  They ask him about the market and where he thinks the futures board is headed.  The futures board is constantly changing and it is used to predict what cattle will sell for months from now.  Early June and sometimes even in May he start calling ranchers and offering to buy their cattle this fall.  He has ranchers as customers from all over the state of Montana and even a few out of state.  These ranchers are great men and woman who work everyday to put food on your table.  After he gets a load bought which is between 55,000 and 65,000 pounds, he called some of his buyers which are mostly in the Midwest.  They area to buy the cattle for more than my father bought them for, the difference in price is called his commission.  He lives off his commission for the whole fall.   As you can see without an understanding of the futures board my dad could get into a bunch of trouble because he uses the futures board to set a price for the fall calves.

All during the fall, my father is off loading the cattle to ship to his buyers.  This weekend he was in Twin Bridges loading for 2 of his longest customers.  He loves this part of the job because he gets to hangout with the ranchers and travel the state.  He enjoys the conversation and loves seeing how good the calves are this year.

To be cont.... :)

Have a great week!  Hope to see you at the NILE this weekend!

Karoline