CATTLEMEN’S COLUMN REMEMBERING THE PAST YEAR

by CCA Second Vice President Sheila Bowen

What an epic year we’ve had! Record setting rainfall that was not predicted by most weather forecasters pelted much of California earlier this year. The prices paid for cattle in all weight categories improved as the year progressed. It doesn’t often happen that a good wet year and a strong cattle market waltz together, but this year they did.

To top it off, we were visited by tropical storm Hilary in August. She dropped almost three inches of rain into the gauge at the ranch headquarters before moving on. As I write this in September, the cattle around Glennville are chowing down on green feed that is growing up through the golden grass of summer. That does not happen very often around here at this time of year. Henry Bowen, my husband’s grandfather, used to say, “Never cuss a late rain or a late calf, cuz you never know when you’ll get another one.”

Just a short time ago, we were wondering how long the dry spell was going to hang on. This year is one that will be remembered for a long time to come as the year that killed the drought and set records in the cattle market.

Recently, I reread the biography of an Irishman named Nicholas Den. His story was told in a book called Pioneers of California. Den came to California in 1836 at the age of 24. He made his way to Santa Barbara where he learned about ranching from Don Jose Vicente Ortega and his vaqueros.

Den bought 500 head of cattle in 1838 and by 1842 he was a Mexican citizen and had applied for and received two land grants. Den’s herd grew to 10,000 head of cattle by 1849. The market value was a mere $2 per animal for their hides. It was in this year that Den visited the chaotic gold country to see his brother and have a look around. After paying an ounce of gold for a small leathery piece of meat, Den saw an opportunity. He went home and immediately made preparations to drive 1,000 head of cattle to the gold country.

Upon arrival the herd sold for $50 per head. The next cattle drive came on the heels of the first but this time they drove almost 2,000 head of cattle. This herd brought close to $100,000. Apparently other ranches were beginning to supply the miners with beef as well. When Den drove three herds north in 1850, the cattle sold for $35 per head. Supply and demand economics was at work during the California gold rush.

The book also mentions that, “Christmas week of 1861 saw one of the worst rainstorms and floods of that century in the Santa Barbara area.”

Then, only two years later in 1863, “Southern California suffered one of the worst droughts in history…Livestock died by the thousands; their rotting carcasses could be smelled for miles.” By 1864, Nicholas Den had passed away. The number of cattle on his Rancho Dos Pueblos dropped from 25,000 head to 40 head.

Then, as now, markets and weather play a key role in the prosperity of our cattle operations and both can change quickly. As we press ahead hoping for the continuation of a strong market and a decently wet winter and spring, we are fully aware that there could be a downturn sometime in the future. We plan as best we can for whatever the future holds. We have tools today that were not in the toolbox of the 1800s.

The CCA is working each day to keep families successful in the cattle business. CCA allows producers to concentrate on their operations while CCA stays busy on behalf of cattle producers where policy issues are concerned. We have a tremendous lobbyist in Kirk Wilbur. I had the opportunity to see him in action giving testimony during a committee meeting as to why CCA was in opposition to AB 554. He did an impressive job of sharing our concerns. That bill was ultimately pulled from consideration by the author for this year.

I truly hope you will join your fellow cattle producers at this year’s annual convention of the California Cattlemen and California CattleWomen in Sparks, Nev. from Nov. 29 to Dec. 1. When I come to a meeting like this, I always expect to come away with more knowledge than I had upon arrival and I always do. It is also an opportunity to see old friends and meet new ones. I hope to see you there.