Specter of Mad Cow Disease Doesn’t Dent Cattle Prices in Victoria, Texas

Jul. 2–A cow that originally tested negative for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease, in November 2004, and then came up positive two weeks ago in new testing didn’t have any lasting depressing impact on prices cattlemen received for their cattle at area auction barns.

Buck Butler, who owns Beeville Livestock Commission and Nixon Livestock Commission, said when the news broke on the afternoon of June 24, it created a hiccup in the market at the Beeville sale, but by June 27′s sale in Nixon, it was business as usual.

“On Friday at 3 p.m. in Beeville, when the news came out, a couple of buyers got up and left. And prices dropped 5 to 10 cents per hundredweight.

“(Monday) in Nixon, it picked right back up,” he said.

“We might have been hurt on six weight (600-pound) heifers, but it didn’t hurt us a bit on steers and light calves,” he added.

Butler was surprised that more than 1,000 head of cattle were brought into the Nixon sale barn. “I told the boys Sunday morning it would be light, we’d probably have 500 head,” Butler said.

Mike Heller, an owner of Hallettsville Livestock Commission, said Tuesday’s sale was fully steady.

“All of the buyers were in attendance, there were no order buying companies missing,” he said. “The futures rebounded Monday and made everybody feel better about the situation. When it was first announced Friday, it put a little shock and fear out there, but cooler heads prevailed. We saw no repercussions.”

Heller noted that the Hallettsville sale generally draws a big crowd from noon to 1 p.m. when people drop in on their lunch hour. On Tuesday, that lunch hour crowd was larger than usual as people came to see how the market would hold up under the mad cow news.

“Everybody was glad to see it was OK,” Heller said.

Cattle numbers were down a little in Hallettsville on Tuesday, but Heller said the runs are a little lighter now because earlier in the year the runs were larger than normal. “The market was so good, people were pulling their cattle forward,” he said.

John Banker, who owns El Campo Livestock Commission, which also holds its sales on Tuesdays, said the feeder calf market was a little softer last week, but he didn’t think it had anything to do with the mad cow situation.

“It’s awful hot right now. So I think it was just seasonal. The packer cow and bull prices were steady.”

Banker said not only were all of the buyers who typically attend his sale there last week, there were a few more.

“I guess they were thinking there’d be some deals,” Banker said.

Not only were cattle buyers not hesitant to buy, neither were consumers.

By midweek, H-E-B Stores in the region had seen no decline in consumer purchasing of beef or meat of any kind, according to Shelley Parks, public affairs manager in H-E-B’s Corpus Christi office.

Parks said she attributes the continued demand for beef in the face of the most recent mad cow news to the fact that the Food and Drug Administration “did such a good job of letting people know it did not get into the food supply.”

Parks said from her own standpoint as a consumer, the mad cow issue doesn’t affect the way she buys meat. “The government is just so careful about making sure the meat is safe. If there was a problem, we would have known.”

Late Wednesday, the USDA announced that the12-year-old cow that retested positive for mad cow disease was from a Texas herd.

David Anderson, Texas Cooperative Extension livestock marketing economist, said in a news release from Texas A&M University that cattle trading throughout Texas shouldn’t be impacted “because this is a national market.

The futures market already had built that trading in after the USDA first announced they were doing the retesting.”

Trading activity Thursday saw live cattle contracts for June finish at $82.77 per hundredweight, up 40 cents per hundredweight, according to Anderson.

Bryon Fillpot, a commodity broker and market consultant with Agricultural Marketing & Management, Inc. whose column appears in South Texas Farm & Ranch News, agreed that the overall impact has probably been felt. “When the USDA announced they were going to do further testing, prices initially dropped, and then stabilized for the two-week waiting period.”

After the USDA made the official announcement June 24 that the cow actually tested “positive” for BSE, prices opened lower on Monday and recovered almost immediately, Fillpot said.

“Although the cash fed cattle prices were hit fairly hard, the cash feeders held up like a rock.

“Overall, the public has paid little attention to this BSE mostly because, one, the test did what it was designed to do, keep our food supply safe; two, they caught the cow early; three, the cow was old and could have contracted the disease from feed — bone meal — which was banned in 1997; and four, older cows such as this one seldom end up in our food chain.”

Fillpot said if there is any further weakness in the market from this point forward, he doesn’t think it will be because of the mad cow situation.

“Last week was the largest movement of beef in over a year. The retailer is really stocking up for the Fourth of July. Good weather on the East Coast and good demand will do more to support the market than anything else,” he said.

In the A&M news release, Jim Robb, director of the Livestock Marketing Information Center in Denver, said the positive results of the mad cow test “certainly adds uncertainty to the market place and the unknowns.

“But it’s clear that consumers recognize it’s not a human health concern,” he said. “This seems to be an isolated case and the USDA and researchers have said (all) along there will be some isolated cases (since the 1997 ruminant feed ban). The U.S. risk assessment said a small number of animals will be found. I think if this unfolds as anticipated, it’s clearly related to an older animal born before the ban. It’s isolated as most BSE cases are.”

Anderson said many firewalls are in place to protect the U.S. beef supply.

“A number of safeguards have been put into place and have worked,” Anderson said. “These safeguards have prevented higher-risk animals from entering the food supply. I think many people are confident that USDA has several measures in place to protect the nation’s food supply.”

Robb said he doesn’t feel it will deter beef grilling activities during the Fourth of July holiday weekend.

“I don’t think (mad cow disease) is on the front of consumers’ minds,” he said.

Whataburger, which boasts serving only 100 percent American beef, has seen no drop-off in the amount of hamburgers sold since the announcement about the cow testing positive or being from Texas, according to Pam Cox, Whataburger communications director.

“We’re doing just fine,” she said Friday.

Nor were customers shying away from the brisket at Uncle Mutt’s Barbecue in Victoria, employee Debbie Nichols said Friday.

Buck Butler not only sells other people’s calves through his two auction barns, he sells his own as well. And he is so confident the cattle market will remain strong for a long while yet, he has decided not to sell his own calves until October.

“I’ve got 1,000 calves. I usually sell my calves at 500 to 550 pounds. They weigh 550 right now. I looked at them this past Saturday, and I told the cows, ‘Ol’ mommas, you’re going to have to put up with them until October.’ “Never in my life have I sold a calf that weighed more than 500 to 550 pounds. But I want see how big I can get them. I want to see if I can sell some $700 calves.”

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