It's been awhile! Bull sales are in full swing and I've been busy going up and down the road to bull sales in North Dakota for the Tri-State Livestock News. I've been listening to Fr. Mike Schmitz podcasts from the Bulldog Catholic website. Please listen to these homilies from the past couple weeks, they'll blow your mind.
As I go from sale to sale the same thing is on all ranchers minds, cattle prices. A couple years ago we saw an enormous spike upwards that made the cattle business more lucrative than having a money tree growing in your backyard. It was the highest recorded prices anyone has ever gotten for feeder cattle. The younger ranchers jumped into the cattle business with both feet, and who wouldn't? If there was a high chance of making money and almost no chance to lose money, why wouldn't you take that bet?
Nobody could speculate that the cattle market would drop the way it did. I suspect a number of young ranchers loss some money the last few years. Now there is a sense of panic, like they're thinking if the market doesn't come back they're going to have to sell out! It's this feeling of not know what is going to happen or how it's going to work out. In the rancher that hasn't seen this swing, there is fear and worry. Trying to sell advertisement to these guys for their bull sale is hard because they don't want to spend much money. So if they don't advertise then it's hard to get people there to buy their bulls. Then it's almost a double blow on sale day.
But then there is also the old wise ranchers out there. I had a conversation with a guy that has a very successful bull sale year after year. He told me that he remembers when they first got going that it was so dry out nobody came to buy their bulls. The drouth and lack of grass forced them to weigh these bulls up at a local sale barn and take market price. That would be devastating for a rancher that raises bulls, because they have more dollars tied up in their product than the local feeder calf operation. But here they are over 20 years later still raising bulls and now the flux in the market don't shake them, they just roll with the punches. Most of these older bull guys just do the same thing year after year.
These last few weeks we've been reading about the wisdom of God. "Immense is the wisdom of the Lord" says Sirach. When I rely on my own wisdom (which isn't much considering the lack of experience like the young rancher) I tend to fear, doubt, and worry. But the rest of this verse says "He is mighty in power and all-seeing" like the old rancher's wisdom is attained from seeing, having seen this before. We can ask for this wisdom, it is a gift that we as Catholics as ranchers and cowboys need. If we are panic stricken we can do some stupid stuff.
I love the next verse, "The eyes of God see all he has made; he UNDERSTANDS man's every deed". Sometimes we don't understand why thing don't work out the way we had planned. Maybe our bulls didn't bring much, cows didn't breed back good, or some other disaster happens but we still need to have perspective. We need to keep in mind our goal in this life is to BE A SAINT.
We can ask the HOLY SPIRIT to fill us with WISDOM, KNOWLEDGE, and UNDERSTANDING and we should everyday, especially in our industry. God offers us HIS gifts to get us through this life. We can choose to accept or reject them. Like the reading from Sirach starts out, "There are set before you fire and water, to whichever you choose, stretch forth your hand. Before man are life and death, whichever he chooses shall be given him." It is WISDOM to not let the things of this world shake us. To keep it in perspective, like the cattle market and the old wise rancher.
Pray, hope, and don't worry! Padre Pio pray for us.
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