Page 24 - MWC 03-11-2021

The Midwest Cattleman · March 11, 2021 · P24
WEATHER PATTERNS Forecast, not only for the day of CATTLE INVENTORY sold. This may seem like a stretch
continued from page 22 the burn, but 2 to 3 days beyond. continued from page 21 for what is likely to be a relative-
training, equipment, grant fund- A fair number of fires get started but it does make us want to dig a ly small payment per cow, but re-
member these decisions are made
ing and other direct services to when a person burned on a near- bit deeper. at the margin and a slight move-
local fire departments to help ly perfect day without realizing Ordinarily, something like ment of that keep / cull needle can
them prepare, since they are that a day or two later was going this points to fertility challeng- make a difference when extrapo-
primarily responsible for fire to be hot, dry and windy. Then, es, meaning more open cows in lated across the US.
suppression in Kansas.” an ember blows out and creates 2020, and that likely was some- Regardless, we see two primary
He added that residents are a major fire.” what at play. But one would also points from the USDA revisions
also part of the effort to prevent Redmond noted one good way expect a corresponding decrease and this discussion. First, cat-
widespread fire. to reverse the current fire dan- in cow numbers the following tle inventory has been adjusted
“There are two major things ger is to get more precipitation, year (2021), assuming the vast
people can do,” Ward said. “First, which not only provides mois- majority of those open cows were downward, which is as positive de-
velopment from a supply perspec-
prepare your property to be able ture to Kansas lands, but also culled. But, the 0.6% decrease in tive and comes at a very good time
to withstand fire. In a major helps grass to green up faster – beef cow numbers for January 1, for the cattle sector. And secondly,
wildfire, there aren’t enough fire reducing available fuels. 2021 doesn’t really paint this pic- the ratio of cows to calves for 2020,
engines to protect every home, “Precipitation timing is criti- ture. High cow to calf crop ratios and the trend on beef cow num-
so the best defense is to make cal, and if consecutive storm sys- like 2020 are typically associated bers for 2021, suggests that more
sure the property can withstand tems can impact the region with with heavier liquidation years, rapid liquidation is very possible
the fire unprotected. widespread moisture in mid- to like 2012 and 2013. Another hy- in the current year which would
“The second thing residents late-March, it could drastical- pothesis would be that anticipa-
can do is avoid starting unwant- ly enhance green-up and aid in tion of CFAP 3.0 payments may be a positive supply development
in the future.
ed fires. Most wildfires in Kan- diminishing fire concerns,” Red- have kept a few more cows around
sas are human-caused, rang- mond said. this winter that would have been
ing from defective equipment TSENews.net
sparking, welding in dry weath-
er, dragging trailer chains, burn-
ing trash or burning property.” “ ”
Ward said the Kansas Forest
Service advocates prescribed
burning as a land management
tool, “but it is essential that in
planning a burn, property own-
ers carefully check the National
Weather Service Fire Weather
@