Market Closeout
Happy holidays.
December 4, 2024
This holiday season has always helped me to get in the proper frame of mind. Fall is an extremely busy time for ranchers, with weaning, the fall calf run, preg-checking and the like. It does tend to slow down as we hit the holiday season — sort of the calm before the storm, both figuratively and literally, as we head into the new year and calving.
I like Thanksgiving because it makes me take stock of just how blessed I am and how much I have to be grateful for. I think gratitude is something that comes easy for most ranchers. When you accept the responsibility of being stewards of the land and of the animals in your care, it is hard not to be thankful. Working side by side with your family and working daily with God’s creation is somewhat unique. Having a purpose and getting to see the fruits of your labor on a daily basis is rarer than it should be.
Right after Thanksgiving we move into the Advent season, where you can take that gratitude and apply it to how you should be living, tying that gratitude to an even greater purpose than family and ranching. Hope, peace, joy and love are not just optimistic words; they provide a path to a deeper meaning beyond the materialism we all can get caught up in.
Thanksgiving reminds us of what we have to be thankful for; Advent and Christmas remind us of our priorities and our calling, of the people we want to be. — Troy Marshall
Ultimately, this time of the year brings you to the birth of Jesus Christ and what it means to have a personal relationship with God and to live a life with deeper meaning. Christmas is always a time where I get my priorities right, get them back in line with the person I aspire to be.
Thanksgiving reminds us of what we have to be thankful for; Advent and Christmas remind us of our priorities and our calling, of the people we want to be.
With that foundation we move into the new year, which brings us back to a new beginning, a starting point. It’s a position of hope, where we can recommit ourselves to becoming the best version of who we are supposed to be. It allows us to start with a newfound excitement, and to move forward yet again with new resolve.
Ranching is a lot like life in that regard. If we aren’t careful, we can miss all the blessings and all the magic, and we can get worn down by a constant relentless list of failures and uncertainty. The equation is simple. It is two steps forward for every step backward. It is an endless march, though, and we can lose track of the progress we are making concentrating on the difficulties, missing the music in what is an endless dance. After all, a dance isn’t measured by the distance you cover, but by who you are dancing with.
As we waltz into 2025, we have a full orchestra in the background. Angus genetics are in a dominant position. Quality has never been more important, and we are moving increasingly toward a market that differentiates and values both genetics and management for the first time.
The growth of the AngusLinkSM program and initiatives like National Beef adding the Genetic Merit ScorecardSM (GMS) score to its grid is transforming the way cattle are marketed. Prices and demand are historically high and moving higher. Drought has eased across much of the country, and the future of the cattle industry looks brighter than ever.
I’d just like to wish you a truly great holiday season and a prosperous 2025.
Editor’s note: Troy Marshall is director of commercial industry relations for the American Angus Association.
Angus Beef Bulletin EXTRA, Vol. 16, No. 12-A
Topics: Marketing , Association News
Publication: Angus Beef Bulletin
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