Price is Only Part of the Cow-calf Revenue Story

The situation described in the previous paragraph is most common on extremely light calves and especially tends to occur in the spring. Price differentials by weight, often called price slide, tend to be wider on lighter cattle. And they will widen as overall market prices increase, which we likely to see this year. There is also a tendency for producers to sell earlier in strong markets in order to capitalize on higher price levels. In some cases, this can lead to much lower revenues per head.