Another thing is what people are buying at the grocery store isnt going to affect the kill cow market that much because the hamburger meat you buy at the grocery store is not likely to come from these kill cow facilities. The hamburger meat you buy at the supermarket is still going to be coming from the feedlots, its going to come from the lower end of the feedlot but still from feedlot. The meet from kill cows and kill bulls is more likely to end up at fast food restaraunts and facilities such as Campbells that are going to use it in canned soups, canned meats etc. Generally the meat from kill cows and kill bulls is not high quality enough to be sold in the meat section of your supermarket, even as ground beef.
So like I said, I am not saying that what you said doesnt have something to do with it, and I am not saying that the kill cow market and kill bull market isnt full. The trich test requirements for bulls at auction barns now are sending a lot more bulls to the killers also. I am just saying that I think it is staying steady because a lot of the cows being culled down here have a lot of miles left on them and would have never been considered to cull if the producers were not in such a bad drought, and also with this time of year a lot of those cows being culled because of the drought are going to the sale barn bred. So there are people bidding against the order buyers on these cows that will take them somewhere and at least calve them out, if not adding them to their herd longer term.
So to me that is helping to keep the prices up and keeping the kill cow market from being flooded to the extent that drought in the past has.
