As you probably already know, we were sharply higher today in the cattle markets.  It is my job to be the voice of reason, so let's look at two events that are being associated with today's up:

The big press conference on Heman Schumacher's front lawn

If you don't know who Herman is, offer up a prayer of thanksgiving to the Almighty and move on to the next paragraph.  For those of you who do . . . COME ON.  There are enough ACTUAL conspiracies going on in Washington right now to satisfy even the most hard-core conspiracy theorist.  Herman sued.  Herman lost.  Herman needs to pay the attorneys fees.  I think "loser pays" should be the law of the land when it comes to lawsuits.  That would sure put a halt to a lot of this litigious nonsense we see and keep the ambulance chasers on a shorter leash.  If you really want to talk conspiracy, I'll get you started.  Two words, kids:  BIRTH CERTIFICATE.  Discuss.

Next up, heat.  It was CRAZY hot in parts of the central US last week.  It wasn't just the temperature, and it wasn't even the humidity (both were awful).  The real problem last week was the complete lack of air movement.  Some folks suffered some intense death losses.  I lost only one myself, and chock that up to quick action by my brother.  Brian (my brother) reported that he personally got so hot at one point last week that he started to CHILL.  That's creepy - and dangerous.  But, having said that, death losses were in no way sufficient to have an effect on the overall market.  It's really unpleasant when stuff like that happens, and death losses due to uncontrollable meteorological events are unfortunate, but they're part of the business.  You win some, you lose some. 

Remember, it doesn't really matter WHY the markets were up hard today.  All we ever need do is worry about BUYING cattle at a profit on any given day.  As long as we are disciplined and mathematically rigorous on our buy, and NEVER attempt to get out ahead of the market by forecasting, then we can and will be consistently profitable.