As the beef industry moves into the last decade of this century, producer optimism is good, as cattle prices have been up and steady the last several years. The challenges and problems of this coming decade also loom before us. Concerns over the healthfulness of red meat, drug residues, hormones and so forth have hurt the market. The cow-calf producer's business continues to become more complex and more demanding.
Greater expertise is required in more areas.
The new decade will be more demanding. The producer will feel increased economic pressure to have a well managed business enterprise to compete in the market place and to stay economically viable. He or she will feel greater production pressure to increase the number of calves weaned, optimize the weight at which they wean and minimize costs per cow maintained. The title presupposes some vision of the future. I may, more likely, express some arm-chair philosophy or evoke shades of Buck Roger's, but all in all, I hope you will feel optimistic about the prospects ahead.