Ranchers 'cowgirl up,' plow through pandemic's pains

How has coronavirus affected what we eat? Our food supply has been impacted; agriculture has been impacted especially with livestock/meat. Belfield rancher Emily Richard and small business owner Clover Praus of Circle C Ranch LLC talk about the struggles and perseverance throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

DICKINSON, N.D. — When the coronavirus pandemic hit North Dakota, farmers, ranchers and businesses supporting those professions experienced a maelstrom of events from the packing plants shutting down to ranchers considering arduous decisions to keep their calf crops. But like most southwestern North Dakotans, the COVID-19 tornado is just like any other tempestuous trial and there’s only one thing to do: cowgirl up. Emily Richard, a Belfield, N.D., black angus rancher, and Circle C Ranch Supply owner Clover Praus of Dickinson, N.D., witnessed the eye of the storm throughout the pandemic and its multiple strikes on agriculture. Richard noted that the major setback of the coronavirus hitting in March was the backed up market. “The initial impacts from the coronavirus we have seen on our ranch has been the inability to move our commodities to market. Whether that be from the uncertainty in the markets to the packing plants shutting down or the inability to get certain supplies because of the disruption in the supply chain,” said Richard, who ranches alongside her husband Brandon and father-in-law Byron Richard of Richard Angus Ranch. “Overall, agriculture has had to continue on as best we can. The biggest disruption we have had to face is rethinking what to do with our commodities to adapt to the ever changing and uncertain markets. Many of us have had to keep our calf crop and background as it has not been feasible to sell off the cow like many of us are used to. ”Beef prices have taken a blow, with a lower trend over the past year, Richard continued. When the packing plants shut down, feedlots experienced backed up issues and “the fat cattle inventory” skyrocketed which in turn, reduced prices. “We are a supply and demand industry so when our supply is up, demand is down. Because of the inability to process finished animals, it sends the markets in a downward spiral. We have seen some rebound lately, but we are still well below where we would like to see the prices,” she noted. Agriculture is constantly changing, and though the Richard Angus Ranch still has the same foundation in place, the family has had to adapt to the arising challenges the pandemic’s unveiled, Richard said, explaining that they’ve never experienced the shut down of packing plants or the inability to move their commodities to market. However, like most farmers, Richard cultivated her own way to success by obtaining her North Dakota meat license in May and opening up a mobile retail business, EAT.BETTER.BEEF, where she sells prime black angus meat cuts to local customers, and even to customers in South Dakota...MORE