Washington family farm continues century-plus legacy

WASHINGTON - A few miles south of Washington, at the end of a narrow gravel road, a few dozen head of cattle will soon be turned out from their wintertime shelter into a pasture, making way for a building full of feeder calves to fill the space over summer.

The modest looking operation is run by Mike Berdo, with a family name synonymous in Washington with beef production with roots reaching back more than a century in the cattle industry. And while the farmer briefly left the family operation to become a diesel mechanic after high school, he returned a few years later. And while the Berdo legacy comes with its share of pride, he said it didn’t bring unwelcome pressure.

“I try to do the best I can every day to provide a good product,” he said. “If we can keep on providing a good product, they’ll keep buying it, and I think, when I go buy groceries ... if it’s a good product, they’re willing to pay a good price for it.”

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The rural Washington cattle operation is also the epitome of a family farm. Berdo shares equipment, time and work with his brother’s lot up the road - although the two aren’t financially tied - and the pastures are flanked by acres of cropland, where he grows corn to feed the livestock, and occasionally soybeans to keep the soil conditions under control.

And like any farm, Berdo’s depends on a complex equation of inputs and outputs. With cattle prices at an all-time high, he’s working with something of a pay bump for the moment, though that doesn’t mean things are worry-free.

“We’re handling a lot more gross dollars than net,” he said. “There’s $180,000 worth of cattle I’ve got to buy here in the next two weeks. I’ll take a loan out at the bank and pay seven or eight percent interest on that money, and then a year from now, pay that note off and hopefully make some money ... You’ve got to have a good relationship with your banker.”

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The number of beef producers across the nation is on a steady decline, as is the supply of red meat itself, a major factor driving red meat’s sustained high price point. And while some see an opportunity to retire, or cash out from a lifestyle built on unpredictable weather, fluctuating markets and slim margins, many others, like Berdo, remain.

More than that, he hopes to expand his cattle farm soon, although high interest rates make it hard to afford such plans for the moment. In the meantime, simply aims to keep the operation running sustainably enough for the next generation of producers.

“I guess it’s in my blood, I don’t know,” Berdo said, when asked why he stayed in the industry. “It’s a very good question and I do not have a good answer for it! I was born and raised on a farm, I don’t want to do anything else.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com