Changes in the cattle business

[smcgrath76]

ld - you are partly right. A lot of our
cost savings are economies of scale, and
I think at our place 1 guy could readily
run 400 cows, until there is a wreck or
you want some free time. A big part of
our savings is also in changing how we
do things rather than how big we do
them. We typically run on grass until
Jan/Feb (and no we are not in Southern
AB or the Banana Belt).
The other and harder part relates to the
people making money coming and going
from the producer. We are actively
working on ways to circumvent this and
add value as well. I think GF, RK and
others are examples that are trying to
do the same. The even harder part is
getting enough farmers to work together
to gain some economies of scale doing
that as well.

[BTOfarmallll]

Easy fer The Sellout to say, when in fact he has already Sold Out. Zero Earth Farms payin his Bills now. Whatever puts the poor fellow to be at night.......

[per]

I don't quite get your objection to One Earth BTO.

[grassfarmer]

I think he's just enjoying being a keyboard hardman Per - hiding behind an alias and spouting racist garbage against natives and Hutterites.

[littledoggie]

smcgrath - we are extremely low cost producers. We value add as well, which worked well for us until BSE when anyone who backgrounded calves got royally beat up in the marketplace. We have tried many methods of feeding in the winter, and due to excessive numbers of wildlife and some winters that had huge amounts of snowfall, have decided that the best method for us is baled and stored behind a big fence. The one thing we are not prepared to do at our age, is get bigger. Like you say, when there's a wreck it wears a person pretty thin. So how do we as PRODUCERS (because the rest of the chain are not actually producers, but value-adders) get together to address profitability? There is so much attention paid to the feedlot and packer end - when will it be our turn?

[ASRG]

littledoggie: I would say right about now is the cow/calf guys time? When i see 600 lbs steers selling for $1.50/lb I expect that is probably about as good as it gets? And just about anybody should be able to make money at those prices? Maybe I'm wrong.
Many people think calf prices are going to rise higher by fall and they may indeed be right? Somehow I doubt it. Corn prices don't look to drop this year with the funny weather down south and a high corn price will pull barley prices higher? When does the urban consumer say "beefs too high...I think I'll buy chicken!" Remember in Canada chicken is pretty high priced due to supply management....not so in the USA?
I suspect calf prices this fall will be more likely in that $1.30/lb for a 600 lb. steer than $1.60....I hope I'm wrong!

[BTOfarmallll]

Have another one QuackGrassFarmer. 50% Wrong, HATE Hutterites, LOVE Indians.........

[ALLFARMER]

No need to apologize Burnt. You put allot of great posts on here.

The reason I am on Agriville is because I choose to surround myself with people willing to tell me I am full of shit and doing it all wrong. I hate people who just smile and nodd and agree. You can't learn nothing from them. Cheers all!!

[ASRG]

All farmer: I think the price you plan to buy bred cows at this fall is a reasonable one. I guess it depends on the fall calf prices. If calf prices are "wild" a lot of people will catch "cow fever" and forget the old adage of "what goes up, must come down"!
When(if) calves are bringing $1.60/lb or $900 then that $1500 cow looks good...not so good if the market crashes and that calf is back to under $1/lb.? Remember that cow has to raise a few calves to pay for herself plus pay for her own expenses!
I think being careful in how much you pay is a good thing.

[BTOfarmallll]

And thats why I'm here AllFarmer. Yous kin always learn a thing er two from me. Glad yall appreciate me & want me to stay, stay, stay........