Beef prices

[ashleymr93]

Taylor Rattray recently wrote an article about beef prices for InkOnline. Please click on the attached link to read the article.
http://jschool.ca/news/national/1277...r-record-highs

[ProFarmer]

Beef prices are at their highest level yet but at this level cattle farmers are finally getting paid what their cattle are finally worth. Any less and we are being taken advantage of again. With the average wage of over 20 dollars an hour, a new truck at 50000 dollars and a loader tractor at 200,000 dollars we are still not getting any more than enough. Hell average house in Regina nets 4 to 500,000 dollars.

[grassfarmer]

Maybe time to look at lower cost systems involving less of the $200,000 tractors?

[ProFarmer]

What do run an old Belerus

[ProFarmer]

Why should a cattle farmer have to lower himself to using old third world equipment in order to make a living. Why do we have to think that or cows or ourselves have to suffer so the consumer can have a high standard of living by paying the least for food. Canadians pay the least percentage of their disposable income on food in the world even though most of it is hauled thousands of miles by truckers that also work for next to nothing. I know we all live in the great white north and do not have access to a warm climate for our fresh vegges 10 months of the year but yes I as a cattle farmer want to work from a warm tractor to make a living!!!! end of Rant

[grassfarmer]

Because we are supposed to be in business in a free market situation? An attitude of entitlement is a rather poor fit and usually financially unsustainable in such an environment.

[kato]

We live in a world of entitlement. Just ask a city relative to give up that winter vacation.

I for one do not feel guilty about high beef prices. In the big picture, they are not high. They are just catching up to where they should be. While we have been struggling on through years of poor prices, the world has moved on without us. It's time for some catch up.

[SCS]

Here, here, to what Kato said!

[grassfarmer]

Oh, I don't feel guilty about high beef prices. I'd feel rather dumb if I was spending $200,000 on a tractor to feed cows though.

[kato]

We would never spend that either. Our mission is to keep as much of what we are now earning as we can. I think you will find amongst today's cattle producers, a lot of people with tight purse strings. We've been there done that, and learned a lot from it.

[smcgrath76]

This is an interesting thread. I am not totally sure why it requires a tractor to treat animals well. A $200,000 tractor (just to pick a number) may be a responsible investment for a business as long as it can be made productive to the tune of $200,000. I have several neighbours, etc. with $4 and 500,000 tractors that utilize them to their full potential and the cost per unit produced is actually lower than a lesser tractor would be.
I actually truly believe that if you can afford a tractor (or truck, or million dollar house) and that is what you want to do with your money, then have at it. If you can't afford it, then have at that as well, as long as you are willing to accept responsibility for the results.
I don't feel entitled to a fancy tractor, but I do feel responsible to my business and my family to utilize my scarce resources as wisely as possible. In our case that includes limiting investment in depreciating assets, or assets that don't generate revenue in our situation (that's how I can justify cows). If we were grain farming I would likely have a larger investment in equipment, since it would generate revenues instead of just costs, but that is not how our business or land base is structured.
Currently our cows are very well fed (we are on bale grazing at the moment) and our calves are on a backgrounding ration that is accomplishing our desired rate of gain at our predicted feed conversion. Calves are fed free choice hay and a pellet/grain ration without starting the tractor. I think that our cattle are very well cared for, using science, feed testing, a robust mineral and vaccination program and other tools at our disposal.

[ProFarmer]

Here! Here! to all but Grassfarmer. I am not going to farm with third world conditions while my neighbor grainfarmer or town folk can take their warm vacation in the winter or uninterrupted weekends at the lake while I am dealing with providing for my cows summer and winter 24 hours a day.

[grassfarmer]

Folks, its "hear, hear" to indicate the act of listening or paying attention to what has been said. Rather like if you were comforting a child you wouldn't say "their, their" - although apparently many on Agriville would.

[ajl]

Shop around a little. You can still get a nice loader tractor for feeding cows for $100000 even if the dollar is only worth 80 cents. Can get a decent pickup for less than 50 as well. My last one was $27000 three years ago. It is a 2006 Dodge diesel. While beef producers do deserve every penny, higher prices do kill demand due to substitution with chicken, pork and even pulses. We even have eaten lentils recently.