Speaking of CAIS...

[kato]

Exactly how slow are they? We've had an application in for five months, and still not a peep out of them. This is even slower than other years, which is hard to believe.

Anyone here had an application actually processed yet? How long did it take?

[mb_rancher]

kato,

I know the feeling. Ive called them quite a few times asking if our application was processed and they keep saying they are on hold. I know of one family member who sent his application in to Cais in July he has his calculation of benefits back already. Its getting frustrating.

[grassfarmer]

I always forget which year I'm waiting on them to process they are so far behind. As an anti-disaster package it is completely useless as if you were depending on CAIS you would be out of business before they get around to paying out - even in you were in a payment position. Remind me again how to you get in a payment position again?? it's been so long I've forgotten.

[perfecho]

but....if my info is not in on time, they send a letter stating that $500.00/month will be deducted from any monies sent out.

[Junebug]

You need to fax them a letter saying are need to make some very important finanical decissions and you need to know if there is anything coming from CAIS. Our application hadn't progressed in 5 months, but came very quickly after the letter.

[kato]

I bet it wasn't a coincidence either. I think I'll give it a try.

[Sawbones]

Can anyone tell me why
cows are not treated as the other commodities and their decrease in value is not calculated in the loss for the operation. We run about 250 cows and that change in policy resulted in a potential claim of $37,000 being reduced to $0.
Can anyoine also tell me why they dropped the optional/madatory inventory adjustment without recalculating the previous years margins. That also has made significant changes.
I hate this extra bookwork but if I'm forced to do it, I expect to be compensated when its justified

[Cattleman]

Cows are priced at end of year price because CAIS admin argue that since cows tend to not be marketed you don't realize the loss. This may be flawed, because if you sell the cows for less than the opening inventory value you will realize the loss. But if opening inv. values are around 7 or 8 hundred dollars, you have lost maybe $500 in equity that you never got compensated for.

Government also justifies this P2 pricing for breeding stock by stating that when bred cows go up in value, you will not be credited with a gain in margin. Also a problem because when cows go up in value you likely had a better than average year, but that will depend on your operation.

OIA/MIA was removed from the margins because it was replaced with accrual margins, from your CITI statements. OIA was a proxy for past inventory adj. It is important to be aware of this as there were several errors with CITI statements, so make sure your CITI inventory adjustments are correct, as it could have a significant impact on your payment.

[mb_rancher]

kato any luck with them yet in gettin gyour app processed?

[kato]

Nope. Not yet.