How can you compete?

[cowman]

I have a friend who owns a construction company and is quite wealthy. About five years ago he bought a half section for his "retirement", built the mansion and an unreal horsebarn, seeded it all to grass and bought some cows. He likes to play cowboy! Has the fancy horses etc. Buys all his hay,straw etc. Has a local guy feed the cows in the winter and do most of the calving while he vacations in Hawaii or the Bahamas. Buys fancy bulls at the big flashy sales!
Now you could be the most efficient cattleman in the world and you can't compete with this guy because he couldn't care if he ever makes a dollar at it...in fact he probably would like to lose a bit for tax purposes!
This is one of the problems of the cattle business. Now he tells me he is considering buying out his neighbor at an outrageous price! Spare change to him but completely unrealistic for someone trying to make a buck! Is this what our industry is headed for? Rich guys playing John Wayne?

[dalek]

Cowman it's what the cow-calf industry in Ontario has been for years .. part-timers with 20-25 cows playing around on the weekends, if they make a little that's fine but as long as they can write off their new pickup every year or two, even if it takes some creative accounting, most don't care if they win or lose. Then they spend their time at the coffee shop tsk tsking about no young farmers farming for a living.

[dalek]

Cowman it's what the cow-calf industry in Ontario has been for years .. part-timers with 20-25 cows playing around on the weekends, if they make a little that's fine but as long as they can write off their new pickup every year or two, even if it takes some creative accounting, most don't care if they win or lose. Then they spend their time at the coffee shop tsk tsking about no young farmers farming for a living.

[dalek]

Cowman it's what the cow-calf industry in Ontario has been for years .. part-timers with 20-25 cows playing around on the weekends, if they make a little that's fine but as long as they can write off their new pickup every year or two, even if it takes some creative accounting, most don't care if they win or lose. Then they spend their time at the coffee shop tsk tsking about no young farmers farming for a living.

[dalek]

Cowman it's what the cow-calf industry in Ontario has been for years .. part-timers with 20-25 cows playing around on the weekends, if they make a little that's fine but as long as they can write off their new pickup every year or two, even if it takes some creative accounting, most don't care if they win or lose. Then they spend their time at the coffee shop tsk tsking about no young farmers farming for a living.

[ALICIA]

I beleve I just took the shot. And their is a lot of wolves out their.

[cowman]

Alicia: You sort of lost me there! You either think way outside the box or else I'm not catching what you're pitching!

[bbattist]

Here in Nova Scotia being a part-timer is about the only way we can survive in the beef business and be assured it's not for tax purposes. Most of us us were brought up on our farm and do not want to see it disappear and have an off-farm job to keep it alive. And I wish it was just weekends that I have to "play" around. Try working 12 hour shifts, driving home then looking after the animals. This has been our "way of life" now for a generation.Not really by choice but forced on us by lack of support from our government and retailers that feel that all the beef consumed here can be raised more efficiently out West or outside the country. There is nothing more that I
would like than to be able to stay home and have the cattle look after the land that our for-Fathers toiled so hard clear and buildup. It is hard to accept our present Governments economic way of thinking and loosing our way of life to the "Big Guys".

[cowman]

I read in the Western Producer that about 55% of farmers have to do something else to survive, so don't feel bad. If that 55% weren't around who would be farming all that land? The big farmers around here have just about all they can handle or want. They are like anybody else...another day older and deeper in debt!
I have a neighbor who is in his seventies who farms a lot of land. His son is in his forties. They have a hard time keeping any help because most people aren't into working 7 days a week 18 hours a day! Like they do!
The son had a woman but she got sick of being a slave and pulled out. So what good does it do them? No time for a break as they have cows and a feedlot as well as grain. With out a doubt they have lots of money but they have no time to spend it! What's the purpose?

[rsomer]

cowman: Very thought provoking comments. Maybe we are all John Waynes? For certain the efficient cattleman, whatever that is, won’t be able to compete with this guy in terms of lifestyle. I do think there is quite a bit of "rich guys playing John Wayne" going on in the industry yet. Just check out the truck and stock trailer combinations at the auction, John Wayne would have been proud to drive over 50% of them. You mentioned tax purposes, aren’t most of the cattle bought from now to year end bought with tax in mind? If I make $25 a head great but if not, well, it beats paying taxes has got to be the thinking going on in the minds of many bidders. Buys all his hay, straw etc., we have ranchers here that do that all the time, its the fad right now. I doubt making a buck is the motivation behind buying land anywhere in this province. It seems to me that his fellow simply is willing to pay a more outrageous price for your neighbour’s land than the going outrageous price. It could be that this fellow is just out John Wayneing all us John Waynes.

And I couldn’t resist throwing in a John Wayne quote: "I don't feel we did wrong in taking this great country away from them. There were great numbers of people who needed new land, and the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves."
--John Wayne

BTW, John Wayne wouldn’t be caught dead driving my stock trailer to town, its way too efficient.

[cowman]

An efficient cattleman is one who tries to make a buck at it. Keeps costs low and profits up! Not an easy thing to do sometimes! Can be a fine juggling act at times!
It's like the farmer who pours on the fertilizer, sprays for everything, has the most reliable equipment etc. He grows one hell of a crop and grosses more money than all the neighbors...and loses his shirt after all the bills are paid! His neighbor puts on less fertilizer, sprays the minimum, and uses old junk to farm. He gets less production but he actually has a few bucks in his jeans after paying the bills. He is the most efficient farmer!
I see commercial cattlemen going out and buying high priced bulls at fancy sales. Now this is fun as you are in the spotlight and all the purebred boys think you are just a wonderful fellow! They tell you how progressive you are and what a good cattleman you are! Of course that $4000 bull might be superior or he might not be any better than the $2200 one down the road? I'll never forget what my Grandfather told me about the purebred business..." It's 20% genetics, 30% feeding, and 50% BS!!!" Now that was in the 50's and 60's so today it's changed right? I would suggest the feeding and genetics might have shifted a bit but the BS has stayed about the same? And I'm not out to rip the purebred business, it paid for this farm! But you know for $25 you can get the top genetics in the world, in a straw?
Personally I wouldn't buy some of these fancy stock trailers if I won the lottery! I have a good 20 foot gooseneck that works real good. It's ten years old and the paints a little faded but it sure gets the job done. I have no desire to impress the neighbors! Furthermore if I had all the money in the world I wouldn't buy a BMW or Mercedes or whatever. A good old Ford, Chev, or Dodge works for me. I guess I'm just a peasant at heart!

[rsomer]

cowman: I couldn’t agree more. Right on comments about the efficient farmer. I always say there is a fine line between marketing and BS and the purebred breeders tend to stray across the line every once in a while.

Your neighbour, John Wayne, has kind of won the lottery, hasn’t he. Now you are wondering how can you compete. Do you need to compete with him? If you don’t feel the need to match his lifestyle or the pickup he drives or the bulls he buys then you aren’t in competition. Isn’t the competition really about how to achieve our own economic goals while living our own life as we want? A lot of people are forgetting that these days and instead are trying to be John Waynes too.