Cost of Production

[cowman]

I get around quite a bit out in the country and I am quite often amazed at the amount of equipment some people have in relation to the number of cows they have!
I mean you'll see some guy with thirty cows feeding them with a $100,000 tractor and a $15,000 bale shredder. Now he can use the tractor for something else but the bale shredder?
Or you see these elaborate chute set ups when the guy has just a few cattle? Now without a doubt these are nice but how do you justify the cost?
And I also see cows lying in alphalfa because the farmer fed them too much and they are fat as seals! Do you think that farmer has any concept of cost of production?
Being fairly tight and always keeping a hand on my wallet, it bothers me to see waste of any kind. But you know I sometimes get the idea that some people don't have any kind of a clue whether they are making any money? It sure isn't like that in the hog business or even the grain business...they have things figured out to the last nickel!

[grassfarmer]

I agree with you on waste Cowman, I was shocked when I moved here how wasteful people are with feed, electricity and fuel particularily. There do seem to be lots of farms/ranches that you drive past that you really wonder if they think about business at all. Compared to the UK there are a lot more amateurs here (but also some outstandingly better outfits)I wonder how much of this comes down to the fact that your land is cheaper. No one can work up from a farm worker position to being a full time farmer in the UK because of land values. Most people farming there started in the job on leaving school not after twenty years working in another industry. I can't help but think you are too old to start farming full time in your 40s or 50s as your natural energy will be declining by this time.

[cowman]

Grassfarmer: I have to agree with you. By the time you hit the mid-forties you don't feel like doing all that much. Or at least that is what happened to me! Suddenly "wildness" became one of my major culling decisions!
Luckily I was able to start turning over my business to my son who was in his early twenties. Now he does most of the real work and I am the PR man! I still don't mind working I just don't want to do it 24/7! There is a time to work hard and long and there is a time to start taking it easy! And I kind of like this "easy" part.