the real cost

[frustrated1]

Perhaps the greatest loss is our sleep. Anxiety attacks anyone? Or the loss of ability to make a decision without second guessing it a hundred times over. Every decision made in the past two years regarding cattle was right at the time but turning out to be oh so wrong now. One other wrong decision apparently was to stay diversified in grain, cattle and custom work. My loss on 2000 acres of grain was as big in the drought as anyone else's in the area but because we kept cows and put up everything for silage our feed and stock inventory prevented us from collecting the FIDP payments that bought the neighbours new sprayers and boats. This year the grain was better and the cows aren't devalued until we lose them so we slip through the cracks of the programs again. Seems to me we're killing ourselves physically, financially and now emotionally by trying too hard. Anyone else out there feeling completly beaten up by "slipping through the cracks?" The money paid out to others with only one enterprise sure would come in handy right now.

[cowman]

What can you do? You struggle in this life and you do the best you can. Sometimes you win sometimes you lose...hopefully you win more than you lose!
I would say stick with your diversity. At least you don't go down when one thing fails. At least you had something to feed your cows in the drought because you were able to take the crop. A lot of straight cattle men had no feed. And I can't speak for them but I never got no FDIP.
At the end of the day we can't rely on governments. They are just too darn fickle about handing out the money. You'll make it if you stick with your plan.

[ivbinconned]

I started sleeping alot better years ago when I decided to NOT FARM THE PROGRAMS. My decisions are based on whats right for our land, I don't fill out any forms, and we live with the results. No boat!

Nothing raises my blood pressure and stress level more than red tape and complicated government progams. I find that if I expect little from government I am never disappointed.

It has been my view that the details to qualify for gov. programs are to eliminate as many as possible from benifiting. And that usually included me.

[jensend]

take a look at what n. jahnker and d.laycraft had to say on Feb. 10. the comments are in the news section here on agri-ville. everybody's doing fine. they have made themselves look foolish in the extreme by totally ignoring the cow calf producer and small feedlot operator. i sent them my point of view. the greatest loss of wealth has come at the lowest level but according to these guys the rest are doing not bad.

[frustrated1]

Just to clear things up, we definetly do NOT farm for the programs! When friends were making quit claims and buying thier land back at 50cents on the dollar, I was paying my interest. When neighbours collected tens of thousands of dollars on GRIP, I was paying my spray and fertilizer bills. When guys were rebuilding and putting new tires on everything to collect FIDP we continued to run a tight ship with the best agronomics in mind. What I AM saying is that if we were not trying to stabalize our own income by diversification, we would have qualified for the same monies that others have by only running one enterprize. Why shouldn't my grain operation have been entitled to the same monies as the one across the fence? No, I subsidized myself with the cows. No money for you! This year appears will be the opposite, I'll subsidize the cows with the grain. I'm feeling a bit left out because I tried. I certainly don't depend on nor expect a lot from these programs and that's why we do what we do, but it bugs me to be penalized for trying.

[ivbinconned]

Hats off to you frustrated!! Your a honorable man!

To be involved in primary ag. production is an honorable profession...and a good place to teach a family work ethics.

However governments and much of the urban public have little empithy for us and some even hold us in contempt.

[kato]

Some have been on the "take" so long that it has become a way of life. Go for the easy money..if you don't, you are considered dumb. If it is handed to you, then you must deserve it. It's more normal to get handouts than it has to actually work for a living.

The part that bugs me the most is that now, for the first time in what seems like forever, we are in dire straits, and yet we feel guilty about receiving assistance. I hope other people realize just how hard it is for us to ask for help. This is not the way we live. It goes against everything we have ever done in the past. I can't think of a single industry in this country that has gone it alone quite like this one has.

[cowman]

Don't feel guilty Kato. It's your money, its your country. Why shouldn't you get a piece of the action? Do you think just Quebec politicians are entitled to share the pie?
Perhaps the main theme of the old Social Credit party was that we all own a share of this country. Not just the Bay Street brokers but the bum in the street too. Consider the country as a corporation(Canada Inc.?) and we are all shareholders. As shareholders we don't necessarily deserve a salary(we have to work for that) but we do deserve a dividend! Now unfortunately in a poorly run corporation the administration tends to spend up all the profits, so there can be no dividend for the shareholders! That is when we need to replace the administration?
So don't look on gov. programs as charity but as your right! You do deserve a dividend...and maybe a bonus besides because you have been contributing to the bottom line in a big way!

[kato]

Could have used your help at the bank today! LOL

Word of advice...if you go whining to the bank, don't do it the day before the loan officer is due to fly to some warm place for a holiday. Me thinks his mind was not on his work! Me also thinks that when the dust settles, all this particular bank will see of us is our dust!

Remember everybody..put a big sign on your wall to remind you every day...The Banker is NOT Your Friend.

[cowman]

I have found most bankers are dullards who have about as much sense as a chicken. You can usually play them like a violin...you just need to know how to play. If they start to get antsy just throw up your hands and say I can't take it anymore, you'll have to take over! Then inform them you are going to check in at the nut house right this minute and they'll need to get out there and feed "their" cows! This will probably get their attention and they will start to see that you maybe aren't so bad!
The worst thing about bankers is just when you get one educated a bit they ship them off! It seems like musical chairs at the bank sometimes!
Several years ago my neighbor had a particularily odious little weasel for a banker who insisted on harassing him. One day he came out to my neighbors hogbarn and was ranting about him not filling out some form. Well me neighbor was sick of it and took him by the neck and put him on the wall. He told him" You either foreclose on me or get off my back" He said after that the bankers attitude improved considerably and he was no longer rude at all! Pig prices improved and everyone was happy.

[frustrated1]

at the risk of defending the guilty, we've actually got a banker who took a drop in pay to be able to stay in the community with his family. for the most part he's been a big source of encouragement these last couple years. having said that kato, i do keep a large picture of a pack of wolves just over my office desk, along with two seperate pictures of our combines trapped in snow(one in august) just to remind me not to get too cocky. they're always there.

[boone]

frustrated1: Your gonna make it!

[kato]

We had a pretty good banker last year, but they shipped him off to Lethbridge to finance feedlots. I wonder if there's anything left of him?

They replaced him with a young fellow, right out of school. Not enough experience for times like these.

The main thing to keep in mind is that they are working for the bank..not us. The bank's interest are most important to them, even in good times when they tempt us with big fat loans for big fat expansions that we really don't need. We are not signing their paychecks.