feedlots

[bombay_43]

Maybe the feedlot boys who are so quiet, aren't whinning, because they picked up the government money to cover their loses????

Are you really so nieve as to believe that it really is sunny on the other side of YOUR fence?

Bottom line is, cow/calf or feedlot owners, can not keep operating at losses! No business can!!!

Do you feel like this is a "divide and conquer" situation?

Let's point more fingers at each other, while we are all going broke, and we will forget looking in the right direction!

[carebear300]

Knowing that I am going to get into nothing but trouble again I will raise a few points to add to the discussion. There is no possible way that the cattle industry can survive unless the prices received by every segment increase. Even before BSE the profitability of the cattle industry all revolved around the subsidization of production of feed grains in Europe and U.S.A. this artifically depressed the price of feed grains world wide to facilitate finishing of livestock. The grain produccers in this country have been struggling for years because of these subsidies. Now without these feed grain subsidisies the price of beef would have to be double to produce a profit. Now I have some cows to utilize waste land and grain production is my main enterprise so am double hit with the latest shumozzle. Wish I could twitch my nose of make everything good for everybody but just foresee nothing but tough sledding for all segments of agriculture in the next few years. Sorry wish I could be more optomistic. My dad had a theory the worse things got the closer you were to a turn around, sure hope he was right!!!!

[rsomer]

Just a comment, the $720 cowman quoted was the cost of raising a 600 weaned calf without factoring in anything for a return on investment. To get that 600 pound calf to 800 pounds would cost an estimated $157. See http://www1.agric.gov.ab.ca/$department/deptdocs.nsf/all/nfs6897?opendocument
This would suggest the owner of that 800 pound calf has a total cost of $877. If that calf was sold today it would bring about $0.77 per pound for $616 per head. A loss of at least $261 per head. On top of that the cow calf operator has lost value in his/herd due to BSE and has had to absorb a 57% drop in the value of his cull cows. All this with no assistance for the cow calf sector from government.
I have not seen any feedlot numbers that illustrate that sectors losses.

[grassfarmer]

carebear300, your quote "There is no possible way that the cattle industry can survive unless the prices received by every segment increase."
I take it you meant just the cow/calf and feedlot sector when you said the cattle industry? If you meant the entire production chain from cow/calf through to retailers I would beg to differ.
There is plenty money in the entire beef chain for us all to make a living BUT our problems at the moment stem from the packer/retailer end of the chain removing all the profit. We must address this theft of value by the multi-national corporations or we will be slaves to them forever.

[kato]

Don't forget that the wise feedlots who had the sense to go out over the last month or so, have picked up a bunch of 50 cent calves to help their averages.

If we had have done that, just run out and bought a couple of hundred seven weights at 50 cents, and turned around and sold them today, we could have fixed all the losses we incurred over the winter on our own...in less that a month!

We didn't do it, but I bet some people did. As a matter of fact I know some who did. These are the ones with deep pockets, and they will be quiet about it too.

Even in a wreck, there is money to be made for those with the nerve to stick their necks out.

[johnboy555]

To bombay..............don't get me wrong, i am not pointing fingers, i am just trying to state the facts. Fact is most cowboys think feedlots are ok after govt. help but fact is they still lost up to 500 dollars per hd after govt. help. Put that in your soup.

[johnboy555]

to rsomer.........Whhhhhhaaaaaaaaa

[johnboy555]

Grassfarmer........you tell em dude

[carebear300]

Sorry grassfarmer I stand corrected, that is what I meant to say but thinking on my feet sometimes just don't get it wrote down just right. What will happen if the americans get a duty slapped onto canadian hogs moving into the american market. Just more problems for us all, not going to be simple.

[johnboy555]

kato......i agree with you totally but banker said not 1 more animal............i think likt maybe .00000000001 percent of cattle traded

[rusty1]

kato - youre right - where ever there is a wreck there is opportunity. rsomer should have bought some of the available $600 bred heifers with the money from his toooo higha priced calves that the feedlots spent their AIDs money on last fall.

[rusty1]

you watch rsomer he's going to listen to the AgExtension boys and plow down his hay land and plant potatoes :-)

[johnboy555]

rusty you r so funny and so right....hehehe

[rsomer]

If anyone has issues with the Alberta Ag numbers that is fine. Alberta Ag numbers show the feedlots are making $300 a head since BSE #2. If you have different numbers I would still appreciate it if you could share them. It would be good to share your view of feedlot costs, the numbers as you see them.
Thank you.

[cowman]

johnnyboy: I think you misunderstood me. I wasn't saying the feedlots were doing all right...obviously they aren't if they are packing it in! All I was saying was that this calf market doesn't return enough money to the cow/calf man to keep him viable. And incidently, this feed grain market isn't returning enough to the grain farmer either! Thus we have farmers growing less and less barley every year, even though it is the ideal crop for a lot of areas.
And here is the problem as I see it. The feeders need calves. The feeders need barley. And yes the feeders need to make a profit...no argument there!
But when push comes to shove does the cow/calf/barley grower really need the feedlot? Thirty five years ago there were basically no feedlots. Your cows had 70 calves, you fed out 70 calves and marketed them as fats! Home raised calves fattened on home raised grain. Now if necessary we could go back to that system! I am not saying that is desirable but it could be done? And maybe that will be the only way to capture enough money to make cow/calf work?