Drones! Pros vs Con!

[canolacrazy]

anybody been to crop production show? what's the mood. fcc still lendin'? where's fall prices at?

[fjlip]

I'd guess suppliers are in denial of any gloom and doom, to save their jobs/sales. Number one on any business list is be positive.

[newguy]

Late November had top 8 month calf sold for 2090.00. My grain land may go down in price but got a crap load of grass that will now be sale able or rent for a good price now. I always thought if you have both cattle and grain you will never get rich or go broke on the highs and lows. Admit BSE and frozen crop the same year almost proved me wrong.

[furrowtickler]

Cattle are going to keep Ag overall Ag outlook positive for the next two years regardless of grain.
For the cattle guys - good on them , they deserve it, they were drug through the mud far too long

[errolanderson]

Guys . . . there could be a meat glut in the U.S. by the last half of 2015.

Cheap corn is going to be fed through animals . . . which will show up as record-breaking carcass weights.

Wholesale beef demand will be the key barometer to the health of spring cattle prices. The cattle board is now sending a clear warning of a market change.

[Klause]

[URL="http://www.robotshop.com/ca/en/cropcam-unmanned-aerial-vehicle-uav.html"] actually about 8 grand... [/URL]

[newguy]

Meat glut in a year.. That is so funny. Cattle industry has the perfect storm ..Low supply low feed prices and record demand. Prices went up to records for 6 months straight and resteraunt beef sales went to record high for 18 months straight. Seems like with low oil corn will be cheap for a long time. Feds may be slaughtered at a lighter weight to try and meet demand earlier. I say the beef industry is in for many good years as some of the high populated countries can now afford to eat beef. And for every person expanding there is 2 packing it in.

[fjlip]

If world economy is tanking, too many people will not afford expensive beef, therefore demand drops and glut, just like oil. Seems like deflation mentality drags every commodity DOWN!

[hobbyfrmr]

So, if a person rents and buys land up to a minimum of 15,000 acres, a drone is affordable.
Sounds good.
That has been the sales pitch for 15 years.

[Mufferaw]

Pork producers in the US are expanding based on profits over the past year. While there are lots of positive fundamentals for beef - pork supplies may be pushing packer capacity by the end of 2015. Beef can only separate itself from substitutions so long.

[newguy]

I agree. Pork production can increase way faster than beef and possibly take some demand away from beef. But when it comes down to it people eat burgers and go to steak houses. With the middle class in the world growing so is the demand on beef.We have to remember the people who raise beef have been basically donating land and labour to produce a calf. Cattle has also been used as a tax dodge. So I feel today's prices are not so crazy as far as getting a good return and making an industry sustainable.

[grassfarmer]

I agree with you newguy that things look strong on the cattle front. A couple of points though - cattle are being fed to ever higher weights at the moment, not being killed early to meet demand. Second point is we are not isolated from world prices. N American beef prices are extremely high at the moment and plans are already underway to ship beef from the EU (notably Ireland) to N America. There are many other places in the world that can produce beef cheaper than Ireland - I'm amazed that it has largely been kept offshore this long.

[Lex]

Just got a phone call from fert dealer urging me to buy saying fert has already gone up $40 and could go higher.

Tell you what. I'm thinking pulses and summer fallow. Not saying that's what I'll do. Just thinking. Oil down....copper down....housing? Fert?

[canolacrazy]

fert dealers always show up this time of year to try and create panic. remember 2008 when viterra tried to convince everyone to buy $1200 nitrogen to bail them out. price went down and they wrote off millions because they paid the high price and couldn't find buyers.
as for cattle, i agree, still slightly bullish because only the young guys who love it will get in. not many want to be tied down 365/24 hours anymore. however when there's a downdraft in commmodities overall, i'd still be buying livestock price insurance to hedge my bets. just sayin'

[mbratrud]

I think everyone needs to take a deep breath, not going to change anything anyway. Need to have a look at things in 12 months. Is oil simply over shooting? Is Opec stupid enough to squander away there profits for a long time? Cheap commodities are actually going to stimulate economies in most of the world. I think in the long run getting the world addicted to cheap commodities will be a good thing.

If you are a speculator then maybe will get burned. If you bought your house to live in, and your land to produce off of then there is nothing to be concerned about.