Livestock

[cottonpicken]

I hope i'm wrong,and i hate to bring it up but.......

Does anyone else see very bad things(way worse than now) coming down the pipe for the livestock guys.

[parsley]

Yup.

Save your cash to buy cows

[parsley]

Won't even talk about the price for their product. But what about feed costs?? Make no mistake boys before seeding we will see $6.00 corn. We all know what this will do for barley.

Talking to my broker yesterday, and he has close ties to some of the Dairy men in the big dairy states. They would way rather feed barley to their herd then corn. Also said that $5.00 canadian feed barley is cheaper than $6.00 corn to feed, most of us know this already, but it doesn't look very promising for the livestock boys anytime soon.

P.S. If beans take off like I know they will..........$6.00 corn will be an understatment.

[BreadWinner]

Come next fall: $200.00 bred cows and $0.50/lb for your steers and $0.30/lb for your heifers. Better dump them now well the going is good, come next fall there wont be a feedlot left in buisness and if they are they will get your calves for a dance or they wont pencil a profit. Sold my herd in Dec 07 for nickels but least it wasnt pennies.

[charliep]

Just note the tie in between the livestock industry and the crops.

Livestock consume about 8.5 MMT of feed barley and 4 MMT of feed wheat. Reduction in livestock numbers and where they are fed will impact domestic feed grain consumption in the coming year. It is showing up to today in new crop pricing opportunties (or lact there of).

I also note snappy's comments. Could be wrong the US ability to feed their livestock in the face of 4 bln bu of ethanol demand is precarious. Will note the joke of two friends who see a bear. One friend stops to put on running shoes. The other says why put on running shoes. You can't outrun a bear. The person putting on the running responds - I don't have to outrun the bear. I just have to outrun you. It could mean medium to long term (realizing the livestock industry has to survive the short term) that Canada will be in a good situation to satisfy growing meet demand out of S.E. Asian.

[IAMTHEMOLE]

I hope everyone enjoys tofu steaks.

[Hopperbin]

I don't think prices for livestock will be low for very long. We in north america want to eat meat so basically we will at whatever price it is. Dam I just paid a 100 dollar bill for 3 meals of salmon.

[cottonpicken]

We'll still be eating lots of steak,it just wont be from Canada.

The only margin available will be based on labour/currency.That aint us.

Sort of like canadian manufacturing.

[parsley]

Highs and lows. That's the cattle business. Longtime cattlemen understand it, and have enough experience to sustain through it.

Yes, yes, memory is a wonderful thing if you don't have to deal with the past.

Buy your meat from a neighbor with cattle; it's one way to help.

We do.

Parsley

[per]

The lowest cost cow guy will live to see another day. The grain guy has waited a long time for his time in the sun. I hope that there will be a long term golden brown tan all around. The concern for both is whether to break up grass and how much?

[grassfarmer]

I’m pleased to see the grain farmer getting a shot at higher prices but don’t get too carried away. You have yet to go through a full growing season and sell a whole crop at high prices. Given the rise in input costs I wonder how high your net margins will be after the 2008 crop is harvested, given all the production risks involved with weather etc.
I’d still rather be a beef producer believe it or not. One important thing you (and also many beef producers) forget is that you don’t need grain to produce beef. This gives us quite an advantage over the pork and chicken producers as they need to feed grain every day. They have been our low price competitors in the meat cabinet but they may become the more expensive meats.
There is a huge future for forage produced beef as we have millions of acres that can only be grazed by cows. Any increase in grain acres will also lead to greater supplies of by-products like straw, chaff and screenings which all make good cattle feed. I’m sure some grain crops will still get hailed out, some won’t get seeded until too late and others may get frosted – there is enough wastage around the grain sector to feed a lot of cattle on the odds and ends and both parties benefit mutually. Bottom line protein production from grass using cattle as harvesters is a far more sustainable system than burning fossil fuels and spraying chemicals to grow grains. I’m happy to stick with beef – we have our challenges but there are always opportunities.

[parsley]

Timely words.

Particularly younger farmers need that assurance, we all do, that "things are going to be okay".

Simply being re-assured, mentored, helps get them through that tough spell when there is little hope at the end of a long cash-shy tunnel.

Cowboys are, admirably, an independent lot, but alone is starkly alone.

Parsley