Old stories

[farmaholic]

I thought I read somewhere robotics were a fairly big feature of Agritechnica in Hanover Germany.

[burnt]

Got me remembering again with this thread - I could rightly be accused of being stuck in the past...

Here is a piece that I ran in the Ontario Farmer 5 years ago -

Original Design

“Staggering Figures”

"Neil held out the invoice for the newly bought calves. “Buck twenty out there,” he stated, “plus the freight. It works out to about a buck thirty”. At 485 pounds weaning weight, the rancher that produced those calves received a grand total of$582 per calf in the fall of 2010. As a cow calf operator, I could only shake my head.

Even with their lower overhead, the western cattle producers must have a hard time penciling a profit with those prices. Here in Ontario, it is disastrously short of breakeven.

When I recently presented a Member of Parliament with the Canadian cattle producer’s request for mediation on the BSE class action currently in progress, the Member pointed out that some calves were again bringing “a buck thirty” per pound.

Under my silent stare, he falteringly stated that while the cow-calf operator might not find even that improved price to be overly profitable, the feeder/finisher will have a hard time penciling a profit with the higher priced calf. “There are just not enough dollars in the finished animal”. I pointed out that that was not my fault so why should I work for nothing to subsidize the consumer.

The actual value shortfall was sharply highlighted by a farming account my long-retired uncle recently described to me. His early farming experience gave perspective to today's prices.

Soon after marrying my aunt in 1947, he bought my Grandfather's Zurich area farm including 6 cows, about 20 head of young stock, grain and machinery all included. They milked Durham cows, he said, “Because they were dual purpose and milked better than the Herefords”.

The main piece of machinery was a “B” Allis Chalmers tractor. The total package cost just above ten thousand dollars.

After the move, Grandpa’s love for the place compelled him to visit the farm almost daily to check on things. Thus, when Uncle Harold shipped two finished steers to Toronto Stockyards in 1951, Grandpa noticed and asked about their absence.

"Shipped them to Toronto", Uncle Harold replied.

"How much did you get for them?" Grandpa asked.

"$900" Uncle Harold told him.

Grandpa was literally staggered by the news and just stumbled in a small circle for a few minutes mumbling to himself "Nine hundred dollars, nine hundred dollars . . ."

Uncle Harold was locked in paroxysms of laughter as he relived the moment, "$450 each", he chortled. In about 1950 Uncle Harold paid $7500 for one hundred acres and roughly $3000 for the livestock, feed and machinery. And shortly thereafter sold two finished steers for almost $900? “I just hit a good market” was Uncle Harold’s assessment. He had received more than double the $200 Grandpa was accustomed to receiving for butcher steers just a few years previous.

So, whether one uses the $200 or the $450 figure, and even taking into account our increased productivity, it is staggering to extrapolate those values into today’s economy. And then remember that after 2003, in the depths of the BSE crisis, many steers sold for less than $450.

A business that survives only by cannibalizing its production base will necessarily and inevitably fail. So indeed, “a buck thirty” seems a bit skinny and could use some fattening up, all things considered. Staggering figures, indeed."

JES/9/2010

[LEP]

Farmaholic maybe we are headed to where all this technology will work reliably for more than a couple years. One can hope.

I drove a lot of hours in a 705 Minnie, G1000, 1350 and up.

But for a lot of years we used wd9 ihc to Harrow, hay, swath. We have three of them.About 15 years ago I put 200 hrs on that tractor haying and swathing. There's a muscle right between my shoulder blades that still burns when I think about that tractor.

[blackpowder]

Gee, didnt want to infer I ever had it tuff. I did not. Heck, driving tractor kept me out of the cow barn!
Now, my moms parents had it shittier than the neighbours of the day. No decent water. No equity. No money for medicine when granny was sicker than hell. My mom quit university early to help them out till she married dad. The original 3R generation. Enviros today dont know jack!

[blackjack]

One think about the size of the homestead back then...had neighbours with 11 kids in a house maybe 800 sq ft at best.Wonder where they kept them all.Most of us were poor but didn't know anything different.

[bgmb]

The old guys here talk about paying for the farms with the first flax crop.

[cottonpicken]

Good stories. You cattle guys deserve some sort of medal to sticking it out.

To bad the city slicks and the narcistic food babe bitch who never pulled a portchalaca weed in her life will never really know

[bluefargo]

Jay mo
Your post about horses reminded me of my grandfather who started farming with oxen. Apparently they had a mind of their own. On a hot day they headed to the slough and stayed their. The move to horses was a big step forward for him.
Our first tractor was a JD A which we still have.
We used to have a row crop cultivator which had a big lever to raise and lower the thing. I was too little to do it with one arm so I turned around and did it backwards. Every once in awhile my ass would contact the magnito giving me quite a shock.

[furrowtickler]

I feel young when reading some of these posts. I cut my teeth in a 150 bi di vers back in the mid 80's. My first job was cultivating 450 ac in the fall after school and weekends with a 14 ft cultivator. Thought it was the best thing ever for about a week then I could hardly walk. Pulling the harrow bar with that tractor was the next job for days and days after seeding. Like sitting in a phone booth on wooden wheels. The ole man left the bucket on so I could pick rocks at the same time. Not a bad thing looking back, at least I got out of that sweat box to stretch out. We moved up to the 160 and got a vers header - our main swather for many years as well.

[biglentil]

have a versy 150 on my snowblower. Can't beat it for blowing snow. Hydrostatic and no need to crank ones neck 180 degrees, also very maneuverable.