Goo ahead and count your blessings...But don't B.S. everyone and yourself about an overall strong fa

[kato]

Now you are the one making too much sense! Well said.

[oneoff]

All that needs to be said is

How has the current system worked to agriculture's sustainable benefit. So why not try some different ideas. That includes farmer market dicipline; and maybe cutting those with big appetites some slack to also downsize and/or fail.

Insanity has already been defined as repeatedly doing the same thing and expecting different results.

And governments should do things like seeing transportation monopolies deliver a satisfactory level of service.... but funding programs that do as much harm as good; just might be causing negative net benefits

[bucket]

You guys see hamburger in the stores at 4 bucks a pound and steak double that. The cost to slaughter has been reduced with these big plants and you guys don't want a bigger piece of returns and are satisfied knowing your the lowest cost producer?

I have to ask wtf is wrong with you? I get the using the iron until it's worn out but you guys deserve more. When the down turn comes like in grains prices at the grocery store are not going down.

over on newagtalk they are wondering why there are news clips about food prices and the lower grain prices. There was plenty of talk when corn was 8 bucks about food inflation but not a blip about it now. Why?

[bucket]

BTW I just wanted a better insurance plan. The existing one sucks.

Cattle guys finally got something.

Everything needs tweeking as things change.

[freewheat]

You don't buy high priced, gross store meats. You hunt them, (my moose last year cost around 10 cents a lb.), grow them yourself, (My lamb and chicken for less than a dollar a lb, and eggs at a dollar for 18, are dang cheap), or trade with neighbors who think like you! Much better meat anyway than store bought carp.

It is a state of mind. A state of mind that as a farmer, I do not feel I "deserve" new machinery. I could care less about STUFF. I know this is abnormal in today's world, but contentedness is a great thing, but oh so elusive to most.

While my neighbor is freaking out to get more land, more stuff, I am out collecting eggs with my girls, hunting with my boys, feeding the various critters on this ranch!

I realize I have a strange state of mind. I should have been born in the 1920's in many ways. But I enjoy it...

And I do not run my machinery until it dies: I maintain it so it lasts. And when something needs replacing, I trade up to something 10 or 15 years old again.

[cottonpicken]

Everyone should remember we are all playing a different ball game and are just playing the cards delt to us and the sacifice of success at farming can also lead to a break down in other areas of ones life.

balance,balance,balance,not that i have it.

[freewheat]

Very good point, cotton. I have no doubt if dealt a different hand, I would have been a different kind of farmer.

[farmaholic]

To each their own....

I don't care but somewhat admire how you choose to live your life and run your farm. But if you think "WE" deserve less than the other Industry players that is where you and I will have to agree to disagree. When inland terminals do back to wooden houses and annexes and railways start using coal to power their locomotives and every other supplier of goods and services takes afew steps back or
stops progressing with new technology that will be the day I won't expect anything better for "US" either.

[sumdumguy]

Good for you Freewheat, I know exactly how you feel. And when your children move on, they will have fond memories of their home. Until age 11, I lived near Mikado and experienced life as you describe and now my grandchildren listen with awe to the stories. There were mushrooms, animals, baling small squares, crows feet, gopher hunting, fishing, saskatoons, hazelnuts. Can't say any one of them can even relate, but do they love the stories. Haven't eaten moose though. Is it good as beef?

[freewheat]

Moose IMO is better than beef. Lean, tender, delicious! But moose meat needs a good and proper preparation and cooking, because of the lean issue.

I think I am misunderstood a little bit. I am not all completely backwards: My farm is a blend of new and older, animals and gardens, and technology and painful labor. lol!

I am no Weibo Ludwig, or THAT kind of thing. I just live a simpler life. Not saying it is right, but it is who I am. Some born of necessity in the cards dealt, some just because gosh darn, I enjoy good meat, fresh eggs, etc..

I do not mean we do not deserve a reasonable living at all. I think everyone does. But does 9000 acres and 5 million in machinery mean a decent living? Do we all "deserve" whatever our hearts desire? Or can we reign in some spending, and live simpler?

Don't get me wrong, I put up new bins like everyone else when justified. I like gadgetry to an extent. I prefer a 1990's tractor cab to a 1970's one. I would like to buy certain pieces of land if possible over time. But keeping costs down is the one thing we can all control to a great extent.

[SASKFARMER3]

On the Moose thing. Swathing Barley North of us that we will harvest in 3 to 5 days if the weather holds. Come around a corner and wow. 5 moose. two big males and three females. all having fun in my barley.
Yes they make the best steaks. When I was young dad and his friends would go to Hudson Bay and hunt every fall. Ah childhood memories.

[sumdumguy]

Gonna buy a BIG freezer, see if what you guys say is true. For sure, the dog will be pleased. Moose are plentiful even down South. I thought they liked the bush up north.

[freewheat]

Moose are now everywhere. Use to be you had to hunt the forest. But now you just have to be lucky and get drawn.

[wmoebis]

Can you imagine if early people hadn't almost wiped out the buffalo and they were running wild like deer and moose.
Can't imagine hitting moose or buffalo with a car at 100 km/hr.

[sumdumguy]

A huge buck was watching me try to fix the combine last night. A rack the size of a Greyhound bus. He didn't pay any attention to me at all. He had to weigh a lot more than a steer.