Well the shit show continues. This fall sucks.

[wd9]

Wd9...

You make a good point and I don't put alot of stock in long term forecasts...ANYONE'S. Drew's daily(three day forecast newsletter) is pretty good...no one can know exactly the direction a system will track or how much precipitation it will drop where. I do think short term forecasting accuracy has improved but still isn't an exact science.

Yes, they read Weathernet and Environment Canada sites, then charge for the "Forecast".

[grassfarmer]

Realizing the weather doesn't permit baling but if it turns there should be an effort put into the idea....from government, crop insurance and cattle producers. ..

Maybe..????

I don't know - not a big fan of Government involvement in these things. Seen it happen too many times before where the producers who haven't got their ducks in a row get bailed out which is unfair to the guys that were proactive and managed their own risk and businesses. Nothing to stop individual ranchers making a deal with a farmer to utilize his crop if they can't harvest it.
Also similar to the idea of dumping grain into Africa you collapse the market negatively affecting the dedicated feed grower/seller.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

I don't know - not a big fan of Government involvement in these things. Seen it happen too many times before where the producers who haven't got their ducks in a row get bailed out which is unfair to the guys that were proactive and managed their own risk and businesses. Nothing to stop individual ranchers making a deal with a farmer to utilize his crop if they can't harvest it.
Also similar to the idea of dumping grain into Africa you collapse the market negatively affecting the dedicated feed grower/seller.

I concur. The only gov involvement I would like to see in this arena would be either elimination of the various subsidies, and insurance, including Agristability, or overhaul them such that no one gets punished for involving livestock in the operation. Then making the decision to salvage a crop for feed would be much easier, especially if it is ones own livestock. Programs like Agristability completely discourage diversification.

[bucket]

Don't take this the wrong way...but taking the tax exemption only consolidates the herd to larger operations that are using cattle as a write-off to their oil operations...

Besides how do you expect young guys to get involved when the only answer is to allow consolidation....

Maybe a young guy goes and bales when he can to feed his new herd instead of selling it and going to another industry....either you want an industry with young guys or you want an industry run by large corporations with young transient workers...

Government will be involved when shit hits the fan for the big boys...

[grassfarmer]

Don't take this the wrong way...but taking the tax exemption only consolidates the herd to larger operations that are using cattle as a write-off to their oil operations...

Besides how do you expect young guys to get involved when the only answer is to allow consolidation....

Maybe a young guy goes and bales when he can to feed his new herd instead of selling it and going to another industry....either you want an industry with young guys or you want an industry run by large corporations with young transient workers...

Government will be involved when shit hits the fan for the big boys...

We already have an "industry" run by large corporations...Cargill, JBS etc. If there was ever a role for Government that was it - preventing corporate concentration. Unfortunately they had better lobbyists than us so that train has already departed the station. Reality is most ranching operations are supported by off farm income, or other on-farm enterprises.

[WiltonRanch]

We already have an "industry" run by large corporations...Cargill, JBS etc. If there was ever a role for Government that was it - preventing corporate concentration. Unfortunately they had better lobbyists than us so that train has already departed the station. Reality is most ranching operations are supported by off farm income, or other on-farm enterprises.

For sure. Not to mention the only way for an upstart rancher to make it is on land not grossly overvalued for its productive capacity. Or high land rent. Even in cow areas competition for grazing and feed ground has pushed up rents to unsustainable levels. Any cheap ground is cheap for a reason. As much as we bitch and moan about how tough farming is it’s definitely been better than when I started and it’s pushed up land cost. Cows at one time were more attractive compared to grain in marginal cropping areas because of shitty prices, and crappy yields because of drought and lower yield potential. Sometimes I think we fool ourselves breaking up land seeded down in the 90’s but it just seems cows can’t compare to a grain crop for opportunity cost. If the pendulum swings back it may change but not enough folks left wanting to run cows. A generation of potential ranchers was lost with BSE. Hope there are younger and naive ones out there to fill the gap.