Feed costs?

[Misterjade9]

Just wondering what some of you have been hearing on feed costs, whether it be greenfeed, silage bales or just feed grains. Sitting here this morning updating my COP's and crunching numbers on the possibility of turning my barley into feed.

[LEP]

Not sure if you are in a dry area right now or not but if you haven't had much experience with greenfeed, a kneehigh crop melts down to a pretty skinny swath to bale after it has been swathed. Don't be over optimistic on quantity of bales you will get.

In our area even the best crop would be better to be grazed. It probably couldn't be swathed given the beer can height.

[grassfarmer]

Hard to predict yet as it's early in the season. Still think there will be a substantial shortage of feed prairie wide but there will be pockets better off as well as areas worse off - depends where you are located relative to the greatest shortage. Hay crops will be short - too late in the year for them to make it up. Wild card for me is the potential of the grain/canola crops - with some moisture I'd think there will be lots of crops with plants at different stages, probably lots going to be late too. A lot of that could potentially go into cattle feed but I don't know how that works from the farmers side. Do you have to keep it and harvest it to get a crop insurance payment versus harvesting earlier while there is volume and quality? We often bought standing crop in AB and silaged it - fields that were going to be poor yielding, late or were full of weeds or hailed crops - but the guys we were buying off didn't have crop insurance so it made the decisions ands deals easier.
This area got badly hailed June 14th last year and was in a drought anyways - guys here that re-seeded canola about now still got a combinable crop in the fall so who knows what's possible this year?

[bucket]

With the number if cows being sold ...it looks like this will balance out....

Swift current has sold over 3500 head of cull cows in the last 4 weeks....and talk is they are fully booked for the next month....1000 head every Tuesday...

Any cow that shows its not keeping condition is hitting the market....

Matter of fact if they look at you wrong guys are dumping them....

[Saskpraireboy]

I made a quick one day trip from Moose Jaw to Calgary and back.
Very sad looking the whole way to Bassano . Bassano to Calgary keeps getting better as you head west. There is no grass, much is grazed right down to the dirt , crops struggling to even germinate.Headed out winter wheat that is patchy and 8” tall. This is a huge area .
On the return home trip some areas looked like they had received some rain after I had passed through on the way that morning . Swift Current looked like it had gotten a good shot. Hopefully everyone gets what they need.
Moose Jaw is also very dry here with no significant moisture since the early May snow.

[sumdumguy]

Our hay quarter that has produced over 200 large rounds in past may produce 200 small squares this year, if we are lucky. ( 45-50 lbs each)

[the big wheel]

But there will be a major announcement for all you cattlemen selling out due to no feed no income tax paid while you sell for half price and when you want to get back in and buy for double you can then claim your income. Lmao!!!

[bucket]

But there will be a major announcement for all you cattlemen selling out due to no feed no income tax paid while you sell for half price and when you want to get back in and buy for double you can then claim your income. Lmao!!!

They will have support payments once the majority of cows are owned by anyone but primary producers. ......once the middleman or packers own them they will have support. .

[the big wheel]

And then we ll have meetings to discuss why there are fewer cattle producers and less young people entering the industry.

[bucket]

And then we ll have meetings to discuss why there are fewer cattle producers and less young people entering the industry.

Yes.... but what else are those that are suppose to be representing you,,, to do after there is no one left?????


If no one is asking for a program for the current situation ....maybe they can study it to death to keep themselves busy...because there won't be any producers left to represent...

The silly ****ers!!!!!!

Cattle guys income is going down for the next few years....herd numbers will be down....the grass won't be back until next year at the earliest and guys won't be overstocking like they have been....few herds will grow...

Matter of fact ...some of the reason cows are being culled is because of the shitty calving season in 2018 and the calf income is down....but who thinks that through at the government level...


Its hurting in the cattle industry at the farm level already....and the stress is there....lets kick the shit out of them again....is the governments thinking...

[GDR]

Yes.... but what else are those that are suppose to be representing you,,, to do after there is no one left?????


If no one is asking for a program for the current situation ....maybe they can study it to death to keep themselves busy...because there won't be any producers left to represent...

The silly ****ers!!!!!!

Cattle guys income is going down for the next few years....herd numbers will be down....the grass won't be back until next year at the earliest and guys won't be overstocking like they have been....few herds will grow...

Matter of fact ...some of the reason cows are being culled is because of the shitty calving season in 2018 and the calf income is down....but who thinks that through at the government level...


Its hurting in the cattle industry at the farm level already....and the stress is there....lets kick the shit out of them again....is the governments thinking...

To add to that, looking like fall calf prices will be lower in 2019.

[GALAXIE500]

I had 2 semi loads of 2nd cut alfalfa bales delivered to the yard for $220 / ton. It was 2018 hay and it was excellent quality. Yes it is expensive , but I have some hay ground that won't be cut because of drought , so you either buy some while you can , or sell cow calf pairs , or cut crop for green feed,which not everyone has for an option. Two inches of rain in May would have been a game changer for us down here.

[sumdumguy]

Every day you can see semis hauling bales this way and that. A load I saw Sunday looked quite black. I am wondering how much quality hay is out there. If pastures don’t get moisture now and all the cattle are brought home to feed, the feed may be coming out of grain bins and will chew up some carry-over that media won’t report anyway. There may be lots of feed south of us in North and South Dakota but US dollars (not so good).