Cheap feed grain?

[cropduster]

You make some valid points regarding the debts Cowman.The reason for my immediate frustration isonly until pressured by the Barley Growers did ABP write a letter supporting marketing choice (Jan 26/04).CCA can`t find their copy of the letter(do they need our copy?)Should mixed operators attend the gathering in Red Deer this weekend on the promise that those groups will make public declarations to free markets or is this gathering simply misguided infighting???

[TOM4CWB]

Cowman;

Take a look at any feed wheat price in an Alberta elevator... it is just about a perfect match with the 90% PRO for CPS wheat. Until March 31st... a farmer can lock in and cash out 90% of the PRO from the CWB.

If instead we were to be offered a cash price... I would be very surprised if the feed wheat price was not higher to reflect the 10% larger CWB cash price.

THis has happened year after year... if livestock producers don't have to compete with the CWB/World price... because of pooling... livestock will be the choice of many to market their own grain through... plus in most years in the past quarter century, the George Morris Centre showed feed grain prices in western Canada were some of the lowest in the G7 nations.

Certainly a CWB feed wheat price (PRO) of $2.25/bu farm gate in Alberta surely is not forcing any livestock producer to pay a fair price for feed wheat today... with US Corn @ $2.80US especially!

[parsley]

Cowman;
The federal government doesn't finance any of my foreign or domestic grain sales and I consider myself a free marketer.

Parsley

[cowman]

Parsley: Well I guess none of your grain went to Iraq then because the Canadian government definitely did finance that sale...and wrote it off?
I'm not here trying to tell you we have a great system. I do believe our grain farmers have got ripped off on feed grains...not disputing that! Maybe if the system was fairer I'd still be growing grain!
The ABP does not speak for me, just like I assume the CWB does not speak for you? The ABP represents the large feedlots and Packers, NOT the cow/calf guy.
In 2002 the drought was ugly in my area. Barley was almost non-existant due to poor yields and the fact so much of it went into silage/greenfeed. My cousin, who farms my grain land, got the crop planted early and actually got a fairly decent crop off. Yields were about 75% of normal but with the shortage the price looked promising.
Then in came the subsidized corn and down went the price. I sold my calves that year to the US as a whole lot of others did...close to 500,000 calves heading south...while the barley sat in the bin.
Now where was the government protecting my barley prices by keeping out subsidized corn? I assume the CWB kept prices right up there?
Never forget, you the grain farmer, do get to elect your delegates to the CWB! You continue to vote in single market reps, so the only conclusion anyone can come to is the majority of you want this organization to market your grain! If this is not true then throw the rascals out! I will further note that my CWB riding has consistently voted in a dual market candidate(Chatenay) and we are basically a cow/calf area! And I will further note, when I vote for my CWB candidate(although why I get a vote I'll never know) I vote for Chatenay! So I'm doing my small part to get rid of the CWB...how about you?

[poorboy]

Cowman,

Perhaps the fact that you get to vote on CWB elections is part of the problem. Each producer gets one vote, it has no correlation to how much CWB grain that you grow. Why should producers who hold permit books and grow only non-board crops get an equal vote? Your vote should somehow be tracked corresponding to your tonnes of CWB deliveries on the next election and see if there is any difference.
With the age of computers it would be very easy to compare the outcome of one vote per permit book to a vote of so many tonnes delivered last year.

It is also not right that in the cattle industry that there are so many organizations. The cow-calf producers do not fairly represent the Canadian cattle industry no more than the feedlot and packers represent the cattle industry. In most cases the cow-calf producers are poor businessmen and have no idea of bigger picture in global beef trade. And yes, I am a cow-calf producer. It is about time that a united front was found for the cattle industry.

[cropduster]

Thanks for clearing the air about ABP Cowman !!And thanks for voting in the elections.I would like to see more of your type vote! It just seemed to me they felt the CWB didn`t negatively affect them,therefore no votes.Maybe I will go to Red Deer after all !! By the way, I went to jail with the two Jims also........

[parsley]

You bet, Cowman, I try to do what I can to see the best man get elected, even though it's probably pretty insignificant. I don't get a chance to vote for Chatenay or I sure would.

Not one bushel of our grain was sold TO the Board last year, but we did export to the USA. We circumvented all Board pooling when we exported for private sale. Got a Board license, skipped pooling. Got paid directly from our buyer and he paid for the freight. (None to Iraq.)

But I still want a vote because the Board affects transportation for us...containers for example. The Board affects licensing for every farmer, moving grain interprovincially or export. The Board impacts upon the elevators and all the grain companies. It is insidious.

Living with cows too many years, I find that too many cattlemen are too comfortably silent and support the grain farmer with a bit of reticence


Poorboy, many more than I, would grow cereals if we didn't have to haggle with the likes at the Board, so how about votes according to acres so I don't get shut out?
Parsley

[cowman]

Poorboy: Read my lips! I have no desire to vote in the CWB elections! I want nothing to do with the CWB! The only reason I bothered is I know Jim Chatenay personally and I believe the Canadian Wheat Board should be abolished! The same as all the bloody cattle associations! I don't need anybody to tell me what I need to do! I have awful deep pockets and I could probably outlast just about anybody on these boards if I chose to!
Cropduster: If suspect you and me are birds of a feather! I admire people who stand up for what they believe in. I don't know if I would have the guts to do the time for my convictions. You are a hero!

[cowman]

Parsley: It is with a lot of disgust that I agree with you about some cattlemen. I was talking to a straight cow-calf guy last spring telling him how ugly the fusarium problem could be for the grain farmer. His comment" Good! more silage for us. If they get fusarium they can't be exporting it for malt!"
I was frankly flabbergasted and I guess I pretty well gave him a piece of my mind! That kind of thinking just galls me no end! I just thought you ignorant old son of a ....!

[cropduster]

No,Not heros just trying to make a positive change in this country.I`ve heard those silage comments too and couldn`t believe the small horizon thinking