Some times things are going on that I have no way of relating to people who aren't in the agricultural business. This story about rising prices for agricultural producers is one of those things. It very clearly explains how rising production costs are really eating into any money we might be able to make in the business. The real scary thing is what is going to happen when commodity prices crash.
Believe me, this is going to happen. With wheat prices up the way they are, everybody and their dog is planting wheat or going to plant wheat. Then there will be an overproduction scenario if not next year, the year after and then the wheat farmer will be in trouble again. Not only wheat, but other commodities can, and will, see the same scenario playing out in the next few years. The article points out more than once the production cost increase/commodity price drop of the 1980's and how we might be going to see a replay of that scenario. It won't be pretty out here if that happens.
So far the rancher hasn't been tempted by this production increase for some reason. I've talked about it a couple of times that the US whole herd numbers aren't going up like you would expect them too with cattle prices fairly high like they are. I'm not sure if the drought is the cause of that or that ranchers are brighter than the normal producer and don't want to get in an over production/price drop scenario. I just hope ranchers stay out of the big expansion scenario. I actually think they might because while prices are up some for livestock, they aren't up as big as the increases for other commodities so the desire to expand big isn't as great.
All I know is that things aren't getting any cheaper out there. Hell, I really note grocery prices going up along with every thing else causing a squeeze on cash flow around here. Over the years I have instituted a few things to lower my production costs but I am at an end of that for now. I'm out of ideas on how to lower costs and become more efficient. Trying to move to an organic, grass fed or any other specialty type operation might, I repeat might, bring more money in, but I guarantee that my costs will go up more than any money I bring in so they aren't worth it.
All I can do is struggle along. Keep fighting the good fight and making a living here on the prairie. It gets real tiring sometimes. I can't tell if that's the reason I am in a funk or if it is my normal fall funk. We'll see. All I know is don't blame the farmer and rancher for higher food prices at the store. We might be getting a little more money for our products, but our costs are up as well so we are in the same boat as everybody else. Our heads are barly above water and we are struggling too.
We may have all come on different ships, but we're in the same boat now. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Sunday, October 14. 2007
So True
Wednesday, January 10. 2007
Memories
The recent Blizzards in Colorado and a book I am reading have reminded me of the winter of 96-97 in this area. It rivaled the historical winter of 1887 in it's ferocity and snow cover around here. It started in mid October and didn't end until mid April.
I have never fed cows so much hay. I don't care how much hay you put out, they cleaned it up. It was so cold they couldn't get enough energy and the snow was so deep they couldn't get absolutely any king of grazing to eat. Cows would just lay down and die for no apperant reason. I claim to this day that they got tired of fighting the cold and snow and just decided to quit. It's the only explanation that makes sense. I lost over 5% of the cow herd that year just do to the winter being so tough. Normally, I don't lose any but that year I was losing them left and right. It was a bad deal.
Then spring came, the snow was melting and the mud was about 2 feet deep from all the snow and it was quite the quagmire when a when a winter storm hit on about April 4th that lasted for about 5 days. I was in the hight ogf calving season then. The wind blew and the snow fell and the calves died. I fought night and day to save calves and in the end when all was said and done, I lost over 20% of my calves to this one storm. Cows would have them in a bunch to keep warm and the cattle would just tromp them to death in the mud before you could save them. They would have them away from the herd and then get up and walk away never to return and the calf would die before I got there. If I did get there I would never know the cow it came from or have the time to do anything about it. I also had 30 bum calves from the storm that I never could get the time to graft onto cows. It was a never ending nightmare that I never want to go through again.
This was the only time since I had gotten out of the Navy that I ever thought that maybe I had made a bad decision. It really made me wonder if fighting the cattle and the weather was worth it. The funny thing was though, when the sun came out and the warm temperatures hit and the remaining calves were bucking and playing, I forgot all about it and loved what I was doing again. Sometimes a person can get really dragged down around here but you can't let it get you.
There are so many thing in our lives that we can't control, like the weather, our neighbors, politicians, the rain, the land, mother nature and so on to the point the list is unsustainable. Against all these things we can't control, there is one important thing we can control, how we react to these things we can't control. We have to let these things wash over us and continue in our lives and not let them overwhelm us. How we react to these things makes us who we are and let's us set examples for the world.
Why do I bring these things up? Like I said, the Blizzards in the Midwest but also raising a teenage daughter. She's having trouble at school with another student and I have been trying to get her to see that she can't change what the other person is doing, she can only change how she react to it. She hasn't been taking the advice real well until her Grandpa independently told her the same thing in a way she heard. She's finally starting to feel better and react better. Hopefully the lesson will stick.
It is easy to react if everything is going great. Vince Gill
I have never fed cows so much hay. I don't care how much hay you put out, they cleaned it up. It was so cold they couldn't get enough energy and the snow was so deep they couldn't get absolutely any king of grazing to eat. Cows would just lay down and die for no apperant reason. I claim to this day that they got tired of fighting the cold and snow and just decided to quit. It's the only explanation that makes sense. I lost over 5% of the cow herd that year just do to the winter being so tough. Normally, I don't lose any but that year I was losing them left and right. It was a bad deal.
Then spring came, the snow was melting and the mud was about 2 feet deep from all the snow and it was quite the quagmire when a when a winter storm hit on about April 4th that lasted for about 5 days. I was in the hight ogf calving season then. The wind blew and the snow fell and the calves died. I fought night and day to save calves and in the end when all was said and done, I lost over 20% of my calves to this one storm. Cows would have them in a bunch to keep warm and the cattle would just tromp them to death in the mud before you could save them. They would have them away from the herd and then get up and walk away never to return and the calf would die before I got there. If I did get there I would never know the cow it came from or have the time to do anything about it. I also had 30 bum calves from the storm that I never could get the time to graft onto cows. It was a never ending nightmare that I never want to go through again.
This was the only time since I had gotten out of the Navy that I ever thought that maybe I had made a bad decision. It really made me wonder if fighting the cattle and the weather was worth it. The funny thing was though, when the sun came out and the warm temperatures hit and the remaining calves were bucking and playing, I forgot all about it and loved what I was doing again. Sometimes a person can get really dragged down around here but you can't let it get you.
There are so many thing in our lives that we can't control, like the weather, our neighbors, politicians, the rain, the land, mother nature and so on to the point the list is unsustainable. Against all these things we can't control, there is one important thing we can control, how we react to these things we can't control. We have to let these things wash over us and continue in our lives and not let them overwhelm us. How we react to these things makes us who we are and let's us set examples for the world.
Why do I bring these things up? Like I said, the Blizzards in the Midwest but also raising a teenage daughter. She's having trouble at school with another student and I have been trying to get her to see that she can't change what the other person is doing, she can only change how she react to it. She hasn't been taking the advice real well until her Grandpa independently told her the same thing in a way she heard. She's finally starting to feel better and react better. Hopefully the lesson will stick.
It is easy to react if everything is going great. Vince Gill
Wednesday, August 16. 2006
Here We Go Again
Well, no surprise, the Hired Hand quit yesterday morning. I assumed after his doctor appointment on Monday he would. From my discussions with him I figured he was going to opt for surgery over medicine to fix his heart condition. They are going to crack his chest open and either fix or replace his heart valve on Monday. It's sure happening fast, it must be pretty bad. Thirty six and heart trouble. I feel for the guy. The only question I have, and it's none of my business, is where is he getting the money for this surgery. He couldn't even afford to buy food and gas at the end of the month and now he's going in for heart surgery and neither he nor his wife are working. It's gotta be tough.
Now my search for a new Hired Hand begins. Shipping coming up in a month and a half. Is it ever going to be fun around here. The Hired Hand tried to apologize for quitting saying, "I never planned for this to happen." I told him "None of us ever do, it's just this thing called life and we all just have to muddle through." Now to follow my own advice.
Life contains but two tragedies. One is not to get your heart's desire; the other is to get it. George Bernard Shaw
Now my search for a new Hired Hand begins. Shipping coming up in a month and a half. Is it ever going to be fun around here. The Hired Hand tried to apologize for quitting saying, "I never planned for this to happen." I told him "None of us ever do, it's just this thing called life and we all just have to muddle through." Now to follow my own advice.
Life contains but two tragedies. One is not to get your heart's desire; the other is to get it. George Bernard Shaw
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Friday, January 20. 2006
How Depressing
Most college students lack skills to do complex tasks, study says
What is going on in this world. I'm just a dumb cowboy who didn't complete college and I can handle these things, why can't college graduates? It really makes a person wonder.
What may seem depressing or even tragic to one person may seem like an absolute scream to another person, especially if he has had between four and seven beers. Dave Barry
Most college students close to earning a diploma cannot handle many complex but common tasks, from understanding credit card offers to comparing the cost per ounce of food.
Those are the sobering findings of a study of literacy on college campuses, the first to target the skills of students as they approach the start of their careers.
More than 50 percent of students at four-year schools and more than 75 percent at two-year colleges lacked the skills to perform complex literacy tasks.
That means they could not interpret a table about exercise and blood pressure, understand the arguments of newspaper editorials, compare credit card offers with different interest rates and annual fees or summarize results of a survey about parental involvement in school.
What is going on in this world. I'm just a dumb cowboy who didn't complete college and I can handle these things, why can't college graduates? It really makes a person wonder.
What may seem depressing or even tragic to one person may seem like an absolute scream to another person, especially if he has had between four and seven beers. Dave Barry
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