justintime
Well-known member
It is much the same here in Canada, if not even worse. Most cattlemen are struggling and it has been almost 10 years since cattle markets were even close to good. I make most of my living from my cows, and if it wasn't for having pretty decent purebred sales and having my loans mostly paid off, this business would be way beyond stupid. I mentioned here on SP a few weeks ago about going through some old farm receipts and finding some cattle market receipts. In that same year I purchased a new 3/4 4X4 truck and a new 20' stock trailer for a total of $8000. This got me to wondering what those cattle prices would have to be today to have kept up with inflation. I googled, "Inflation calculator" and found several to chose from. I picked one, put my average prices and the year into the calculator, and it said that I should be receiving $4.03/ lb today to have the same buying power for my calves. I sold a heifer a few years after this, in my production sale for $5000. I punched these numbers into the the Inflation calculator, and it told me that I would need to receive $10,208 to have the same " buying power" dollars today. After getting these results, a heifer selling for $3000 in an auction sale, doesn't seem to get quite as good to me, as it used to be.
I spoke with a young couple recently, who have worked their butts off developing and designing the cow herd they wanted to have. They were finally up to 160 cows, where they wanted to be, and both are working off the farm to try to make ends meet. They have 3 small children as well, so I don't have to tell anyone that they are working in the dark, at both ends of the day. They had just sold their calves when I talked with them, and they were totally emotionally drained. It was quite depressing and they were asking me what they should do? They said they had finally got the cow numbers they wanted, and the cows were all below 6 years of age and were the genetic combinations they wanted to have, and they were all bred to calve when they wanted them to arrive. They told me that they had been hanging on for three years now, trying to keep everything together so they could enjoy the " good times" when they finally arrived. They asked me if they should just sell the cows and give up on their dream. I really did not know what to tell them. I still don't. I told them that was a decision that only they could make. I told them that the first thing they had to do was sit down and decide just how badly they wanted this dream and how many other things they were willing to sacrifice to reach this goal. I also told them that someone had once told me that there was actually " life after cows" ( I can hardly believe I said that!) and they also had to think about their young family. They went home and thought about this for a few days and decided that they would sell 1/2 the cows and try to maintain most of their best heifers each year, so that they could have a good herd base if and when cattle markets did return to the so called " good times". I know there are many, many others out there who are experiencing the same thing.
I am not sure what the answer is, but part of it has to be consumer education. North American consumers are very spoiled when it comes to what they have to pay for food. In many respects, most European countries understand the importance of food and are quite willing to spend a bigger portion of their income in purchasing it. Maybe North America needs to experience a famine or a major war, to understand how important a good food supply is. When I was in Scotland, at the Royal Highland Show, I never heard one person complain about a cheeseburger costing 8 pounds ( $16 in our money) and the line ups for food were longer than you would ever see here.
I am afraid that I may be one of the last of an era who have raised cattle strictly as a business. I guess it is also my hobby, as I don't do much else. The only times in my life that I ever worked for someone else was working at someone's cattle sales, and teaching some beef short courses my first winter out of college. Almost every year since I started in this business, my accountant has asked me " why I do what I do?" Some days I also wonder as well, especially when I think that most of my college friends have been retired for a few years now, but I really don't think any of them are happier than I am. I think I sleep as sound at night as any of them as well.
I do not like to dwell on the negative things in this business, but I do think these are issues we need to discuss and we need to start finding solutions too. These are not easy questions, and the answers are not easy as well. I am afraid this journey is a very long one, and one of the biggest helps would be our governments waking up and starting to view a strong agriculture sector as one of the foundations on which our societies are built, rather than just a dwindling voter base.
I spoke with a young couple recently, who have worked their butts off developing and designing the cow herd they wanted to have. They were finally up to 160 cows, where they wanted to be, and both are working off the farm to try to make ends meet. They have 3 small children as well, so I don't have to tell anyone that they are working in the dark, at both ends of the day. They had just sold their calves when I talked with them, and they were totally emotionally drained. It was quite depressing and they were asking me what they should do? They said they had finally got the cow numbers they wanted, and the cows were all below 6 years of age and were the genetic combinations they wanted to have, and they were all bred to calve when they wanted them to arrive. They told me that they had been hanging on for three years now, trying to keep everything together so they could enjoy the " good times" when they finally arrived. They asked me if they should just sell the cows and give up on their dream. I really did not know what to tell them. I still don't. I told them that was a decision that only they could make. I told them that the first thing they had to do was sit down and decide just how badly they wanted this dream and how many other things they were willing to sacrifice to reach this goal. I also told them that someone had once told me that there was actually " life after cows" ( I can hardly believe I said that!) and they also had to think about their young family. They went home and thought about this for a few days and decided that they would sell 1/2 the cows and try to maintain most of their best heifers each year, so that they could have a good herd base if and when cattle markets did return to the so called " good times". I know there are many, many others out there who are experiencing the same thing.
I am not sure what the answer is, but part of it has to be consumer education. North American consumers are very spoiled when it comes to what they have to pay for food. In many respects, most European countries understand the importance of food and are quite willing to spend a bigger portion of their income in purchasing it. Maybe North America needs to experience a famine or a major war, to understand how important a good food supply is. When I was in Scotland, at the Royal Highland Show, I never heard one person complain about a cheeseburger costing 8 pounds ( $16 in our money) and the line ups for food were longer than you would ever see here.
I am afraid that I may be one of the last of an era who have raised cattle strictly as a business. I guess it is also my hobby, as I don't do much else. The only times in my life that I ever worked for someone else was working at someone's cattle sales, and teaching some beef short courses my first winter out of college. Almost every year since I started in this business, my accountant has asked me " why I do what I do?" Some days I also wonder as well, especially when I think that most of my college friends have been retired for a few years now, but I really don't think any of them are happier than I am. I think I sleep as sound at night as any of them as well.
I do not like to dwell on the negative things in this business, but I do think these are issues we need to discuss and we need to start finding solutions too. These are not easy questions, and the answers are not easy as well. I am afraid this journey is a very long one, and one of the biggest helps would be our governments waking up and starting to view a strong agriculture sector as one of the foundations on which our societies are built, rather than just a dwindling voter base.
