Aaron - - Canadian Corn and Beans ?

Help Support CattleToday:

Stocker Steve

Well-known member
Joined
May 2, 2005
Messages
12,131
Reaction score
1,268
Location
Central Minnesota
Reported today that Canadian prairies are adding 2 growing days per decade, plus more rain, with Manitoba growing over 7 million acres of soy beans this year! What is up around you Aaron?
 
Grow lots of both around here, but Ill still take a couple more nice days if they're giving them out.

20160718_101257.jpg
 
Hauling the little white cart around the fields the last couple of days. Cereal seeding is done and guys are just waiting a little longer for the corn, beans and grass seed to go in - soil is still cold in spots. Can have 'er all boys. Raise more grain and race the price to the bottom. I'll just keep buying whole oats for feed at $0.05/lb. and let the guy raising them take the loss. Cows is where it's at - too much work for a grain farmer! #cowscansurviveahardfrost
 
Minnesota is pushing for a return of livestock to the land, but the grain guys do not want to give up the corn / beans / Cancun rotation.
 
That's the point I don't get.. all these advances everywhere haven't REALLY paid off for the farmer, yet they all tout the great benefits of it.. 60 ft seed drills, 600 hp tractors, etc, and at the end they're still trying to make ends meet

So who's getting the benefit? At $5 a loaf of bread it's not the consumer either

I particularly love it when the price of bread goes up $1 a loaf because wheat doubled in price.. but there's still only $.05 worth in a loaf.
 
Funny thing is here you have guys clearing and tiling land to put crops in and have $2500-3000 invested in land 'improvement' alone and they think grain cropping is the way to go. One bad year and they will be bankrupt. But I guess it doesn't matter because our federal and provincial governments are going to bankrupt themselves anyways. The spending promises from Ontario alone are beyond insanity. Should put a pole in the yard and start flying the Stars and Stripes - best be prepared for the inevitable.
 
Oats was profitable if you had the right buyer for the straw, but with the small diaries going out that is not possible in many areas.
Soybeans is a sleeper if you bale graze (to get K up) and have a way to deal with rocks. I really like the seedbed it creates for the following forage mix.
I thought about tile, but timothy and reed canary seed are cheaper.
 
Nesikep":266kq7h7 said:
That's the point I don't get.. all these advances everywhere haven't REALLY paid off for the farmer, yet they all tout the great benefits of it...

Technology could pay off with $7 commodity corn, but at the current prices the folks who invested recently are making less/losing more per acre than more traditional farmers. This has all been documented in FinBin data.

If technology allows you to run more acres, but you are losing $ on each acre, then more acres means...
 
Aaron":1g3srko4 said:
Funny thing is here you have guys clearing and tiling land to put crops in and have $2500-3000 invested in land 'improvement' alone and they think grain cropping is the way to go. One bad year and they will be bankrupt.

We have had 3 high yield / poor profit grain years in a row. One local cashed in his life insurance to put a crop in this spring.

Equity lending is coming back. Banks here talk tough - - but accept interest only, or term out some debt to extend and pretend.
 
I'm just saying that collectively, we've all kept sharpening our pencils, which has enabled lower prices and lower profits... People used to be able to make a living (albeit slim) on a quarter section, rural towns did well, because there were people there, all with their little plot of land... Story is the same around the world.
 
Nesikep":2ejij5sw said:
People used to be able to make a living (albeit slim) on a quarter section, rural towns did well, because there were people there, all with their little plot of land...

Consolidation is a big trend for production ag - - trying to make U$S 25 to 50 per acre on thousands of acres by buying inputs by semi load from out of the area, running 5,000 to 10,000 cows in a herd, beginning farmer loans to build new confinement buildings...

The local food focus is a positive trends. We are saturated with micro breweries, but now there are a number of on farm distilleries starting up. I went to a local tasting session to be a good neighbor. :nod: Nesikep - - is BC doing this yet?
 
Stocker Steve":1i3eq6a5 said:
Nesikep":1i3eq6a5 said:
That's the point I don't get.. all these advances everywhere haven't REALLY paid off for the farmer, yet they all tout the great benefits of it...

Technology could pay off with $7 commodity corn, but at the current prices the folks who invested recently are making less/losing more per acre than more traditional farmers. This has all been documented in FinBin data.

If technology allows you to run more acres, but you are losing $ on each acre, then more acres means...
Don't worry, they make up for it on volume! :dunce:
 
Stocker Steve":3fk4yc2y said:
Aaron":3fk4yc2y said:
Funny thing is here you have guys clearing and tiling land to put crops in and have $2500-3000 invested in land 'improvement' alone and they think grain cropping is the way to go. One bad year and they will be bankrupt.

We have had 3 high yield / poor profit grain years in a row. One local cashed in his life insurance to put a crop in this spring.

Equity lending is coming back. Banks here talk tough - - but accept interest only, or term out some debt to extend and pretend.
When I went to my bank to pay the operating loan in March, my banker asked me if I just wanted to pay the interest or what. You could of knocked me over with a feather! I said no, I want to pay the whole thing. Apparently, paying interest only must be the trend this year. I can't imagine having more than one years' operating money out there (by choice), but my entire line of equipment probably wouldn't buy a new 45 foot Draper head either. I guess I can live with winning ugly instead of losing pretty.
 
Stocker Steve":oizztyue said:
Nesikep":oizztyue said:
People used to be able to make a living (albeit slim) on a quarter section, rural towns did well, because there were people there, all with their little plot of land...

Consolidation is a big trend for production ag - - trying to make U$S 25 to 50 per acre on thousands of acres by buying inputs by semi load from out of the area, running 5,000 to 10,000 cows in a herd, beginning farmer loans to build new confinement buildings...

The local food focus is a positive trends. We are saturated with micro breweries, but now there are a number of on farm distilleries starting up. I went to a local tasting session to be a good neighbor. :nod: Nesikep - - is BC doing this yet?
Lots of microbreweries here too, though not quite local.. we do have a lot of wineries, and a local one (Fort Berens)

Little guys are getting swallowed up, the "eat local" is maybe a bit of a niche.. but Blue Goose has spent about $50 million on buying ranches in my area. they like the bigger ones of course, I have no idea where they're getting the capital for investment, but they own the only federally inspected slaughterhouse in BC.. they have about 6 ranches or so of 600 head and up.. just spent $5.5M on another one a few weeks ago.
 
Nesikep":1cl6wo00 said:
Stocker Steve":1cl6wo00 said:
Nesikep":1cl6wo00 said:
People used to be able to make a living (albeit slim) on a quarter section, rural towns did well, because there were people there, all with their little plot of land...

Consolidation is a big trend for production ag - - trying to make U$S 25 to 50 per acre on thousands of acres by buying inputs by semi load from out of the area, running 5,000 to 10,000 cows in a herd, beginning farmer loans to build new confinement buildings...

The local food focus is a positive trends. We are saturated with micro breweries, but now there are a number of on farm distilleries starting up. I went to a local tasting session to be a good neighbor. :nod: Nesikep - - is BC doing this yet?
Lots of microbreweries here too, though not quite local.. we do have a lot of wineries, and a local one (Fort Berens)

Little guys are getting swallowed up, the "eat local" is maybe a bit of a niche.. but Blue Goose has spent about $50 million on buying ranches in my area. they like the bigger ones of course, I have no idea where they're getting the capital for investment, but they own the only federally inspected slaughterhouse in BC.. they have about 6 ranches or so of 600 head and up.. just spent $5.5M on another one a few weeks ago.

Everybody declared eat local as the saving grace here until they learned that consumers want it at the same price in the store. Lots of guys got sucked into feeding small groups of cattle, hoping to cash in. Until they learned that people want payment plans, paying by credit card and not paying at all. Some guys got burnt on one animal and learned their lesson and some just continue to be a beacon for financial punishment. I only feed single animals for myself and family and I name the price or the animal can damn well go to the auction mart. I lose enough money on the ones that die, sure not going to lose on the ones that are alive.
 
Aaron":2ir6e0a9 said:
Nesikep":2ir6e0a9 said:
Stocker Steve":2ir6e0a9 said:
Consolidation is a big trend for production ag - - trying to make U$S 25 to 50 per acre on thousands of acres by buying inputs by semi load from out of the area, running 5,000 to 10,000 cows in a herd, beginning farmer loans to build new confinement buildings...

The local food focus is a positive trends. We are saturated with micro breweries, but now there are a number of on farm distilleries starting up. I went to a local tasting session to be a good neighbor. :nod: Nesikep - - is BC doing this yet?
Lots of microbreweries here too, though not quite local.. we do have a lot of wineries, and a local one (Fort Berens)

Little guys are getting swallowed up, the "eat local" is maybe a bit of a niche.. but Blue Goose has spent about $50 million on buying ranches in my area. they like the bigger ones of course, I have no idea where they're getting the capital for investment, but they own the only federally inspected slaughterhouse in BC.. they have about 6 ranches or so of 600 head and up.. just spent $5.5M on another one a few weeks ago.

Everybody declared eat local as the saving grace here until they learned that consumers want it at the same price in the store. Lots of guys got sucked into feeding small groups of cattle, hoping to cash in. Until they learned that people want payment plans, paying by credit card and not paying at all. Some guys got burnt on one animal and learned their lesson and some just continue to be a beacon for financial punishment. I only feed single animals for myself and family and I name the price or the animal can be nice well go to the auction mart. I lose enough money on the ones that die, sure not going to lose on the ones that are alive.

Yup, I'd rather sell them at a loss at the sale barn than put a pile of work, feed, blood, sweat and tears into them to sell them to a bunch of ingrates.. Preorder, and prepay is the new thing here
 

Latest posts

Top