Cattle farmers not cashing in..............

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There is already an organization in existence. It is the U. S. Cattlemen's. The NBCA is by far the biggest but too much influence by the packers for me. There is R-Calf which is to sue happy for me. The U.S. Cattlemen is somewhere in between. I have never joined but certainly considered it.
I looked up all 3 associations. I like U. S. Cattlemen's structure by region and length of terms for each position. Plus like the fact that the bylaws are right there in plan site and pretty straight forward.

NBCA & R-Calf didn't really go into much detail of structure and members rights and voice in process.
USCA and R-Calf have better issue information than NBCA. Will be doing more research and consider which one to join.
Most important thing for me is that members get a voice and voting rights on leadership and direction of policy. Needs to be boots on the ground influencing things, less chance for outside influence.

To change things, producer's need a seat at the table. The only thing that changes policy is $$$ combined with a strong and united voice.
Change maybe slow but it has to start somewhere!
 
The biggest influence on improving cattle prices will be the northern plains rebuilding their herds when the drought is over. The drought forced ranchers to cut back drastically on cow numbers. When water and grass are plentiful again, they will retain every decent heifer they have to breed and build back the herds. This will reduce the supply (fewer head sold) and cause feeder prices to be good for a couple years until the production numbers are back to normal levels. It's part of the natural cycle of cattle prices.
 
There was also the Texas drought from 2011-2012 that moved north 2012-2013. A lot of cows got liquidated. US has been building the cow herd since 2014. There have been maybe too many cows for the past 6 years and now drought is causing liquidation again, less calves, packer has to pay more, but still has a huge leverage stick compared to feeders and cow-calf sector. 2022 should be a good year for calf sales if you aren't droughted out. We need some snow in Wyoming. Lowlands are bone dry.
 
When one owns a section of the supply chain, or the whole chain, one can dictate what happens. Chicken, turkey are already there. Pork is nearly. I've heard for around ten years that row cropping will be controlled by the big companies, they will tell you what to plant, spray, fertilize, and you'll basically get paid to custom farm, for a set price, kind of like having a hog barn under contract. The biggest drawback to cattle production in this method is the bulky feed they take, or hay. It's easy to haul the required semi loads of ground feed to a barn, not so easy to get that hay there, plus the expense of harvesting it vs. cattle getting it themselves, being on pasture.

Derry Brownfield used to scream about the packers & stockyards act. If it were enforced, we'd be fine from what he said. Apparently, it's not.
 
When one owns a section of the supply chain, or the whole chain, one can dictate what happens. Chicken, turkey are already there. Pork is nearly. I've heard for around ten years that row cropping will be controlled by the big companies, they will tell you what to plant, spray, fertilize, and you'll basically get paid to custom farm, for a set price, kind of like having a hog barn under contract. The biggest drawback to cattle production in this method is the bulky feed they take, or hay. It's easy to haul the required semi loads of ground feed to a barn, not so easy to get that hay there, plus the expense of harvesting it vs. cattle getting it themselves, being on pasture.

Derry Brownfield used to scream about the packers & stockyards act. If it were enforced, we'd be fine from what he said. Apparently, it's not.
You are correct but Cattle don't necessarily need hay. I think it's the land it takes to get them to feedlot size that's the holdup. Some feedlot owners have thousands of mama cows out on monthly per head contracts to get the calves though. Around here they'll pay you an avg of $28 per head to run their Cattle for them. If you like running Cattle but don't want the risk it's a good deal.
 
That is correct as per my understanding, too.

Problem is such a long arse wait to get your animal processed still. The newer place down the road is trying to get USDA inspection last I heard. That would be nice. But will take time I am sure.

The thing is though, we shouldn't have to jump through these hoops to put food on people's tables.

All of these laws/regulations/red tape benefit the big packers. I say to hell w them. It is far from fair.


Look past "big packers". Who owns/controls them? Foreign entities? Foreign governments?

Regulatory control through congress and they're created agencies is how they implement the choke holds. It's not big money vs the little guy. It's economic war. Your congressmen/women are puppets. They also gave up power to regulatory agencies they created which created regulations and not laws, but in effect have the power of laws.

Deregulation is key. But also cutting these regulatory agencies and cutting foreign influence of your legislature.
 

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