Killing the Little Man

[StrojanHerefords]

Bull Sale season is starting up in California and this year there are going to be several fewer ma and pa breeders having sales. I find it very sad that the little guy is getting squeezed out by big money throwing its weight around.

 

[BFE]

Look at the discussion in the Anheuser-Busch thread, you should be happy the little guy is getting squeezed out according to some.

 

[Ky hills]

Yeah, I've never agreed with the idea of the little man getting squeezed out to be a good thing, especially in agriculture.
All that does is open the door for more foreign imports and more profits for the huge companies at the expense of the consumers once all the competition is gone.

 

[Caustic Burno]

Bull Sale season is starting up in California and this year there are going to be several fewer ma and pa breeders having sales. I find it very sad that the little guy is getting squeezed out by big money throwing its weight around.

I attended a TAMU workshop a few years ago .
Ninety two percent of operations in Texas were 35 head or less, me being one.
They stated we wouldn't exist by 2035!
They nailed it, the cattlemen are no where close to being the feed store customer base here now. It's the deer hunters!
Empty pastures and salebarn closures have painted a bleak picture.
The major hay producers are 76 and 80 years old in my county.
Neighbor borrowed my float yesterday to go to Emory for hay. That's close to 200 miles from here, even if we weren't in drought no one is producing it.
The younger generation doesn't want this lifestyle.

 

[WFfarm]

You don't need a Bull Sale to support a small producer. Find someone with a decent herd and talk to them about buying a bull prospect. One of the best bulls we've had in a while we got as pick-of-the-litter from a guy that had a great breading program over the years on a commercial herd.

 

[tex452]

I attended a TAMU workshop a few years ago .
Ninety two percent of operations in Texas were 35 head or less, me being one.
They stated we wouldn't exist by 2035!
They nailed it, the cattlemen are no where close to being the feed store customer base here now. It's the deer hunters!
Empty pastures and salebarn closures have painted a bleak picture.
The major hay producers are 76 and 80 years old in my county.
Neighbor borrowed my float yesterday to go to Emory for hay. That's close to 200 miles from here, even if we weren't in drought no one is producing it.
The younger generation doesn't want this lifestyle.

My hay guys are fairly young, but I'm afraid high prices of machinery and parts might make at least one of them quit the business.
He has a full time job and does hay work on the side, he was telling me today about the high prices, one step forward two back, he also mentioned about not being able to spend time with his young family, he's very honest and hard working, I'm not looking forward to him going out of business.
Then there's the ones that don't want to pay their bill, if there's profit he loses it there.

 

[Nesikep]

the price of equipment has doubled in the last 10 years (and the price and likelihood of needing service has too), so has the price of fuel, labor, and everything else, and the price of your product? Be happy if it ain't less
Small wonder that young people don't want to get (or stay) in it

 

[MurraysMutts]

Not to mention the fact that most younger folks don't know a battery from a crowbar or a sickle section from a wobble box or v-belt!

If they break down out in the field, they'll have a panic attack. Just hope dad can get there to save their butts!

 

[Logan52]

As much as I hate to say it, it looks like the day of the small to moderate sized producer competing in the commodity markets is about over.
We either go big or we become the equivalent of the backyard chicken producer.
With SS and a pension, my cattle produce a nice chunk of change but there is no way to live off it.
My son-in-laws have no interest in farming and I do not try and encourage them. I think they have plans for the farm after I am gone that will be quite different.
With a wood stove, a big garden and beef in the freezer we have a comfortable life on the farm, one much more pleasant than their hectic life on the road with a cell phone constantly in their hand.
I think I know how the Indians felt in the 19th century.

 

[tex452]

As much as I hate to say it, it looks like the day of the small to moderate sized producer competing in the commodity markets is about over.
We either go big or we become the equivalent of the backyard chicken producer.
With SS and a pension, my cattle produce a nice chunk of change but there is no way to live off it.
My son-in-laws have no interest in farming and I do not try and encourage them. I think they have plans for the farm after I am gone that will be quite different.
With a wood stove, a big garden and beef in the freezer we have a comfortable life on the farm, one much more pleasant than their hectic life on the road with a cell phone constantly in their hand.
I think I know how the Indians felt in the 19th century.

I love a wood stove, can't live without it. Lol

 

[TexasRancher]

I attended a TAMU workshop a few years ago .
Ninety two percent of operations in Texas were 35 head or less, me being one.
They stated we wouldn't exist by 2035!
They nailed it, the cattlemen are no where close to being the feed store customer base here now. It's the deer hunters!
Empty pastures and salebarn closures have painted a bleak picture.
The major hay producers are 76 and 80 years old in my county.
Neighbor borrowed my float yesterday to go to Emory for hay. That's close to 200 miles from here, even if we weren't in drought no one is producing it.
The younger generation doesn't want this lifestyle.

It's not what I want to hear CB, but I know what you're saying is true...i just don't want to face the music. Those empty pastures will fill up with trees, honey locusts, mesquite, cedar. I still haven't been able to find a good hay supplier, shake a hand make a friend...trust or competition issues...who knows why hay producers are quiet, hidden unspoken...probably the drought, business is booming, they don't need my business.

 

[Logan52]

Yeah, I have used the same stove and stovepipes since 1996 when we built our new house. I cut the wood, once ash but now wild cherry, locust and hickory in the fall and allow it to season in the barn for one year. I split it all with an old axe, if it will not split easy I do not cut it.
We have heat pumps and central air but in the winter our electric bill goes down as I rely on the wood stove.
I find it hard to explain the satisfaction of a wood fire.

 

[tex452]

I cut my own wood also, but I don't know how many more years I can do it with my bad back, sometimes I think about how bad my back will be hurting and I'll talk myself out of it.
I do enjoy doing and I have a couple of log splitters, it's the bending over that gets me.

 

[Caustic Burno]

It's not what I want to hear CB, but I know what you're saying is true...i just don't want to face the music. Those empty pastures will fill up with trees, honey locusts, mesquite, cedar. I still haven't been able to find a good hay supplier, shake a hand make a friend...trust or competition issues...who knows why hay producers are quiet, hidden unspoken...probably the drought, business is booming, they don't need my business.

There's not many doing it anymore , one reason.
Second most have a reliable customer base they service first.
I did when I was bailing.
I have a standing order for 80 bales with my supplier, I never cry, moan or haggle over the price. I have been there and gladly pay it.
When I quit in 2011 my own cost me 36 dollars a roll and that was my free labor.
I had five tractors and two balers . Put a pencil on that not counting maintenance, fuel and fertilizer.
Hay equipment never breaks down in the barn and hayfields are just like women.
You better give it a lot of love and attention or it will up and leave you!
I have had people call to bale hay get over there and they don't have a hay field but a weed farm. It cost just as much in fuel to get 2 bales to the acre as it does 6.
Who's field do you think I am baling.

 

[Logan52]

As my equipment got old, I began buying most of my hay. One large field is short on water and not as well fenced {I put up electric to graze it).
That a friend cuts, teds, rakes and bales. He treats it like his own and I never suggest it needs cutting, He started doing 4 x 5s for $17 but has now gone up to $20. I pay him as he leaves the field and add a little bonus on top.

 

[Caustic Burno]

As my equipment got old, I began buying most of my hay. One large field is short on water and not as well fenced {I put up electric to graze it).
That a friend cuts, teds, rakes and bales. He treats it like his own and I never suggest it needs cutting, He started doing 4 x 5s for $17 but has now gone up to $20. I pay him as he leaves the field and add a little bonus on top.

I have no clue how he can bale it that cheap. Fuel and net wrap would cost twenty bucks.
That young man ever sits down with a Big Chief tablet and red crayon, he's either quitting or the price of hay is going to the moon.

 

[Logan52]

I agree, he used to work for me when I had a public job. He bought nice equipment cheap over the inter-net and still works in town.
He would have no business if he charged more for people around here are very tight.
He also bales his own farm and I have bought 4 x 5s for $30 when people on this board could not find it for $70 or more.
Lots of grass here on subdivided farms that have yet to be developed. I generaly pay about $3 to $6 for second cutting grass small bales for my sheep.
We had a "clover year" here this year and paid $6 for heavy small bales ,black with red clover, delivered. It is hard to make money at $6 unless you really manage the amount they eat.

 

[alacowman1]

If I were a small regestered producer, in that situation..I just go straight commercial, and double my herd size if possible ..

 

[Bestoutwest]

It's funny, no one mentioned land cost. Here in Idaho it's doubled and tripled. 30 acres behind me is listed at $650K. I have no idea on how you'd make that work. You have to be rich and looking to have fun with about 12 cows on that, or rich and buy that as your hay ground.

 

[Travlr]

It's funny, no one mentioned land cost. Here in Idaho it's doubled and tripled. 30 acres behind me is listed at $650K. I have no idea on how you'd make that work. You have to be rich and looking to have fun with about 12 cows on that, or rich and buy that as your hay ground.

I agree... The price of real estate is outrageous.

Big money is driving prices. When Bill Gates entered the market for farm land it just escalated the already rising prices due to hobby farms and hunting reserves.

People that buy agricultural ground for entertainment purposes are putting real agriculture out of business.