Leaving the cattle biz..

[skyhightree1]

With the decline of cattle prices and no change in feed /equip prices I have a few questions for yall.

Is there a point when prices get too low that you would sell out and give up cattle biz?

What price would that be when you begin considering to leave the biz?

Is there anyone out there expanding since prices are down?

I personally will keep cattle long as I don't have to use my own money too support them. If they can support themselves they can stay. I am picking up breds here and there but my expansion money was supposed to be coming from calf sales but doesn't seem that's going to pan out all that well.

 

[M.Magis]

I wouldn't consider todays prices low.

 

[Ol' 243]

Is there anyone out there expanding since prices are down?

I am . . . . . . . I've been dabbling in them for a while, I recently acquired two new tracks of land, one was purchased and the other one leased. I had planned on stocking them slowly, a bit at the time, my initial plan was a 2-3 year time frame. But I have changed that dramatically lately. I scrounged around and found some extra cash and am buying like crazy and will continue until they show an upward movement. Fortunately I don't have to rely on it to pay my bills, so if it stays down forever it ain't gonna kill me.

 

[M-5]

I will leave when They go the route of horses and jackazzes . The prices are not low unless your only looking at 2014 , If people cant make money with todays market then they need to move on to greener pastures.

 

[Jogeephus]

I bailed when prices peaked and and have been expanding ever since. I hope to ride another bubble in the near future.

 

[greybeard]

Didn't go in 2011-2012--sure won't go now.

 

[Bigfoot]

I've been in it 40 years. Weathered droughts, and storms alike. Spent the majority of my free time building my place and building my herd. Never really made any money. Built some equity, and acquired some assets. Cattle transcend a business opportunity to me. It's not what I do, it's who I am. Will I continue to do it at a loss? I'm afraid so.

 

[Nesikep]

I think I'm going to suffer through it like Bigfoot... We weathered the BSE downturn here when prices were $.75 /lb for 5 weights... If you sell out when prices are low, you're doing it all wrong anyhow.. Our neighbors sold the cattle in about 2011.. *just* before prices started coming up.. I bet they kicked themselves for not holding onto them a while longer.
I have cattle because I have a plan for them, I want to build a nice herd with a long history, and selling out isn't going to get me anywhere near that goal

 

[Rafter S]

I guess I'm like greybeard. If the 2011 drought didn't force me out (and it didn't) I don't know what it will take. I don't expect it to happen, but if prices got so bad that I lost money for several years running I'd probably have to cut back on numbers, but even then I think I'd keep a few.

 

[ez14]

Im staying in because after a bad time is when theres money to be made at least in my mind

Expanding because of low prices well im starting (though i would probably be starting even if prices were high)

 

[shaz]

I'm expanding 30% right now. I would get out for a couple of years to save my pasture if I felt like I was falling behind.

 

[inyati13]

Brother, remember our beautiful mother, with the eyes dark as coal and hair black as a crow wing. She told us to follow our heart. I have never forgotten her words. She looked at me and said, "My dear scrawny half breed son, thank the spirits that you have a strong mind because you have little else. Go out into the world and seek knowledge. Use it to provide a good hide over your head and plenty of bison fat to fill your belly. But son, I warn you sternly, do not become like your white father, Tennessee Tuxedo. Do not let money rule your life. Your life will pass like the sun through the sky. Like the damsel fly, here today gone tomorrow. Do what you love for time is short."

 

[Ol' 243]

Brother, remember our beautiful mother, with the eyes dark as coal and hair black as a crow wing. She told us to follow our heart. I have never forgotten her words. She looked at me and said, "My dear scrawny half breed son, thank the spirits that you have a strong mind because you have little else. Go out into the world and seek knowledge. Use it to provide a good hide over your head and plenty of bison fat to fill your belly. But son, I warn you sternly, do not become like your white father, Tennessee Tuxedo. Do not let money rule your life. Your life will pass like the sun through the sky. Like the damsel fly, here today gone tomorrow. Do what you love for time is short."

What tribe? . . . . . . .lmao

 

[hurleyjd]

Having cattle is like being addicted to drugs. You will beg borrow and steal to keep them.

 

[JSCATTLE]

Nows not the time to sell out . It's getting time to expand .. sell out when prices are high buyou back in when they are low ..most folks do it the opposite aND wonder why they don't make money

 

[slick4591]

I think times like these are when the niche breeds are paying off. As far as I can tell my Pieds are worth just as much today are they were in 2014.

 

[M-5]

Brother, remember our beautiful mother, with the eyes dark as coal and hair black as a crow wing. She told us to follow our heart. I have never forgotten her words. She looked at me and said, "My dear scrawny half breed son, thank the spirits that you have a strong mind because you have little else. Go out into the world and seek knowledge. Use it to provide a good hide over your head and plenty of bison fat to fill your belly. But son, I warn you sternly, do not become like your white father, Tennessee Tuxedo. Do not let money rule your life. Your life will pass like the sun through the sky. Like the damsel fly, here today gone tomorrow. Do what you love for time is short."

What tribe? . . . . . . .lmao

Hedrunkem tribe

 

[True Grit Farms]

Nows not the time to sell out . It's getting time to expand .. sell out when prices are high buyou back in when they are low ..most folks do it the opposite aND wonder why they don't make money

I agree 100% even though I didn't sell out when I should have. I'm not buying anything, and don't have the grass to expand. I think the price is still where you can survive but I can't see making any money. I think the price is going to get even worse for the 3 to 5 weights.

 

[Dave]

I guess I have been doing this long enough that market fluctuations aren't going to drive me out. They certainly can cause me to adjust my program but as to leaving the business...... I plan to sell out about a week after they shovel dirt on top of me. I was a lot more worried about prices last year than I am now. Those people who bought last year's high priced cattle and didn't sell early enough took a bath. When prices are at a record high a person should be worrying about when they will fall. There were some classes of cattle that were way over priced. I think I will make just as much money this year as I did last year. I won't sell as high but I paid a whole lot less when buying.

 

[skyhightree1]

Nows not the time to sell out . It's getting time to expand .. sell out when prices are high buyou back in when they are low ..most folks do it the opposite aND wonder why they don't make money

Most of mine left on the high. I am buying back in cheap like before here and there when I find one id like to add to the herd.