Texas stockyards

[Herefords.US]

Twist it, spin it, turn it, do whatever you want with it.
It was stated earlier that Texas is not looking for a handout and I simply stated the facts that the federal governement alreadys provides $1.4 BILLION annually in handouts to texas ranchers.

Care to back up your "facts" with some documentation?

George

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agricultural_subsidy scroll down to the US see what it says about Texas... interesting news

Well, there's the $1.4 billion figure - but I'd bet only a very small portion of that went to TEXAS RANCHERS, as tmlonghorns stated. I suspect most of that went to farmers and dairymen. And wikipedia, while handy, is not always the most reliable source.

Far more reliable is this group's work:
http://farm.ewg.org/region.php?fips=48000

The wikipedia info came from them this particular time, but it's also a bit dated.

George

 

[ALACOWMAN]

true.. but wiki is always the first one to pop up,,, when im searching..

 

[WichitaLineMan]

Got all three of 'em in one picture for my buddy TexasBred.

Here is a few of them in the alley getting ready to load up all wearing their fancy WichitaLineMan brands

Livestock barns could be in for a rough go in the future. They are seeing a windfall now with record runs but I imagine when a lot of operators yell "calf rope" after this sell out there will be some consolidation in the industry.

Hopefully this is a once in a hundred year event and we can get back to normal sooner rather than later. The land will take more than a year to heal. It has been very bad.

 

[1wlimo]

Far more reliable is this group's work:
http://farm.ewg.org/region.php?fips=48000

The wikipedia info came from them this particular time, but it's also a bit dated.

George[/quote]

Very interesting, seams cotton is a good way to get a million from the goverment a year

When they started to list the payments to farmers in the UK the so callede big effiecent farms go upset. They did not like it published that they got so much goverment cash. It is a shame that most goverment payments end up not with the smaller people that need them but big opperations that claim to do a better job.

 

[jcarkie]

drought is not what puts people out it is all the other things that happen, fuel, feed, etc..........then a natural thing and it was already tough. all i can say is TX is #1 for cattle for a reason, it is cattle country. i am praying hard for rain and some relief from the heat for you, i am not from TX but i have seen it in MO & AR. it is not a time to throw stones it will come around to everybody soon enough.

 

[JustSimmental]

These kind of posts sadden me a bit... I am a rancher and not a farmer--- I have never darkened the door of the ASCS/NRCS office to wait in line for government handouts--- thats the farmers bread and butter-- not the Rancher.

Ranching isn't a game for the weak at heart and spirit-- if it is too hard for you --do the rest of us a favor and quit and go get a job in town ad live to complain about something else another day.
(outlined in bold below) When an individual and a group of individuals start thinking that the Govt. should be helping them, with their chosen livelihood, this is surely the beginning of the end.

Since the beginning, ranchers have been an independent lot--and they always will be. I for one don't need or want your simple sympathy, don't care for the talk of govt. aid, dont care about the media or what they do or don't think about. This is my life and I will make it on my own -- like my father before me and his father and his father and his father........... Through Texas independence, Statehood, The Comanchee Years, The Apache Years, The War Between the States, Reconstruction, The Oil Boom, WWI, The Depression, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq 1, Iraq 2, and Afghanistan.

This drought isn't the toughest thing that has hit the homefront-- is it?
NO.....

JS

Most folks that are on here from what I have read that are in the Texas drought area are and have been in the cattle business for years. I have never met a farmer that wasn't extremely skilled in multiple trades from being a mechanic to plumbing. They farm for one reason ... they love it. Same reason I am going back to it. The pride of it and the lifestyle, the quality of life not to mention the pleasure of watching young things being born and then growing. They endure hardships, pain and bitter disappointment for those fleeting minutes at dawn or dusk when enjoy time alone with the good Lord so He can remind them of why they have endured and He will be there to help them continue.

Maybe I took some of the comments above mine the wrong way (hope I did) but it offended me to think that the drought could at any potential way be connected to the good fortunes of Texas in the unemployment category of the recession or that those folks should be not worrying over their lively hoods. The folks going out from the drought I pray will be able to come back into the cattle business thy love without going broke in the getting out for now process or in the getting back in process.

The #@$#*^ governement should be doing something to aid them. They aid everyone else who ask and beg for it with hand outs (folks that do little to aide themselves). The guys I have had the HONOR of chatting with on here would never ask for help. In my humblest opinion they are the ones who should be hunted down by the USDA county reps and those reps should be saying we got this and that that will be delivered to your ranch on this day do you need anything else?.

National media should be lined up and shot as I have seen very little coverage of the effects of the drought in Texas other than the effects it is going to have on drinking water in the cities. What about the drinking water for the hard working folks living on their farms?

Sorry for the rant but I haven't had enough coffee yet. I hope this rant doesn't get ugly not my intent.

GOD BLESS TEXAS and those FOLKS fighting to keep on!

 

[novatech]

These kind of posts sadden me a bit... I am a rancher and not a farmer--- I have never darkened the door of the ASCS/NRCS office to wait in line for government handouts--- thats the farmers bread and butter-- not the Rancher.

Ranching isn't a game for the weak at heart and spirit-- if it is too hard for you --do the rest of us a favor and quit and go get a job in town ad live to complain about something else another day.
(outlined in bold below) When an individual and a group of individuals start thinking that the Govt. should be helping them, with their chosen livelihood, this is surely the beginning of the end.

Since the beginning, ranchers have been an independent lot--and they always will be. I for one don't need or want your simple sympathy, don't care for the talk of govt. aid, dont care about the media or what they do or don't think about. This is my life and I will make it on my own -- like my father before me and his father and his father and his father........... Through Texas independence, Statehood, The Comanchee Years, The Apache Years, The War Between the States, Reconstruction, The Oil Boom, WWI, The Depression, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq 1, Iraq 2, and Afghanistan.

This drought isn't the toughest thing that has hit the homefront-- is it?
NO.....

JS

Most folks that are on here from what I have read that are in the Texas drought area are and have been in the cattle business for years. I have never met a farmer that wasn't extremely skilled in multiple trades from being a mechanic to plumbing. They farm for one reason ... they love it. Same reason I am going back to it. The pride of it and the lifestyle, the quality of life not to mention the pleasure of watching young things being born and then growing. They endure hardships, pain and bitter disappointment for those fleeting minutes at dawn or dusk when enjoy time alone with the good Lord so He can remind them of why they have endured and He will be there to help them continue.

Maybe I took some of the comments above mine the wrong way (hope I did) but it offended me to think that the drought could at any potential way be connected to the good fortunes of Texas in the unemployment category of the recession or that those folks should be not worrying over their lively hoods. The folks going out from the drought I pray will be able to come back into the cattle business thy love without going broke in the getting out for now process or in the getting back in process.

The #@$#*^ governement should be doing something to aid them. They aid everyone else who ask and beg for it with hand outs (folks that do little to aide themselves). The guys I have had the HONOR of chatting with on here would never ask for help. In my humblest opinion they are the ones who should be hunted down by the USDA county reps and those reps should be saying we got this and that that will be delivered to your ranch on this day do you need anything else?.

National media should be lined up and shot as I have seen very little coverage of the effects of the drought in Texas other than the effects it is going to have on drinking water in the cities. What about the drinking water for the hard working folks living on their farms?

Sorry for the rant but I haven't had enough coffee yet. I hope this rant doesn't get ugly not my intent.

GOD BLESS TEXAS and those FOLKS fighting to keep on!

People are people. Being a rancher does not mean they will not take advantage of government aid. I know plenty that have used it for buying hay and replanting pastures. I also know ranchers that continue to exist only because of the well heads that exist in pastures they inherited from family, not through any of there own efforts.
This drought coupled with the economy will cause many ranchers to fold, including those that have been under one family for many generations. If they could take advantage of government aid to be able to continue I would personally pat them on the back. They are not the ones taking illegitimate money. When these ranches fail someone with deep pockets will come along and purchase them. They put on a cowboy hat and call themselves ranchers. I have always made it without aid but I do not judge others for doing so. Until I have walked in their shoes I don't have the right.
PS. I have seen both sides of that farmer/rancher occupation. I can tell you for a fact that most farmers work 10 times harder to put food in front of you and your cows than ranchers do to produce meat.

 

[JustSimmental]

Oh yeah, working 200 days a year in an air-conditioned cab must be tough work- bless your heart.
Other times of the year, we can see you farmers waiting in line to get your farm welfare checks, crop insurance checks, riding the roads, sitting at the country store complaining about the weather-- as a little rain has kept you indoors.

Ranching is 365 days a year --rain/snow/heat -- doesn't matter what mother nature offers up on any given day--we are out here--- working, so I beg to differ on your analysis of the farmer and the rancher. Go play in your sandbox.

JS

 

[1wlimo]

Oh yeah, working 200 days a year in an air-conditioned cab must be tough work- bless your heart.
Other times of the year, we can see you farmers waiting in line to get your farm welfare checks, crop insurance checks, riding the roads, sitting at the country store complaining about the weather-- as a little rain has kept you indoors.

Ranching is 365 days a year --rain/snow/heat -- doesn't matter what mother nature offers up on any given day--we are out here--- working, so I beg to differ on your analysis of the farmer and the rancher. Go play in your sandbox.

JS

calm down, some ranchers or at least they are listed as cattle breeder with 100k acres are taking several hunderd thousand bucks in hand out this year.

Many cattle opeerations are not run as you do, they work ar less, and some "farmers" work 365 days a year and still have no air con. Heck there a few that have no cab.

 

[OKJeanne]

Well, we are in SW Oklahoma--another part of the "exceptional" drought map. Fortunately we sold our yearling steers last
March in anticipation of the drought...but now we are feeding hay (all summer) that should have been saved for the winter.
We will have to sell about half of our herd. We have just sold the below animals, with more to come:

We need hay. Anyone have any good round bales for sale?

 

[novatech]

Oh yeah, working 200 days a year in an air-conditioned cab must be tough work- bless your heart.
Other times of the year, we can see you farmers waiting in line to get your farm welfare checks, crop insurance checks, riding the roads, sitting at the country store complaining about the weather-- as a little rain has kept you indoors.

Ranching is 365 days a year --rain/snow/heat -- doesn't matter what mother nature offers up on any given day--we are out here--- working, so I beg to differ on your analysis of the farmer and the rancher. Go play in your sandbox.

JS

While I was in my sandbox I seem to recall someone saying

I'm new to beef farming and I have a crazy question.

PS . Sure wish you could have been with me as a pre-teen pulling a cotton sack down rows when it was over a hundred degrees out. Or milking cows and doing a hundred other chores before day light. Then you got to have breakfast. After, you worked until the heat of the day. During the heat of the day we got to go to town so people like you could look down there nose at the lowly farmer. That is unless it is harvest time and you set in that air conditioned cab harvesting from the time the dew dries until it comes down again. When the dew is on you get a break greasing up the machine and a few hours of rest if your lucky.
Now I don't know what a farm welfare check is. I do know that crop insurance is something that is paid for, just like health insurance. I don't think I would fault someone for using something they paid for. By the way it is also available to ranchers (or beef farmers as you put it).
Seeing that you are new to this I would like you to be aware that farmers not only have crops but usually have animals as well, which as you pointed out are 24/7. I am sure that there are also those that take advantage of government programs.
On the flip side I have worked cattle up and down the Gulf Coast and I,m talking about way before 4 wheelers or squeeze chuts. I sat in air conditioned auction barns all over. I have also sat around waiting 9 months for calving ( just describing the job like you do). Like I said I have seen both sides, and I have gone through life listing to others demeaning others for their chosen occupation. I didn't go for it when I was a kid and still don't. I cannot possibly judge what someones life or job is like unless I am that someone or at least experienced their way of life.
Now I just have to ask you. Just how do you find the time, being a big rancher and all, to observe all these farmers driving up and down the road, burning up all that cheap fuel with government aid money?

 

[highgrit]

Insurance farming is legal but its nothing more than stealing. Don't care weather you farm or ranch, if you can make a living off the land your doing good. There's never been truer words spoken " ranchers are grass farmers first." We are all in this together like it or not. :nod:

 

[Angus Cowman]

Oh yeah, working 200 days a year in an air-conditioned cab must be tough work- bless your heart.
Other times of the year, we can see you farmers waiting in line to get your farm welfare checks, crop insurance checks, riding the roads, sitting at the country store complaining about the weather-- as a little rain has kept you indoors.

Ranching is 365 days a year --rain/snow/heat -- doesn't matter what mother nature offers up on any given day--we are out here--- working, so I beg to differ on your analysis of the farmer and the rancher. Go play in your sandbox.

JS

ALL I got to say ED is that you must not know any of the crop farmers I know
I have a good friend that I talk to almost everyday and I quarantee I am at the house ALOT earlier than him because he is out checking irrigation, setting poly pipe, spraying weeds and a 1000 other things that he has to deal with on a day to day basis
Him and his crew work 7 days a week usually from 6 am to 9 or 10 pm for months at a time and then in there slow months they still work 6 days a week 8-10 hrs a day
I have ranched in several places probabl on larger places than you have ever set foot on and yes we had some long days but I Guarantee it wasn't near as hard as work as most of the Farmers I know do

I guess if ou were farming 400 acre and had a couple hands you wouldn't have to work too hard but 400 acres won't make a living just like a 100 cows won't either

so get off your soapbox and go blow it out your a$$
I would imagine your the first one looking for a handout from the gov't for your 20 cow ranch

Your just a pompous A$$ with a know it all attitude that doesn't know jack $HIT

 

[Angus Cowman]

Insurance farming is legal but its nothing more than stealing. Don't care weather you farm or ranch, if you can make a living off the land your doing good. There's never been truer words spoken " ranchers are grass farmers first." We are all in this together like it or not. :nod:

How do you figure

if what you are saying is true then if you wreck your car (no fault of your own) and you collect the insurance check for the repairs then you are stealing also
The guys who plant crops and BUY insurance for it then the crop fails and they collect the insurance how does that make them a thief

A beef operator can do the EXACT SAME THING
I have insurance available to me for my grass and hay production that if I am in a drought. army worms eat it up, hail destroys it and a few other causes that I can get paid to help offset the loss
all the farmers I know would sure rather have a good crop than have to collect on their insurance because it sure doesn't pay a 100% and some of the time it might pay enough to cover inputs but it doesn't even do that alot of the times

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

Wonder how Ed gets all that millet and rye planted he is always bragging about his super cows a grazing on planted? I guess he hires a farmer to plant it for him.

 

[plumber_greg]

:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:
I just wish edr would reply back, but he probably won't

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

I have tremendous respect for both farmers and ranchers and a certain amount of envy for the lifestyles of both. As someone mentioned, most farmers have some livestock and all ranchers do a bit of farming.

Prior to this thread I never knew I had to pick sides.

 

[highgrit]

AC, Taxpayers money is not supposed to pay for auto insurance. A farmer that plants and buys crop insurance knowing their not going to make a crop or x amount of product per acre is a thief. I see some around here planting different crops with no soil samples, and no kind of irrigation system. Their not going to make a good crop, but taxpayers dollars will bail them out. Around here its called insurance farming. The goverment has no business bailing out anybody, their spending taxpayers money, or should I say borrowed money thats running our deficit out of control.

 

[VanC]

Oh yeah, working 200 days a year in an air-conditioned cab must be tough work- bless your heart.
Other times of the year, we can see you farmers waiting in line to get your farm welfare checks, crop insurance checks, riding the roads, sitting at the country store complaining about the weather-- as a little rain has kept you indoors.

Ranching is 365 days a year --rain/snow/heat -- doesn't matter what mother nature offers up on any given day--we are out here--- working, so I beg to differ on your analysis of the farmer and the rancher. Go play in your sandbox.

JS

While I was in my sandbox I seem to recall someone saying

I'm new to beef farming and I have a crazy question.

Actually, it wasn't JS that said that. He just hasn't figured out how to use the quote function yet.

 

[VanC]

Oh yeah, working 200 days a year in an air-conditioned cab must be tough work- bless your heart.
Other times of the year, we can see you farmers waiting in line to get your farm welfare checks, crop insurance checks, riding the roads, sitting at the country store complaining about the weather-- as a little rain has kept you indoors.

Ranching is 365 days a year --rain/snow/heat -- doesn't matter what mother nature offers up on any given day--we are out here--- working, so I beg to differ on your analysis of the farmer and the rancher. Go play in your sandbox.

JS

:lol2: :lol2: :lol2: Thanks for the laugh. By the way, promoting yourself on a cattle forum doesn't qualify as work. At least not in the real world.