The make - do economy

[Cattle Rack Rancher]

Its funny how certain events kind of make you stop and take stock of where you are at in relation to where you have been. Getting my new driver's license picture, or changing the calendar at year end are two that come to mind. Today, i took my annual trip to the dump with my loaded up dump trailer. The trailer sits in the yard all year and collects anything that can't be burnt or recycled. Along with the bits of barbed wire, baler twine and broken toys were a few things that have reminded me what the last year has been like. First was bout twenty empty 4 litre (1 gallon) oil jugs. This reminded me of all the problems i had with my truck last year when the engine was burning so much oil. I finally found a guy to put in a used engine for me. Normally, I would never be driving a 14 year old truck. The plan was to replace the truck in the fall of 2003 but with this BSE thing it was not in the cards. Also, there were 3 tires off of my car. When I count, I've changed 10 tires on that car. The first 4 were to rotate them to try and get a bit more use out of them before they were totally done. Then I bought one used one for the back, to tide me over. Then I put two fairly new ones on the front. Then I had a blowout on my used back tire and had to put my donut on and finally I changed both back tires to slightly used. Hopefully, it will do me for awhile. Having liabilities in your pasture instead of animals that are making you money is pretty hard on the budget.
Got my cheque for three yearlings I shipped Friday.

Total weight of three yearlings 2780 lbs.
Net cheque after deductions $1477.72 or $1072.00 US

To be fair, one of those was my best bull calf from last year that I had kept over as a cleanup bull in case I wanted to AI this year. So he didn't get castrated until this spring at 15 months and was a bit staggy. However, one of the heifers I sent in hit the top of the market for the weight group she was in.

My brother shipped my Simm-Angus herdsire he was 1635 lbs and brought 12.5 cents a lb or 9.25 cents US before deductions.

Not looking for sympathy, just keeping you aware of how things are in Canada.

 

[CattleAnnie]

I hear you. Topping the list of the latest groaners in the ranch budget is the CV joint on my truck that just went yesterday. Expecting a healthy bill from the shop as soon as they can fit an appointment in for me. Darn one tons anyway. But what else to expect from a '94 model with 380,000plus klicks that hauls the hay, cattle, horses and kids?

Oh well, at least the snow stopped, eh? Sounds like more fuel for creative poetic genius, not that you needed much more.

Take care. Hang in there.

 

[frenchie]

cattlerack..............Got my cheque for three yearlings I shipped Friday.

Total weight of three yearlings 2780 lbs.
Net cheque after deductions $1477.72 or $1072.00 US


Man that hurts. Was that at Winnipeg livestock?

 

[Cattle Rack Rancher]

Man that hurts. Was that at Winnipeg livestock?

Yes, i shipped those to Winnipeg. I could've got more for them than that if I'd shipped them last November and they've got an extra 10 months of hay and grass in them. Oh well, what else are you going to do with them? I don't feel like feeding them for another winter. i was talking to the neighbor tonight. He's feeding 150 head coming up on 2 years old. He's going to have to ship them soon. In comparison, my problems seem pretty minor.