I have a question.

[Big Muddy rancher]

In Canada we sell cattle to the highest bidder. That might be Canadian or American. R-CALF has acussed us of selling cattle under the cost of production.

My question have any of you US ranchers ever sold cattle under the cost of production ? Was it a favored choice?

 

[TimH]

I have a question as well. Would any R-calf members in the Dakota's or Montana be interested in buying some hay if they are short??

I have a few extra bales and I could deliver it for about 8 bucks a bale??
Any takers????

 

[ranch hand]

I have a neighbor with a bull with BVD, I bet he will trade you for your $8 hay.

 

[Big Muddy rancher]

I have a question as well. Would any R-calf members in the Dakota's or Montana be interested in buying some hay if they are short??

I have a few extra bales and I could deliver it for about 8 bucks a bale??
Any takers????

If that's Big rounds I can save you the problem of crossing the border.

 

[Mike]

Sold. I'll take 400-500 bales. I'll even pay $10 for delivery, feed you all the Bar-B-Q and beer you want when you're here, and I'll even unload the hay.

 

[TimH]

I have a question as well. Would any R-calf members in the Dakota's or Montana be interested in buying some hay if they are short??

I have a few extra bales and I could deliver it for about 8 bucks a bale??
Any takers????

If that's Big rounds I can save you the problem of crossing the border.

There you have it boys..... you have already been outbid!!!!

 

[TimH]

Sold. I'll take 400-500 bales. I'll even pay $10 for delivery, feed you all the Bar-B-Q and beer you want when you're here, and I'll even unload the hay.

A) You are not in The Dakotas or Montana.
B) I can drink a lot of beer.......no.... I mean a LOT of beer!!!! :wink:
C) you aren't an R-calf member are you Mike??? You're smarter than that.

 

[Mike]

I have a question as well. Would any R-calf members in the Dakota's or Montana be interested in buying some hay if they are short??

I have a few extra bales and I could deliver it for about 8 bucks a bale??
Any takers????

If that's Big rounds I can save you the problem of crossing the border.

There you have it boys..... you have already been outbid!!!!

When can I expect delivery?

 

[TimH]

Mike..... We have to avoid typing our responses at the same time because it makes you look like a 'tard. Not me,though. :wink:

 

[Brad S]

I don't know what constitutes "dumping," but I was going to ask canadians the same thing about their corn dumping protest. Seriously, all of us have had to sell something below breakeven, but I don't understand when its dumped or not.

 

[Ben H]

I guess this kind of relates, my Uncle lives in Homestead, FL and grows about 1100 acres of sweet corn and 300 acres of tomatoes as well as some other crops for the winter market. He also grows RR Soybean seed. If the market is too low then he'll won't harvest the crop. Everything is hand picked so it's not cheap to harvest. Sometimes tomatoes are $10 a box, sometimes $60 when you are the only one in the country with them.

 

[katrina]

Okay....... I'm blond, Big Muddy what are you trying to say???
Noone likes to sell below cost....
We've all done it.......
Do you add the cost of living too???
And make sure and watch the tard brothers..(Tim and Mike).

 

[Jason]

Dumping in the classic sence is selling below the cost of production on purpose to do harm to a competitor. Usually in the hopes the competitor would be forced out of business.

Any commodity runs the risk of being "dumped" if economic factors are wrong for that industry.

Cattle have a limited window of opportunity in which they have to be sold.

Any producer that needs cash flow might be forced to sell product at a much lower price than they would like.

Hay is an excellent example this year in many areas. There is hay from 2 years piled and spoiling, new crop has been offered extremely cheap to be moved.

In Tim's area $8 might be the going rate, but that sure isn't selling at a profit. However it might be better than piling the hay and watching it rot next year.

 

[Big Muddy rancher]

Katrina, R-CALF said that Canadians were selling cattle below the cost of production. They tried to tie into that everything from health care to lease costs and anything else that they could. Not that the producers sure would have like to sold for more.

Brad the corn tariff was about the same deal. And the cattle organizations weren't in favor of it. The corn people said that the selling cost didn't matter to the US farmer because the price was being propped up by the government. You would know better then me if that was true.

 

[katrina]

Okay.BMR... I get it......
In our area corn is not selling at a profit..... They say hay is this area $100.00 a ton. Wheat they arn't paying for protein and the market is not that hot anyway.......

 

[Jason]

Katrina if you had corn to sell at the current price, you needed the money, you couldn't see a better return for it anywhere in sight, would you sell it?

If you did sell it would you think it fair to be accused of dumping?

 

[katrina]

Actually Jason no.........
Because we farm we have several differant options available. One is little or no debt. Secondly we have sat on a whole years worth of wheat because it was too cheap. If corn is less than what we need to sell, we feed it and have fat cattle. Only time we have sold to cheap is cattle. Did we dump them???? No we use every available option to us....
Sunflowers we bin untill we can make money, usually around the first of the year....
I have learned that if you are going to give it away. You can choose to give it to who YOU want to. Even if it's to katies bug ranch or starting a couple out with a few head of cattle...
Sale barn manegers hate to see me cuz they know if they don't bring enough I will stand up and say Sorry no deal, I'll take them back home..
Oh yeah, Just the other day I bought a hog at a funeral... So it goes both ways....

 

[Jason]

Katrina, you sound like you have figured out this ag deal...little to no debt.. that I believe is the key. I can hardly wait.

No producer "dumps" his/her product. Sometimes they are forced to sell at a point they don't like, usually by banker types that haven't got a clue.

I just read where 850 wt. steers selling now in Alberta have a break even of over 95 cent fats. Feeders are going into this one knowing they are going to lose money. Are they planning on dumping? Not a chance, just trying to stay stocked when their turn comes for the profit.

 

[Brad S]

Accusing Canadians of mischief after the border closed andthey had to take nothing for their cattle is more cynical than anything I heard this week. THat would be a snotty joke if it didn't hurt so many folks. I can give a gold standard guarantee that Canadians being forced to liquidate for 25% was harder on them than US producers.

 

[Clarence]

It is not dumping if you are forced to sell below your cost of production it happens often. but when you bypass your own and your usual market and offer to sell for less than that market is currently paying, that is dumping.
Although you Canadians claim your concious is clear, that is why R-Calf filed their suit and proved that to be the case. They could not however prove that that had depressed the price.

I did not join R-Calf, and still won't, because I didn't believe they would accomplish anything with law suits. I did not know much about the Canadian cattle industry, and I still don't, but they claimed that the Canadian producer had several advantages over the US producer and could produce cheaper. They believed, and I guess they still do, that something needs to be done the level the playing field to protect the US producer. Some of the tactics they are using now do not set to well with me.