rkaiser said:
Gee Jason, according to your "just as many survived statement", I guess 50% of purebred breeders in Canada going down isn't a problem to you.
I would not be that pessimistic. Most have survived, but have burned up a pile of equity.
Like you Jason, and unfortunately for you, I will survive. Only our 6th annual bull sale, but sold every one of our thirty five bulls last March with a $2566 average. I have not received an off farm cheque for 23 years and never had my farm nor the business handed to me on any silver platter. But according to you and good old SH, I know nothing about the industry.
As for SH, and his Science, BSE has nothing to do with science except for the best science that can make money for the company or the guy using it that day.
Elwapo - the sale we were at was Hirshe Herefords and the average is only for the media anyway. When a 1/2 interest in a yearling bull sells for $135,000.00 average means nothing. Weonly caught the last 40 minutes of the sale, but I would guess that 10 to 15 pretty darn good bulls passed in that time alone.
Randy it's posts like this that get you into trouble. Where did anyone say 50% of purebred ops in Canada might go down? Just because I used a phrase that could be twisted to think I could be happy if that happened is even more ridiculous.
Personally, Hirshe is the only PB outfit I know of that needed American money to survive. That could be related to events prior to BSE for all we know. Operations failed before May 2003.
Can you say in 23 years you have never made money from real estate? All you earnings are from cattle? I really don't care if you have oil money, gas wells or windmills. If you really knew this business you would know very few people make the majority of their income from purebred cattle. Most feed cattle, farm big acres, have big commercial herds, do a business on the side, or the cattle are their business on the side.
In fact other than myself I don't know of 1 purebred operation that is a stand alone. Is that unfair? I could care less. My responsibility is to provide for my family.
You had a good sale despite the BSE concerns, that shows you have a product people are willing to use. Good for you. I have always said I would rather see people use a good bull of a different breed than one that should have been steered.
However with your Celtic beef you have shown a need or desire for more money...then sit and complain how tough the beef side of our industry is. I know how tough it is. I have been selling direct as long as you.
If we complain about the big boys getting bigger we need to understand why they are getting bigger. Every industry is getting bigger. Companies cannot survive if they don't have enough volume. That being said more volume at a loss puts them down faster too.
Take GM for instance. They are talking bankruptcy. They are huge. Things got out of control. No scams. No fraud, just got too big to manage it all. The same thing can/ might happen to Tyson, Cargill, any large company that doesn't manage well. Then again they might just keep growing. Fiat is a good example of a very large company that as far as I know has little trouble going on.
Would it be nice to have the good old days where a man could raise his family on 100 cows? You bet, but looking after 100 cows isn't even a full time job anymore. Why should ranchers work part time and make the same as some guy doing 40-50 hrs of manual labor per week?
All SH, Agman, myself and others want to get across is there is no conspiracy. This is life. Deal.
