# "SHEEP "Magazine:Latest BLOG!!



## The Old Ram-Australia (Mar 20, 2011)

G'day Gang,I have just read the latest BLOG and have replied to same(not online yet ,has to be moderated first)..I would like to hear your views on the" issues" raised by the Editor.

........................................T.O.R.................................


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## freemotion (Mar 20, 2011)

Link, please?


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## The Old Ram-Australia (Mar 20, 2011)

Hi ,don't know how to do that .I just type in SHEEP magazine,and then click on the blog in the left hand column,if you go there and can put up a link that would be great!!!!..T.O.R.http://sheepblog.sheepmagazine.com/..............YAY,and thank you Free...T.O.R.


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## freemotion (Mar 20, 2011)

Here it is:  http://sheepblog.sheepmagazine.com/

Once you find the page you want to link to, just put your cursor on the address at the top of your page until it highlights, right click, and choose "copy."  Then come back here and write your post, then put your cursor where you want think link to go and right click, and choose "paste."

Did that make sense?  I'm actually not that good on the computer!


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## The Old Ram-Australia (Mar 21, 2011)

G'day Gang ,They still have not released our comments,but what we are objecting to is they appear to be blaming Aussie Farmers for there production costs being so high.Its not our "fault" that it "snows" half the year up there..............You can bet if the "boot was on the other foot",they would not be "sympathizing" with our problems.

 Hope they put up the full text soon,as we are interested in your opinions on this subject......................T.O.R.


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## Bossroo (Mar 22, 2011)

G'day TOR... I could write a novel , but here is highlights of my perspective on some events.  ... In Cal., snow is a good thing as it only snows in the High Sierra Nevada Mountains in the wintertime. The melting snow provides irrigation water to the Valley farm lands from a system of dams and irrigation canals. Sheep herds are transported from summer mountain pastures to the Valley to feed off fallow crop lands and lamb out in the winter. Snow is a problem in the Northern and Eastern states. Heavy rain fall in the Pacific North Western states.There are now thausands of bovine dairies in the Valley.  The average size is over 4,000 cows, and a new one that now milks 42,000 cows. Most of these cows are under roof corrals as the land is too valuable for pasture grass so they grow alfalfa and corn for silage and grain. 
also to give shade to keep the cattle cooler due to the heat. They produce milk for the Western regional market and cheese for the National and International market. They buy up the best quality alfalfa hay as well as corn in the Western US states at premium prices. Other cerial grains have followed suit due to demand, leaving the rest of the poorer quality to feed other livestock at almost or as high as premium prices. Enter the labor laws, the minimal wage laws, workmans compensation laws, and now the much higher health care laws. Then the dairies are offering higher wages and benefits for milking cows than what a sheep herder could be paid. Sheep sheerers also joined the dairy labor force. Those that were left charge almost as much or more than what the wool is worth. Many sheep owners are now sheering every other year, and due to costs and low fleece prices and no wool buyers, many are dumping the wool into land fills.  forcing production costs up through the roof.  Enter the EPA... mandated that gasolene be blended with 10% ethanol( soon to be 15%). So, still higher prices for corn. Feed prices have doubled and trippled over the last few years.  I was getting 28 miles to a gallon for gasolene for my car, Now I am lucky to get 20 on the new blended fuel. Wow, I'm not impressed !!! So transportation costs are soaring for all products. Enter the Bureau of Land Management ... charging much higher grazing fees or eliminating all grazing all together for cattle and sheep on BLM , and National Forst lands for fear of spreading decease to native wild sheep, elk and deer.  Also to provide feed the now feral horses known as "Mustangs". You see, the bleeding hearts managed to close all of the horse slaughter plants as cruel and somehow immoral to eat horsemeat in the US, and they see them as pets. Don't the people in the eastern Countires eat dogs and cats ?   So, since many horse owners now can't afford to feed their horses, and they can't sell them due to the now bottom falling out of the horse market ( last year I sold out for $0.05-0.10 on the dollar and gave away 5) or even send them to slaughter. Veterinary fees for health and reproduction work are so high now that I as well as others just can't afford them any longer. My equine Vet has quit and gone to the dog and cat pet market. Also, new health laws were passed to not allow burial of any dead horse, cow or sheep on one's property. The rendering plants used to pick up a dead horse, cow or sheep at no charge for their hides and carcass products. So now the rendring plants are charging up to $200-$400 to pick up a dead horse. Rubbing salt into a wound. Therefore,  the owners are just turning the horses loose to fend for themselves. Enter the environmentalists who managed to win a Federal Court lawsuit to restore the water flow and the Salmon run to the San Juaquin River. It has been dry for over 70 years. It has been damned to irrigate the Eastern side of the San Juaquin Valley farm lands. Now thausands of acres of orchard trees, and grape vines are being abandoned or pulled up.  Since our annual rainfall is 6.5" to 10" of rainfall from late Nov. to April a year in our high desert landscape, and  I can't get a drop of irrigtion water, my ranch property has lost seven figures in value, but the bank and tax man are not amused and still want their former blood money. Foreign imported  lamb meat is sold here for just about or what it costs the commercial sheep owners to produce the meat, leaving very little or no profit for many ( including me). Economic pressures from all sides and many well intentioned but mostly idealogic and/or idiotic laws are forcing us out of business.


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## Royd Wood (Mar 22, 2011)

Good post but sounds depressing - a bit like my hay bill for this winter


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## The Old Ram-Australia (Mar 22, 2011)

G'day Bossroo,are you say that with all these pressures and "without" imported lamb you would be able to "retail" your product at "twice" the current price to improve the viability of your industry?

.........................T.O.R....................


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## patandchickens (Mar 22, 2011)

The Old Ram-Australia said:
			
		

> G'day Bossroo,are you say that with all these pressures and "without" imported lamb you would be able to "retail" your product at "twice" the current price to improve the viability of your industry?


Look, basically you KNOW that Sheep! is a highly-political highly-opinionated magazine of American origin, right?, so how is it surprising that it has highly-opinionated political editorials about the state of the sheep industry in US? 

Fact is, imported lamb from AU and NZ _does_ considerably undercut the demand for US lamb, not just in terms of selling price but in terms of volume. It is just an observable fact, here, and extremely obvious at the grocery store meat counter!  

(in Canada too. Ontario-raised lamb sells for _at least_ 1.5x the price of frozen NZ lamb and is also not nearly as flavorful, although I suppose some might see the latter as being in domestic lamb's favor)

So I mean, OBVIOUSLY if a person is a North American sheep grower, they're going to feel a bit threatened and/or annoyed, and think "gee, if only it weren't for all that inexpensive imported lamb, I would sure be in a better financial position". Cuz it's TRUE.

Personally I don't see this as a big political deal, it is just like other things that are produced more cheaply elsewhere (for a whole variety of reasons). The people directly involved in the disadvantaged domestic industry are not happy about it, but the market is basically driven by what the consumer wants, and apparently at the moment the consumer mainly wants cheap as opposed to domestic, so, <shrug>, 's the way the world works isn't it. People can live with it (and can of course try to change some aspects of it if they wish), or get into another business, seems to me.

I don't see a lot of point in arguing with the Sheep magazine editor or writers, though... they have LONG since chosen their outlook on things and it is, um, very strongly held and not apparently susceptible to change or alternative views 

JMHO,

Pat


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## The Old Ram-Australia (Mar 23, 2011)

G'day and thanks for stopping by............Thank you P&C for what is a most en-lighting post (well for us down here anyway).........It appears that it is just the way it is ,to quote a couple of examples:Our Pig-meat Industry has been "decimated " by both Canadian and Danish imports...............The US Beef Industry appears to have given little thought to the Japanese Wague Beef producers when they exported "Prime Cuts" to Japan in years gone-by.......Its like you said its just the way the world is and everybody has to adjust to a changing "world market"...................All producers have to seek out their own "niche" and exploit it to make a living,gone are the days when you just "grew it" and the "world" was waiting to buy it.

 Any other views on the topic??????????????

.................................T.O.R...........................


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## Bossroo (Mar 23, 2011)

The Old Ram-Australia said:
			
		

> G'day Bossroo,are you say that with all these pressures and "without" imported lamb you would be able to "retail" your product at "twice" the current price to improve the viability of your industry?
> 
> .........................T.O.R....................


G'day TOR... Due to overhead costs, I would maybe break even at twice the prices of today. Then too, there is the competition from the beef, pork, and poultry industries.   An example... we have to carry Workman's Comp insurance. My premium used to be $1,200 / year. Now it would be $9,500 due to "risk" of injury for workers in the industry because of astronomical costs of health care. That alone is a major hit in the pocketbook. I used to go to the animal control pound and get 6-10 free cats every 6 months to control the mouse, rat,   ground squirrel, English Sparrows, and blackbird flocks numbering in the hundreds of thausands in the fall/ winter, all major pests.  The local coyotees absolutely love cat meat, so the lifespan of a cat is about 6 months. After the Vietnam War, The Hmong refugees were resettled in our town.  They soon discovered that they could get cats for free at the local dog and cat pound.  A delicacy for free !!! The local bleeding hearts were shocked with this horrible practice. So the County passed a law to impose an adoption fee. Now it costs $120 / cat.  So now I have to resort to poison. Since I poison mice and ground squirrels by the hundreds per year... now if I could only come up with a fancy name for their meat and pelts, and find a market I just may make a profit . After all, my only hard costs would be traps, processing, labor and shipping. Oh wait, I almost forgot ... then there is workmans' comp. insurance,new annual hunting licence fee, building new housing and processing facilities, processing equipment, USDA meat inspection fees,  advertizing my exclusive gourmet and fur products, etc..  GAAAA !!!


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## The Old Ram-Australia (Mar 24, 2011)

G'day Gang,I note that our comments on the blog are "up" at the SHEEP MAGS web site along with a "reply" from the Editor..........

 If you have the time "take a look" and maybe post your thoughts.

 Awaiting you views with "baited" breath.(LOL)

...........................................T.O.R................................


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