Shortages

[farmerjan]

As we are selling cattle... normal to sell feeders in the spring, but we are selling quite a few more with the high prices, and retaining fewer heifers this time around... I am putting some into the dividend stocks I have and starting to stockpile some cash also... in silver coins also since the paper money could be worth nothing... going to get everything else paid off except mortgage and try to get the fence built around the 2 acres this year; and the upstairs 2 bedroom ceilings done. Got a friend that knows a "handyman" type carpenter that does small jobs and he is going to give him my name & number this week....SAYS HE DOES GOOD WORK... Want things done this year....

 

[murphysranch]

I was at an estate sale this weekend. An old fella on 1/2 off Sunday bought a silver plate flatware set - 12 place setting for $47. I wondered what he was gonna do with it. Its not sterling, so doubt he could make silver money. Still it got me thinking....

 

[Baymule]

I was at an estate sale this weekend. An old fella on 1/2 off Sunday bought a silver plate flatware set - 12 place setting for $47. I wondered what he was gonna do with it. Its not sterling, so doubt he could make silver money. Still it got me thinking....

Spoon rings were popular some years back. Cut off the handle, smooth the cut edge and shape into a ring.

 

[Ridgetop]

If decent quality, $47 is cheaper kitchen flatware than stainless steel for 12 place settings. Silverplate used to be the kitchen service and sterling for "good". Now stainless has taken the place of silverplate. If you are using the silverplate service everyday there is no need to have to clean it since regular washing will keep it clean. Put a camphor block in the silver drawer your silver service will not tarnish. I keep camphor blocks in my silver chest with my sterling and haven't had to clean it in 20 years. I also have a silver tea service that I keep in a zippered plastic case from a quilt set. I put camphor blocks in the bag and the silver stays tarnish free. I also put it in my jewelry box to keep my silver jewelry nice. You can order camphor blocks online.

 

[rittert3]

As we are selling cattle... normal to sell feeders in the spring, but we are selling quite a few more with the high prices, and retaining fewer heifers this time around... I am putting some into the dividend stocks I have and starting to stockpile some cash also... in silver coins also since the paper money could be worth nothing... going to get everything else paid off except mortgage and try to get the fence built around the 2 acres this year; and the upstairs 2 bedroom ceilings done. Got a friend that knows a "handyman" type carpenter that does small jobs and he is going to give him my name & number this week....SAYS HE DOES GOOD WORK... Want things done this year....

It sounds like alot of people are selling down more cows and heifers. Everything I can gather is a pattern bad policies rooted in the Nixon era, coming home to roost.

 

[farmerjan]

@rittert3 ... please explain the bad policies that go back to the Nixon era... honestly, I am totally in the dark of what you are referring to.

Cattle prices normally do a cycle... often a 10 year thing, more or less.. The biggest thing driving the high prices now is the reduced cow herd; a big part of that is the drought of the past several years in more than half the country.... that has caused many breeders to reduce breeding herds in an effort to be able to afford to feed their cattle. The hay crop was greatly reduced the past 2 years, yield in some places less than half...some places all but non-existent.... farmers and ranchers could not afford to pay anywhere from twice to 4 times the cost of hay so reduced their herds to keep only the most productive animals to try to hold on to their genetics. There was no pasture to carry them through.

Add to that, the aging of the farmer in this country. It is very difficult for a young person to get in if they are not already in an existing farm family. Land prices continuing to go up make it near impossible to make a beef cow operation pay. Older farmers that have fought the elements, the cycle of up and down prices, and watch their livelihoods get to where they are fighting against housing value on so much land; added to the increased costs of fertilizer and feed ( and yes, grain farmers are farmers but they are paying those through the roof fertilizer costs, and grain prices had to go up to pay for it)... and some have just said, we are done. Many also do not have any family to take it over as the kids have left to take other jobs that they can make more money, and have weekends and holidays off... and it would be financial stupidity for many to come back to take over the farm.... PLUS.... without family to work right into the farming operation, and to pay the older generation in some way which would give them an income..buying into the farm, paying the older generation some sort of "income" so they could still be a part but not have to work as hard as they did when they were younger.... the land, the farm, is the farmer's "retirement account" in many ways... so they also see it as a way to get out and have money to "retire on".

So as the cycle has come back around... prices were high in the 2013-2015 time frame.... and this is the time to do some serious culling of our own herds... mediocre producers that we have held on to since they produced a calf yearly, even though it wasn't a great one, cows that we tolerated because they had a good calf but they had a bad attitude or something like that, cows getting some age that we might have kept a little bit longer... with the calf prices way up there again, and the cull cow price also up there... this is the time to go through and clean house.
We have also lost 2 leased places to sales of the properties, and one is going to be developed into houses... so cutting the herd has been something we were already working on...
One more thing that is pushing some of us is the state of the economy.... and the fear of the way things are looking in the country...the financial situation and the increasing inflation that they keep telling us is getting better....and it really isn't..... the cost of borrowing money to just do things like put out crops, fertilize hay ground, buy some better quality animals, invest in a new piece of equipment to make us more efficient....
We are trying to get out of interest payments on borrowed money... meaning there are a few things we will just not do as we pay things off... except for the land mortgages... but operating money we will do a little less and pay as we go.... keep the interest payments in our pockets instead. If things continue to get tougher, we will be glad we are not carrying alot of payments on borrowed money.

The dairy farmers are starting to see the pinches... milk prices paid through the federal milk marketing system has caused the milk check prices to have dropped, $2-5.00 PER HUNDRED weight of milk... with more drops expected in the next couple of months...
And before people start in with the " oh, so and so just bought a new tractor or a new baler or whatever"....... I talked to a couple of farmers, and they did see some profit this past year... and to not pay much of their HARD EARNED PROFIT to the GOVERNMENT IN TAXES.... they invested in a piece of equipment.... there is no sense in a system that will try to keep your income at poverty wages and then when you do make a profit, try to take it away instead of allowing you to put it back for future tough times...
I am not against taxes.... but there are so many giveaway programs... and there are many "breaks " offered to big corporations and companies......and many get out of many taxes... but the farmer does not get the chance to hold on to his "profits" in the same way that other companies do because in the future, if things get tough, he does not get the opportunity to raise his prices to cover his costs like a normal business does....
There are alot of things that I do not fully know about the tax situation for larger farms... but I know that the "little guy" is getting tired of fighting some of the tax situations.

Every single "farmer" animal owner on here knows that the costs of feeding those animals keeps going up and there are some limits to how much you can charge for your animals that you sell... there will come a time that the public will not be able to pay what they should be worth. Then they will not be worth keeping, and the prices will plummet if there is no market for them...

 

[Ridgetop]

Absolutely spot on. The small farmer can't make a living farming - usually the husband or wife or both are working full time, to support themselves. The farm profit, when there is any, is not even a living wage. Farming is a calling and a way of life, but not a profitable job. When you figure in the costs of workers comp, taxes and ss payments for workers, the farmer can't afford to hire the people they need. The old days of the "hired hand" working for room, board, and a small wage are long gone. The small farmer is the minority that is being abused in this country.

 

[murphysranch]

I snorted with a smirk when I read the comment about Nixon. He was the first president I was old enuf to vote for. And that folks, was a LOOONNNGGG time ago! Long enuf for those policies to have morphed.

 

[Baymule]

I snorted with a smirk when I read the comment about Nixon. He was the first president I was old enuf to vote for. And that folks, was a LOOONNNGGG time ago! Long enuf for those policies to have morphed.

While we are admitting to youthful ignorance, the first president I voted for was Jimmy Carter. I sure hat to admit that……

 

[Mike CHS]

People need to start paying attention. There is now 18 countries that are not using the dollar for trade. We are rapidly becoming a third world nation and our President is pleasantly making it happen.