Terrible happenings

[farmerjan]

Just for a few things here lately... and realizing that many will feel like that it doesn't apply to them due to sizes of some of the farms... BUT it does affect the food sources in this country...

Tulare County CA and the torrential rains and huge depth of the snow pack above it that could continue to cause trouble all summer... the reforming of the Tulare Lake that has been dry for decades and the flooding that is causing all sorts of disasters for farmers there... The dairies that have had to move thousands of cows... lost feed and facilities under water... possible permanent closing / destruction of their whole operations and what that means in just the dollars as well as the loss of jobs on those farms.... flooding and destruction of the wheat fields, the drowning of the almond and fruit trees due to the excessive water... FOOD shortages......

The horrific explosion and fire at a HUGE dairy in Dimmit Texas on Monday 4/10.... killing 18,000 head of dairy cattle and the probable total loss of that part of that huge farm... cattle that have had to be moved out due to the facilities not being functional.... one person, a woman, in critical conditional and it is a small miracle that there were not more there at the time or injured.... sounds like a freak accident with methane gas from manure loading into a tanker to spread overheating and exploding which cause a fire...
NOT withstanding the jobs that will be lost, the lives of how many people that will be affected... and the trickle down to all the other businesses there from the grocery stores to the gas stations to the restaurants and the convenience stores that serve all those workers...

And EPIC rain in Ft Lauderdale that has caused the closing of the airport because it is under water.... and the flooding in that area....how will this affect some of the ag there????

 

[Baymule]

I heard about that dairy in Texas. Those poor cows! That is so sad. The loss of the cows, buildings, equipment and supplies will be astronomical.

It’s not just big business farms that are being affected. It’s the small producers too. Cattlemen that worked a job all their lives and worked cattle in the evenings and weekends are getting old, their kids aren’t interested and grandkids have their faces glued to a screen of some sort. Some cattlemen are selling out, some selling down to a level they can handle and some are dying with their boots on, and their heirs are selling out.

Without these small producers to feed calves into the feedlots, there will be less cattle.

Big ranches are being cut up into 3 acre “ranchettes”, sold to people who don’t even grow as much as a tomato plant.

 

[murphysranch]

I was just thinking of you FJ, when reading an article on Schwab about cattle futures. How demand is strong and supply dwindling. This fire didn't help anyone!

I used to spec retired dairy cattle for a piece of beef, called a navel, that the restaurant chain I worked for was the largest user of in the US. One may think that 18K dairy cattle are a blink, but NOPE! When you consider the value of each of those animals, even upon death and into meat production, its a damn shame that this accident happened.

Yes, the extinct Tulare lake is no longer dry. And the warm weekend weather in the Sierra's will bode more disaster.

 

[Mini Horses]

Yep. I posted on FJ thread about Tulare when it happened...days of transporting, cattle, losses, etc. These were dairy and had to be milked!!! Hadn't yet heard about the big TX one.

The severe weather across the entire country is creating disaster that will affect us for years!! It's livestock & feed, human losses for jobs, food, homes, businesses. Truly, horrific isn't big enough of a description. Economy in a mess and these factors for long term loss and rebuilding isn't even considered by the average person on the street. It's not the buildings but, the land, plants, trees that can't produce.

The overall outlook is bleak for so many for so long. I'm glad to be blessed with the ability to provide my food needs, as well as help others who may be in need. I've said it for years -- garden, chickens, goats...veggies, milk, meat, eggs. Save your seed, too!!

Sad reality -- gets worse before better.

 

[farmerjan]

@Baymule you hit it on the head about the "part-time farmer".... like US..... that work a 40 hr week and then another 40 hours to have the animals because we did not grow up in a family farm.... and I can't in all good conscience blame any one of the kids that left to work a job and maybe helped some on the weekend because there would not have been enough money to pay that kid to come back or stay there compared to what they could make and needed to make to raise a family... just like the parents that worked off the farm jobs and farmed on the side. And yes, many... MOST.... of us are getting older and cutting back or just getting out.... and then with the electronics... WHY should these young kids do anything that requires some good old fashioned physical work and long hours that interferes with their "more important social life"..... there is such a disconnect to actual FOOD PRODUCTION.... and there is just not the reverence for life that so many of the older generation of farmers had. It is not a deeply held belief in these young people that farm life is a good life overall... and I blame part of that on the lack of a belief in a higher power... God in whatever language and religion you believe in ......
and the lack of respect for another's life and what they own.... and a lack of responsibility for one's own self.
And that no one ever is satisfied with what they have... When is ENOUGH, ENOUGH.... when does one find peace and satisfaction in having enough and that more money is not the answer to the hunger deep down in their soul either...

Add to that the continued increase in the price of farmland... and the competition for it ....housing developments that divide tracts up into the little pieces of land but then that person grows only a lawn that needs all sorts of chemicals to keep it green and kills off the beneficial life it once supported......or put into these solar farms that destroys so much productive land and much of it is not even used for grazing because it it too much upkeep... just spray it to stop the growth and leave it a wasteland.
Put the DA#@ed solar panels on ROOFTOPS... power the buildings where the most power is being used....

 

[Mini Horses]

Add massive flooding all along the Mississippi to the crops and fallow lands losses. more home, farm, jobs, product & business losses.


Saw a report where somewhere they are using sheep to graze solar farms instead of chems. Good choice. Goats would never work...they'd be dancing ON the panels

 

[Ridgetop]

There is a Dorper breeder near Sulphur Springs and that is what he does commercially - leases out his Dorpers to graze solar farms. most solar farms have fencing in place and he runs LGDs with the sheep.

 

[murphysranch]

@Mini Horses Our news out west finally mentioned something about the Mississippi flooding. UGH..

Tuesday Morning, in biz for 49 years, has announced their second bankruptcy in three years. They are throwing in the proverbial towel and closing all stores. Sad.

 

[Mini Horses]

This flooding affects transport of ag crops among a lot of other shipped items....economic impact as the river is a mighty highway of sorts. But just look at the slice this river makes through the country. All along there's massive flooding and damages. Soybean, corn, grains and livestock, fish, all impacted. It will touch our wallets for certain, at some point!

 

[murphysranch]

Two Nordstrom's stores and a Saks store are closing in downtown SF. Looting, riff raff and the economy downturn.

Back in the 70's it was a rare treat (that made me feel rich) to go to downtown SF to those stores, look at the Xmas displays and browse the various departments. No longer....