Opinions - Biggest problem facing the cattle industry?

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heatherleblanc

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Jan 2, 2012
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I'm interested to see what everyone thinks will be the biggest problem/challenge facing the cattle industry in the near future?
Whether you are in the ranching business, the purebred business or the club calf business?
Whether you are a breeder, fitter or just a hired hand?
What do you have a problem with in your industry?
 

aj

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Jul 5, 2006
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western kansas
Is the enviroment changing? Will there be a point where red cattle may gain favor over black cattle because of the heat issue? Also.....ground that used to be worthless......that cattle and sheep used to be run on is apparently worth alot of human dollars....because of urban sprawl and hunting interests. Pature prices seem to be rising higher than it makes sense....to run livestock on. Less acres for ruminants.
 

Gargan

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Feb 24, 2011
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West Virginia
Does enough kids want to raise beef cattle and put in the time and effort to do so in the future? And then will their kids want to? Aj's points are very interesting too!!
 

ZNT

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Apr 25, 2007
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Rhome, TX
I think AJ is on the right track.  The average age of a rancher is something like 58 years old.  With the cost of land, equipment, and the cattle themselves, it is pretty much impossible for a young person to start up, unless they inherit the land/money from their family, or have outside income.  The value of land in our area ranges from $3,000-25,000 per acre.  Running cows or haying the land at those prices will NEVER pencil out.

Another issue to the beef industry is perception.  The perception that beef is not healthy for you and that it is the least healthy of the other meat choices out there, i.e. chicken, turkey, and even pork.  I do not believe this, but I am not the one that needs convinced of this.

This should be an interesting topic.
 

farmboy

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south webster ohio
People have this wild idea that red meat causes cancer ZNT or will give you a heart attack. I really didn't know people were so ignorant about food until reading about ketosis
 

A.P.

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I think we have two problems one is how much money cattlemen are going to lose when they are on the wrong end of the correction of this cattle market because it wil happen.

Second is the inflated cost of production and land that keeps many younger generations from the oppurtunity to ranch for a living. I will tell you the problem we are facing. My wife and I live on her uncle's ranch. It is 4 sections in eastern NM. Stocking rate is 1AU per 40 acres. It has a 4200 sq ft 4br 3bth house built in the 30s and added on to in the 70s plus all the land is state lease which is $5200 per year. We think it is worth between $490000 to $600000. I have a good job that pays around $75k but I think there isno way to make this work. Wht do you guys think? Bythe way its 27 miles from town.   
 

DiamondMCattle

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Jan 31, 2011
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Nenzel,NE
I think perception is huge. We constantly have to combat bad images portrayed by animal rights extremists as well as re assuring consumers we have a healthy wholesome product.
 

chambero

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Feb 12, 2007
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Texas
The bad news:  Everything you are all saying about land prices and lack of young people interested in doing it is exactly correct.  Price of land exceeding its value for agriculture - particularly cattle ranching - has always been an issue.  If you look at the history, the ranch landowners (the big operations) have always been people that made that money doing something else.  Now its doctors/lawyers interested in hunting - it used to be railroad officials, Eastern U.S./European investors, etc.  

As morbid as this sounds, the current generation of agricultural landowners (essentially people in their 60s to 80s) are living significantly longer than their parents did and the next generation is not inheriting the land young enough to make a career of agriculture.  Current landowners tend to be either unwilling to or financially unable to pass control of the operations to the younger generation that is now responsible and capable of doing the work.  They want/need to hire low cost labor or rely on free help from family so that the true cost of owning/operating it is hidden in some ways.  Basically, our parents got control of the assets much younger than we are.

The good news:  Hardly any young people are interested in doing it.  Which means someday those of us that are will have access to land through leases, etc. I don't think there will be that much competition for it 20-30 years from now, at least if you live farther than reasonable commuting distance from cities.  Even though the land may be broken into smaller and smaller parcels through inheritance, landowners have to do something with it, for tax purposes if nothing else.  Even if you are only interested in hunting, you've got to control the vegetation growth through grazing at least.
 

Mueller Show Cattle

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Glenrock, Wyoming
Chambero is rite as what I have been seeing is land is priced so high that you can't afford to buy it to ranch. But if you are patient and watch you can find good lease rates. What I see that is hurting cattle market besides public perception of beef is the cost of feed and hay. Yes I raise the club calves but have seen alot of local ranches selling off replacement heifers around here like crazy because of the drought we are in and not having enough hay to feed them this coming winter and that is just making hay prices even higher. The Texas drought drove up our hay prices last year as people were shipping the hay down south and now our drought this year is keeping our prices up. We have been very hot this year way above normal and below average on the little rain we do get and our irrigated hay meadows are way down on hay production cause of the heat caused our snow melt in the mountains to melt fast and the irrigation water in the creeks are way down and its not even July yet. At $200 plus a ton for grass hay it don't take long to burn your profits running commercial cattle if your needing to buy hay. Water is going to be a very valuable resource even more than now as we had a very mild winter and if this global warming is real, we are in big trouble. I know it costs alot of money to convert salt water to fresh water but I'm thinking that might start paying for it's self soon to get water from the oceans and put in canals or pipe pumped in to areas that need irrigation. We have good soil to grow plenty of hay and even some crops if we have the moisture.
 

Mueller Show Cattle

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Glenrock, Wyoming
Gargan said:
Big M Show Cattle said:
and if this global warming is real, we are in big trouble..
John Coleman slams global warming (1 of 4)

(clapping), good video. I did not not really agree or disagree that global warming is real as I have had limited information on it. I do know that we might be in a heat cycle then as our winter cycles have been very mild compared to normal which is nice in the winter but we pay for it in the summer. So I hope we get out of this cycle soon cause I hate this heat and we could sure use more moisture each winter. I don't know how long these cycles are but my wife's grandfather tells me stories of how Wyoming winters use to be and that they are nothing like they use to be as far as snow falls go from 30 to 40 years ago and I have even noticed a difference in the 8 years I have lived in Wyoming. But good video Gargan.
 

chambero

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Feb 12, 2007
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Texas
Reading some of the accounts of Wyoming blizzards from the late 1800s makes one appreciate how hard it was for those early ranchers to survive.
 

McM93

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Jan 21, 2012
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Almost all of these posts have excellent points. Chambero's post is on target. So many older people are collecting an oil/gas check and not raising nor letting another family member raise cattle in my area. I am currently in the oilfield services industry in my home county after being away for 20 years. I see 1/5 of the cattle that were here 20 years ago and most of the places have grown up in mesquite and/or cedar. It is sad IMO. I hope to be one of the ones picking up on these I have to lease the place to keep our ag exemption soon.... :'(
 

NHR

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Jun 12, 2007
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Rice TX
Death Tax, urban sprawl, out of control appraisal districts over inflating land values, government regulations, cattle rustlers, cattle movement between states and borders without proper health inspections, Disease, illegal chemical dumping polluting water and land, LIBERALS, grasshoppers (we have a Biblical plague of them this year) and other insects, and i am sure I am missing a lot of others.
 

NHR

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Jun 12, 2007
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Rice TX
add the US Supreme Court to the list now, thanks to them the government will now have full access to tell everyone in America exactly how they live and what they eat. Freedom has left America!
 

Gargan

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Feb 24, 2011
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West Virginia
NHR said:
add the US Supreme Court to the list now, thanks to them the government will now have full access to tell everyone in America exactly how they live and what they eat. Freedom has left America!

this is a sad day for the usa as we used to know and love!!
 
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