#1 issue in animal production right now?

hereford said:

Animal rights, trade, organic, natural, Animal ID are all very important issues that get a lot of press.

However I belive the number one issue facing animal agriculture right now(beef industry)is the collection of the reduction of the national herd size, Rising costs of production, encroaching of urban areas, rising land costs. These together are driiving more out of agriculture faster than anything else.

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I agree with this also. I think ethanol subsidies have driven up the price of corn which has caused several things to happen. Rural land prices have sky rocketed due to the profit potential of corn, this has caused many cattlemen to sell off cattle and plant corn in the pastures for about three straight years now. Also, the price of feeding cattle has gone up too quickly for people to figure out how to feed them cheaper. We are now starting to see beef prices rise due to the low supply that will probably continue for a number of years to come. This is why the bred cow and heifer market is up, because people are now wanting to buy and retain breds because of the rising prices.

I think you guys are ALL correct. As Chambero says, we are internally challenged, as equally, as the rest of you have said, weas an industry,  are hampered by external forces. It'll be intersting to see how this deal unfolds.

GB

We have an Ethanol planet just a few miles from us, my husband said when it went in, that was the wrong thing to ever start up.  When they started to take our food supplies, just wait for the day of higher food price's,do believe judgement day is here folks.  We better start to encourage our government to drill baby drill.  Open the capped wells in Texas and Oaklahoma.  Go to Canada and drill in the sand dunes.  It is time that we get this country weaned away from foreign oil.  We need to worry about feeding our own people. Mom always said, charity begins at home!

I have issues with ethanol, but to say it is the burden of the cattle world seems highly unfactual.  Also i don't remember cattlemen complaining about corn subsidies when corn was 1.50 not all that long ago, saying the government was causing to much corn to be planted and keeping the price artificially low.  I could be wrong on this, since i wasn't that old in the 90's and early 2000's

hamburgman said:

I have issues with ethanol, but to say it is the burden of the cattle world seems highly unfactual.  Also i don't remember cattlemen complaining about corn subsidies when corn was 1.50 not all that long ago, saying the government was causing to much corn to be planted and keeping the price artificially low.  I could be wrong on this, since i wasn't that old in the 90's and early 2000's

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Please explain and try to remember that the question is directly related to animal production, not just cattle.

I agree with the ethanol concerns stated!    I see no actual benefit and several problems with the current politically correct push for more and more ethanol use.    I don't see it accomplishing anything longterm except increasing risk for farmers(don't forget, input costs will rise right with the price of corn and soybeans) and causing even more vertical integration in agriculture.  What banker in his right mind would lend money to a young crop farmer once the input costs rise to the levels the corn prices have risen to.    All the while, these policies will create huge problems for all animal agriculture and put a lot of producers out of business.  As I reminded one of our senators last summer in D.C.--What other product is protected by a tariff, bolstered by a subsidy, and mandated to the general population.  I can't think of one.  In our area, when the ethanol plants overbuild and start having financial problems the oil companies just wait around to buy them up for pennies on the dollar.  Dollars that are provided, in many cases, by the taxpayers.  All the while we are sitting on huge deposits of our own oil and gas.  We can't go after those resources but other countries can drill for oil just miles off our coast and then sell us the oil.  Its kind of like owning a grocery store and having the government force you to pay someone to provide you with food  they just took out the back door.  Government at its best!!!  We'll probably go on this way for the next 30-40 years until nuclear or some other form of energy becomes commonplace and then spend tax payer dollars to make sure these oil reserves--that were once valuable--don't somehow harm us down the road --now that they are worthless.  JMHO

The other issue in today's agriculture is over regulation by almost all government agencies---EPA, FDA, USDA, etc.    American agriculture cannot stay competitive in world markets if we are going to add unbearable production costs due to regulations from every regulatory agency--state or federal!!    We will soon be forced  to import(and pay for) many of our agricultural needs from Brazil, China, et.al. as producers and companies who now grow and process products in the U.S. reposition themselves in other countries where the cost of doing business is more advantageous.    Once we are no longer the leader in agriculture, we will cease to be a world leader in other areas as well and will become dependent for not only our credit but our food as well.  We are getting closer to this scenario every day--and at an alarming rate.JMHO

I will now crawl down off my soapbox!!  The altitude is making me dizzy!!

I think the bad publicity received in the media is the #1 issue.  There are far too many people that live in the city that don't have a clue about what goes into making their food.  Those people still have a vote and an opinion.  The media many times is the only outlet for those people to form their opinions.  

I very rarely watch Oprah, but I just happen to watch one day that she was going to talk about how great organic food is and how terrible it is to raise animals in confinements.  She showed some hogs running on grass and how truly happy those hogs were.  Then she showed some hogs in confinement and how terrible those conditions were.  Really those hogs looked happier but that's off topic.   The thing she failed to mention was the guy running hogs on grass had like 5 of them and it was a hobby to him.  The guy that had thousands was actually feeding people.  I know that we are on a big organic kick and I have no problems with that, but IMO Oprah has an obligation there to tell the financial side to her audience.  How much it would cost the consumer to raise several thousand hogs on grass vs. the confinement.  If the objectivity existed in the media, we might stand a fighting chance as animal producers.  I truly worry about the future of all things agriculture.

Another issue is finding the younger generation to continue farming. Farming is a 365 day job 24hrs a day...no vacations, breaks, ect. Also due to this GREAT economy where in its hard for younger people to even get started farming...cause in order to farm you have to buy some land first which will need a loan, which requires great credit scores which is hard for a young person to build/start due to the banks being very picky on who they give credit cards to now days. A lot of people I graduated with from my ag class wanted to major in AG business but now are in Ag education. Older people keep their farms hoping one day the kids will take over...but the children get married to non-farming people, get careers as tech business people or jobs in health care which are the ones payin their bills...which leaves mom and dad to sell the farm because it is just too much work for them....they attempt to sale the farm to keep it as a farm...but with the waiting and extra work they finally sell to a developer.

chambero said:

It's a mistake in any business to think your problems are external.  Overall, its the declining number if people that will be farmers/ranchers and the cost of land relative to its ability to generate revenue.

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I agree with chambero on this. Most ranchers in the industry, (not show cattle), are either aging quickly, or are part of some corporation or investment firm. The old ranchers may pass their herd on to their children, just like theyre family has done for years, however, with the economy the way it is, most young folks don't want to carry on in this profession, they would rather sell the land and make a quick buck. This is why there are so many government grant programs for first time farmers, ranchers, that dont even have to be paid back. Still with the land cost and growing cities, like my hometown (good farmland, run a cow to ever 2 acres), but, theres a 100,000 people here, and u cant buy an acre for less than 50,000. We can't keep covering our fertile land in concrete and steel, one day its gonna catch up and bite us in the ass.

As far as other animal production goes: I think their biggest threat is vertical integration, sure it lowers the cost of meat, but it also puts all your hog farmers, and small time chicken farmers in a world of hurt. When u almost completely eliminate a profession, u flood the job market with new people, in which the economy wasnt designed. Maybe he was middle class hog farmer, now he works at a plant for a corporation raising hogs, he makes half the money, and our lower income families just got one bigger. In the history of time, the smaller a countries middle class gets the worse off the economy is, this is just what is happening to the U.S. today, our middle class is shrinking, forcing more and more people into poverty.

Sorry, i got on a bit of a rant, but firmly believe this is whats hurting our country today.

Well well well - oddly enough today 2/1/11 Oprah is having a show on going Vegan.  It will be very interesting to hear if she can capture the true story and both sides.  Some of you folks should tune in if your schedule allows. 

Glenstory said:

hamburgman said:

I have issues with ethanol, but to say it is the burden of the cattle world seems highly unfactual.  Also i don't remember cattlemen complaining about corn subsidies when corn was 1.50 not all that long ago, saying the government was causing to much corn to be planted and keeping the price artificially low.  I could be wrong on this, since i wasn't that old in the 90's and early 2000's

Click to expand...

Please explain and try to remember that the question is directly related to animal production, not just cattle.

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I don't think ethanol alone is a great way for energy independence, i feel there are plants out there that are highly inefficient energy wise and can only stay in business with the subsidies, but as those are lowered those plants should close.  What i don't think is fair it to blame all the current high prices on food and other commodities on corn prices and ethanol.  We have historically short worldstocks (have for a few years now) because of bad weather.  Australia was in a never ending drought in wheat country, now they are flooded in part of the bread basket, Russia had a 1000 year drought that caused wheat prices to sky-rocket and other commodities just followed because wheat could be replaced at certain points by corn and a little by beans.  Cotton is high because of hoarding in china and a few other newly developing countries.  I just don't see how ethanol is responsible for all this.  Also the by-products are used around me for all kinds of feed at all stages in livestock production.  

 This website is pretty cool and shows the corn prices for 2000, sorry i don't know what the basis average was for the year, around me right now it is 31 cents, and i have to apologize  for just not knowing what it used to be before commodities rose.  
http://futures.tradingcharts.com/historical/CN/2000/0/continuous.html
 My point here is, i don't remember the livestock industry complaining about corn subsidies when corn was this low.  Had the government not subsidized corn, then fewer acres would have been planted, or there would have been input cutbacks, which more than likely would have decreased yields, which would obviously have shortened the supply of corn to feed cattle and likely raised the price.  Since this would not have been favorable to livestock, they didn't seem to get as upset about subsidies.  I just don't remember the NCA saying "Corn subsidies must be stopped, because our beef industry has artificially low corn prices for inputs, which will cause over expansion and inefficiency within the industry hurting our competitiveness in the overseas economies.


 When i say i never heard

SD said:

Ignorance

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SD & I think alike  -    SCARY!

26 in of snow in 24hrs is my #1 issue right now i dont know how u canadiean and dakotans do this next yr im not calvin til may

Extremism...in everything.

My ways right...yours is wrong.

No compromise...no middle ground.

No discussion just yelling.


Other issues:

Negative attitudes towards financing education.
Pseudo-science creeping into everthing...emotions guiding too many decisions...voters/legislators/educators/parents
Research dollars being cut.
High input costs...
High start-up costs for young people interested


more later

Ag Man said:

Extremism...in everything.

My ways right...yours is wrong.

No compromise...no middle ground.

No discussion just yelling.


Other issues:

Negative attitudes towards financing education.
Pseudo-science creeping into everthing...emotions guiding too many decisions...voters/legislators/educators/parents
Research dollars being cut.
High input costs...
High start-up costs for young people interested


more later

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AMEN.....I agreed to ALL of that especially the last...which is the boat Im in!