Free Trade Poll

[Terrel L. Shields]

They said it much better than I could. But to sum up, your statement is pure bovine excrement.

http://usmfreepress.org/2013/04/29/meat-subsidies-strip-other-food-industries-to-the-bone/

Vegans?
The government subsidies are for corn to feed the animals and water and land for them to graze on.

Beef ranchers don't use much corn, rarely grow it, and ethanol industry gets the benefit not ranchers. BLM fees are comparable to private land fees, and without being allowed to fertilize usually, such leases require lots of land. So if renting BLM land is a subsidy then the Post Office subsidies those who own and build post offices; we are subsidized to have free highways: Fishermen are subsidized to ply the bays and oceans; timber subsidized when cutting wood, hence subsidizing home builders and Home Depot. And, oil companies paying thousands per acre plus and eighth the value of oil are subsidized. The argument in the article is classic fake news. The only cost sharing we've done was for conservation and it is so complex we could do it ourselves cheaper which is why I dropped out of the program ... I think I got a $250 check for "cost sharing" on an investment of over $1000.

 

[Tom Woolford]

Interesting how anything someone does't agree with now is "Fake News".

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

Would you swear no fast food giant has ever donated anything to a cattle farmer?

Tyson's donated chicken for a 4H event, and our rural fire department. A local banker loaned us a cooker and a couple LO's volunteered to cook the chicken. Is that what you mean?

Grocers and chains negotiate prices from packers and wholesalers. They buy from processors who buy from feedlots who buy from cattle producers usually in auction barns. This supply chain is robust. Some ranchers retain ownership thru the feedlot, and even then weanling calves normally go to grass, often winter wheat and are grained or supplemented until 800# or so before going to a feedlot for finishing-usually for only 30-90 days. Much of this is hedged and or priced upon gain.

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

nteresting how anything someone does't agree with now is "Fake News".

When it is an obvious lie, it's a no-brainer. How can you say corn subsides (crop insurance- just like flood insurance or FHA mortgage insurance ) directly benefit beef ranchers when they don't feed calves grain unless they don't sell at weaning? And then we usually keep heifers for future replacement...they are an expense from then on. Subsidized ethanol drove grain prices sky high hurting beef growers, which led to thinning herds and that created short supplies. When ethanol subsidy slowed, grain prices fell. Beef then basically followed as demand fell over higher prices. We don't plant wheat now because price is to low considering our production is too low to be profitable. We switched to green beans ... tell me about the bean subsidy Del Monte offers

In fact, grass fed beef by its very nature uses no corn or other grain. How can beef be subsidized. Sugar and oranges aren't beef.

 

[Tom Woolford]

Which is is? "Subsidized ethanol drove grain prices sky high hurting beef growers"

" grass fed beef by its very nature uses no corn or other grain" which we both know is a small portion of the total beef market. Grocers advertise grain fed beef.

There appear to be obvious contradictions in just the one post. Grain prices hurt growers, but they don't use it.?

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

Which is is? "Subsidized ethanol drove grain prices sky high hurting beef growers"

Both because the feed lots pay less for feeder cattle as their grain costs increased. They are less willing to pay the rancher for beef. That builds up supply which then hurts the rancher who must sell at some point. They cannot eat the beef themselves. So the feed lot pressures the rancher because their costs are high for grain. Today prices fell for grain from overproduction created by Ethanol subsidies. The feedlot then inputs less grain which is expensive and sells the cattle at lighter weights to make a profit. Corn was grown taking wheat out of production bumping that price up. When subsidies slowed, too much corn... price fell, wheat price fell in response as chicken companies and feedlots took the cheapest alternative.

There is no crop insurance for a cow. Ranchers do not input much grain at all. But grain prices impact the feed lots that purchase their feeder calves. It is not a one-dimensional world. Ranchers do not sell directly to slaughter houses.