Commodities, Food, Inflation

November 20, 2011

The office of Lynch Livestock, Iowa.  We sold cull sows last week.  Leroy always treats us well, but I was shocked with our price.  He paid $.61 per pound for the heaviest sows weighing over 600 pounds.  It was about $370 per sow.  I can remember when I was pleased with $200 per sow.

Hog, cattle, corn, and other commodity prices are at or near historic highs.  I’ve been trying to understand why this is happening and if it’s going to continue.  Our direct-market meat used to be priced at a premium, paying us for the extra costs involved with hoop-house pork and grass-finished beef.  But the commodity markets have narrowed that premium, and I’m rethinking it.  Maybe grass-finished beef should be cheaper, since the cattle aren’t being fed high-priced corn?

A buddy turned me on to Chris Martenson.  Chris says there is unprecedented levels of money and debt.  Inflation is just more money chasing after the same amount of resources.  The USA and world carry so much debt, there are only two ways out; default, or print more money.  If more money continues to enter circulation, inflation will ensue.  Inflation erodes wealth, because a dollar today buys less in the future.

Is this what’s happening in agriculture?  We are certainly handling more money.  But the costs of our inputs: fertilizer, corn, soybean meal, metal, wood, machinery, have all risen.  Should we save for a rainy day or buy now?

Toasted Tofu sent me a link about how Goldman Sachs created the food crisis.  It said that these huge hedge funds have been buying commodities, and only buying, and this has driven up the price of commodities.  An error in the article says that corn prices just kept going up.  Actually, in the last few years, corn went up to $7 per bushel, dropped back under $4, and then went back up over $7.  There is definitely more volatility.  My grandfather remembers when corn was $1 per bushel, only moving a few cents up or down for years and years.

As you can probably tell by this disjointed post, I don’t really understand what’s happening, or what’s going to happen.  I guess I’ll continue to use this blog to post what is actually happening to me, and the prices I incur and receive.  History always becomes a clear, concise, obvious story, but the future is always uncertain, with only fools and experts making obvious predictions.

5 Comments | Curious business, Curious hogs, Curious meat | Permalink
Posted by Curiousfarmer

Square-Foot Saturday 26, November 19, 2011

November 19, 2011

I put gates at the end of the lane and an electric fence around the house and barnyard, and turned the cows into the fields for the fall grazing.  The cows ate the new hay seeding, (Square-Foot Saturday), as low as they could, pictured below.

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Looking Out For Me

November 9, 2011

The hind end of our old Massey 750 combine, kicking out cobs.

You ever notice people driving down the road with a dent in their car, and then the driver does the maneuver, (tailgating, veering into the other lane, etc.), which probably caused the previous dent?

The dents on this combine tell a similar story, except we have an excuse, it’s impossible to see directly behind.  If you ever find yourself behind a combine, look out.

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I have several people looking out for me, and it’s nice.  When they find an article they think may be of interest to me, they tweet or email.  Thank you.  I appreciate it.

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Grass-Finished Steers vs. Corn-Finished Steers

November 4, 2011

Grass-finished steer, ready for butcher.  The four steers we butchered this week averaged 1160 pounds live weight, and 615 pounds carcass weight.  This means they gained an average of roughly a pound and three quarters per day since weaning, October 2010.

I’m very happy with this performance.  Our customers are as well.  We’ve been butchering these yearling steers every few weeks since July, and we haven’t had a complaint, with much repeat business.

In July, the steers have been gaining rapidly as they transitioned from winter/late spring hay to the lush May/June pasture.  The biggest weigh around a thousand pounds.  As the pasture slumps in the heat of summer, the steers are rotated into orchardgrass/alfalfa hay fields to keep their consumption and daily gain up.

Below you can see the level of finish, or fat, in the brisket of this steer.  By industry standards this steer is not fat, nor ready to butcher.  Most would recommend a few months of corn feeding.  But the marbling in the meat is near the select grade.  And the meat is tender.  And like I said before, we have tons of repeat business.

Below is a steer we sold to a farmer who corn-fattens.  This photo was taken in September.  The steer weighs about 300 pounds more than the steer pictured above.  Look at the amount of fat in this steer’s brisket.  This is the amount of finish the industry demands.  The farmer sold this steer shortly after the photo was taken, and topped his local market.  Each of us produced the animal, and meat, our market demanded.

8 Comments | Curious cattle, Curious direct-market, Curious marketing | Permalink
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Stories: Hal, the Holstein Bull, and Babe

October 28, 2011

The bull had scurs, stubby horns which Hal held onto as the yearling Holstein bull tried to push Hal into the soft spring mud.  Hal felt ribs breaking every time the bull pushed into him, but he figured if he let go, and the bull was able to get a head of steam, it would be all over.

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Hal’s bull started out life like most dairy calves.  Separated from his mom shortly after birth and placed in a calf hut with a circle of wire panel in front of the hut.  The bull spent its first months socializing only with its human caretaker, who fed it milk replacer.

Hal’s bull was further socialized with humans because he was chosen to be a show calf by a local 4-H member.  The bull was taught to lead with a halter, washed and combed, fed and watered.  The bull grew to enjoy the attention from humans, and would even approach them to get his head scratched.

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When the bull lifted his head, Hal called for Babe, the Blue Heeler dog he had received as a puppy in exchange for filling his neighbor’s silo.

Babe didn’t slow as she approached Hal, and attacked the bull’s heels with fury.  Hal let go as the bull bounded over him.  Babe didn’t stop to check on Hal, but kept the bull on the run, through the fence, and into the next pasture.

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Just about every living dairy farmer has a story about a close call with a bull.  Most farm animals are dangerous, but dairy bulls are killers, and they can flip into killer mode in a moment.

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Autumn for Square-Foot Saturday

October 21, 2011

We had a short, yet brilliant, season of fall colors.

I’m going to give Square-Foot Saturdays a rest, checking in occasionally if anything changes.  We are expecting a hard frost tonight, so the growing season is pretty much over.

3 Comments | Curious Square-foot, Curious weather | Permalink
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Square-Foot Saturday 25, October 15, 2011

October 16, 2011

My friend Mark came over on Tuesday and helped me sort the cows away from the calves.  Then we ran them through the chute and gave them their second round of vaccinations.

We like to leave them in the corral for a couple of days until the bawling slows.  If you move them right away, the cows will go through about any fence just to stand next to their calf.  It’s probably driven by milk hormones.  After three days the cows are ready to go to greener pastures.

Unfortunately we received two inches of rain on Wednesday.  The corral dirt turned into slop, and Dad and I had to slog through the mud to sort and move the calves.  The steers are now at my farm, and the heifers are at my parent’s farm.

We still haven’t had a hard frost.  The light frost of a few weeks ago only browned the pumpkin and squash leaves.

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Forage Testing

October 13, 2011

I took three cutting off this hay field, and it’s ready to be cut or grazed again at the end of September.  I’ll wait until after a hard frost, but before the snow gets deep, to graze this field with cattle.

If I grazed this field now, the alfalfa may use most of its root reserves to initiate regrowth.  If a hard frost shuts down the alfalfa at this point, it may have a difficult time surviving the winter because its root reserves are too low.  Grazing or cutting after the plant has gone dormant has little effect.  The time I avoid cutting or grazing is from about September 15th to October 15th, for this climate.

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Justin, formerly of  Midwestern Bio-Ag, took two forage samples, one from first cutting, and one from second cutting.  The samples were taken from square bales, stored in the barn.  First cutting was baled June 1st.  Second cutting was baled July 8th.  The alfalfa was full-bloom both times.

I don’t understand forage testing very well.  If you want an in-depth explanation, check out this excellent article from the University of Kentucky.

These were the first forage tests I’ve ever taken on my farm.  I’ll share some of what I learned.

Even though both cuttings were taken when the alfalfa was full-bloom, 2nd cutting was considerably higher in quality than 1st cutting.  The cattle’s preference confirms this.  2nd cutting was higher in protein, (17.28 to 16.58), lower in ADF fiber, (31.96 to 37.23), higher in TDN total digestible nutrients, (57.06% to 51.13%), and higher in RFQ relative feed quality, (143.91 to 108.68).

I’ll summarize what these numbers mean to me.  Cattle can maintain their weight eating the first cutting hay, and gain some weight eating the second cutting hay.

Some other interesting findings, calcium was low, lending credence to the importance of added calcium, which I have not done.  Manganese was fine, which is strange because my soil tests show low manganese.  Potassium was high, which is also strange because I didn’t add any potassium in the spring, eliminating the theory of luxury consumption, and the soil tests show medium potassium.

If you have any thoughts about this, please share.

3 Comments | Curious crops, Curious fertilizer, Curious forage | Permalink
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Square-Foot Saturday 24, October 8, 2011

October 9, 2011

We buried a family friend yesterday.  Sgt. Jakob J. Roelli was killed in action in Kandahar province, Afghanistan.  He was 24.

I remember talking to a friend in the late 80’s.  He had joined the National Guard to help pay for his college.  We thought there was no way he would ever see active duty, because the US was done with war.  Vietnam was still fresh, and the Soviet Union was collapsing.  He ended up seeing active duty in the first Iraq war.

Now this young man who I’ve known since he was a baby is dead.  We’ve been in Afghanistan for ten years.  The original intent as I understood it, was to oust the Taliban and bring Osama Bin Laden to justice.  I don’t know what our goal is now.  I’m sad.

5 Comments | Curious Square-foot | Permalink
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Square-Foot Saturday 23, October 1, 2011

October 1, 2011

Still growing.

2 Comments | Curious Square-foot | Permalink
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