# Old sayings



## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

For guys raising cattle.

It is better to have hay and no money

Then money and no hay

Because without hay you will be out of money shortly.

Credit to mnhaygrower,he told me to post it.


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## Aaroncboo (Sep 21, 2014)

I'm running into that problem now... Grass hasn't started growing yet so not I have to buy hay.


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## IHCman (Aug 27, 2011)

I find that to be true.


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

I have hay, cattle and no money.

Cow/calf is just not doing great in our area right now.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

Tim/South said:


> I have hay, cattle and no money.
> Cow/calf is just not doing great in our area right now.


Reason why that is Tim....cow/calf is doing purty good here from what I last heard, anything to do with the drought from last year? Guys rebuilding herds, liquidating herds?


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

somedevildawg said:


> Reason why that is Tim....cow/calf is doing purty good here from what I last heard, anything to do with the drought from last year? Guys rebuilding herds, liquidating herds?


Calf prices in general. The majority of the calves sold at our local auctions go to stockers in states with more grazing. Trucking adds to what stocker operators can afford to pay.

Alabama is big in chicken processing, no Tyson type beef processing, no feedlots. Eventually all of our beef is shipped west.

Fed cattle ready for slaughter need to be @ $1.30 lb. for us to make money. When prices get around that then it makes importing a more profitable option. This week Fats have traded at $1.15 - $1.19.

Weekly slaughter is back up to @ 600,000 per week so we know demand is good and moving off the retail shelf. Packer margins are $100 per head. Feedlot margins are $15 - $20 per head.

If the feedlots could have more wiggle room then calves would bring a little more on down the line.

My best option to make money is to background our calves. Two friends and I prepare to sell at the same time. We usually can get a truck load together.

We had a boom there for a while similar to the California Gold Rush.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

You right about that....have a very good friend that he and I were sitting around one evening after work having a brewski before venturing home, contemplating things if you will, in the middle of said gold rush..., he had a total of about 350 pairs, not sure the total count but a good many....and we talked about selling them all, 'cept a bull and a few pairs to start again....said he coulda paid off all of his farm loans...equipment, land, etc. I don't know how he didn't.....it certainly wasn't from lack of encouragement by myself....I just couldn't understand the rational behind not selling, made absolutely no sense to me, but apparantly he thought otherwise...one thing for sure, capital gains would have ate his lunch. He didn't cut the herd in half, but some were sold late on the "wane"


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## IHCman (Aug 27, 2011)

somedevildawg said:


> You right about that....have a very good friend that he and I were sitting around one evening after work having a brewski before venturing home, contemplating things if you will, in the middle of said gold rush..., he had a total of about 350 pairs, not sure the total count but a good many....and we talked about selling them all, 'cept a bull and a few pairs to start again....said he coulda paid off all of his farm loans...equipment, land, etc. I don't know how he didn't.....it certainly wasn't from lack of encouragement by myself....I just couldn't understand the rational behind not selling, made absolutely no sense to me, but apparantly he thought otherwise...one thing for sure, capital gains would have ate his lunch. He didn't cut the herd in half, but some were sold late on the "wane"


My Dad did exactly that back in 14 or 15. He sold 100 bred cows for a really good price and paid off the little land debt he had left. It was part of his retirement plan. Sell 100 head then. Sell another 100 the next year to spread out his tax liability, then the rest he would have left he planned to just cull them off as they got old. Well he sold the first 100 and did well, the next year the market was down some so he didn't sell the next 100 or the extra bred heifers that he kept and planned to sell also. He never did sell anymore cows and kept extra heifers to breed with plans to sell them and never did as his excuse was they were to cheap. So now he is back almost to the number of cows he had before he sold the first 100. Good thing he has me to run after them for free. haha

When I saw what he made that year I thought about selling 100 head of mine if I could have gotten the same money. That would have paid off all my debt depending how bad the taxes would have been. I didn't because the "experts" were predicting 2 more years of good calf prices, so I figured I'd keep those cows for 2 years, make that good calf money and at least pay down my land debt and I'd still have those cows. Well we all know how the markets went. I still did alright but sometimes I kick myself for not selling, that was a golden opportunity missed.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

I woulda done the same, some of them "experts" aren't none too smart, just regurgitating what they've "heard"


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## Tim/South (Dec 12, 2011)

I had plans on selling out when bred cows were 3K. A friend talked me out of it. I was going to sell in the Spring and buy back bred heifers in the fall. I would have made a killing.

Imports killed our prices and still play a roll in keeping them down.


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## r82230 (Mar 1, 2016)

Tim/South said:


> I had plans on selling out when bred cows were 3K. A friend talked me out of it. I was going to sell in the Spring and buy back bred heifers in the fall. I would have made a killing.


Reminds me of the old story of a farmer out working up his field, when he uncovered a bottle. He picked it and was bushing off the dirt, when a genie came out. The genie told him he could have three wishes come true. So the farmer thought for a few minutes and came up with a game plan. He ask the genie if he had to use all three wishes right now. To which the genie replied nope, I just go back into the bottle until you bush it off again, then I will reappear and grant you your other wish. So after some more deep thinking the farmer ask for 500 bushels an acre across all his corn fields this year. The genie responded done. Then the farmer as for $10 a bushel corn price this fall as he was harvesting the corn, done again responded the genie, before going back into the bottle.

About a year goes by the farmer remembers the genie in the bottle. He bushes the bottle off and sure enough the genie reappears, asking the farmer if he is ready for his third wish to come true. The farmer responses enthusiastically yes, I am, can you make corn $10 a bushel again? The genie responded, remember I did that last fall, I made corn $10 a bushel when you harvested your crop. The farmer sadly responded, "Yes, I know you did, but this time I'm going to sell, verses waiting for a higher price". :huh:

Have to admit, I not sold something and may have regretted my decision later.

Larry


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

r82230 said:


> Reminds me of the old story of a farmer out working up his field, when he uncovered a bottle. He picked it and was bushing off the dirt, when a genie came out. The genie told him he could have three wishes come true. So the farmer thought for a few minutes and came up with a game plan. He ask the genie if he had to use all three wishes right now. To which the genie replied nope, I just go back into the bottle until you bush it off again, then I will reappear and grant you your other wish. So after some more deep thinking the farmer ask for 500 bushels an acre across all his corn fields this year. The genie responded done. Then the farmer as for $10 a bushel corn price this fall as he was harvesting the corn, done again responded the genie, before going back into the bottle.
> 
> About a year goes by the farmer remembers the genie in the bottle. He bushes the bottle off and sure enough the genie reappears, asking the farmer if he is ready for his third wish to come true. The farmer responses enthusiastically yes, I am, can you make corn $10 a bushel again? The genie responded, remember I did that last fall, I made corn $10 a bushel when you harvested your crop. The farmer sadly responded, "Yes, I know you did, but this time I'm going to sell, verses waiting for a higher price". :huh:
> 
> ...


Yah, have a guy in town that still has $8 corn in one of his bins, now whether he can ever sell it for what he could have is another story.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

Selling a cow or the land is like selling the factory.

Selling grain or calves,etc you get another shot at it every yr.


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