# The death of the American Cowboy



## BWfarms (Aug 3, 2015)

This is going to kill me if it happens. I will keep a herd for myself and convert to subsistence.

http://www.cattlenetwork.com/news/industry/cargill-invests-alternative-meat


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## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

No thanks!


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

I heard about that a while back....I thought then that as much as this country moans about it's food supply, it sure as heck is not going to buy manufactured meats. I don't think cowboys have anything to worry about. I could see a market for dog food though.

Regards, Mike


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

And Cargill is putting money into it?WTF.Made their money off the backs of farmers!!

http://www.cattlenetwork.com/news/industry/cargill-exits-cattle-feeding-sells-two-yards

They own alot of packing plants though.

https://www.cargill.com/careers/locations/meat-poultry-processing


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

Soylent Green.

I started reading science fiction when I was about 6--they were called comic magazines back then. I have read thousands of SF stories (not fantasy, but stories based on hard science).

The scary part is that so many of the stories I read are coming true.

Ralph


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Yep.....Soylent Green. Great movie.

Regards, Mike


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

Vol said:


> Yep.....Soylent Green. Great movie.
> 
> Regards, Mike


There was a movie?

Ralph


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## endrow (Dec 15, 2011)

It is kind of scary makes you wonder what will happen when you invest in agriculture. My son has to move forward in farming and we recommended maybe he try something different than Dairy even though we've milk cows here since 1732. He thought about transitioning into building 2 or 3 chicken houses but then got a little fearful because that took off and they are building them here left and right and we are already hearing some of the people with contracts for grow or houses are having houses that stand empty longer than the originally anticipated.. they are currently seeing how efficiently they could remodel the current Dairy facility expand herd and transition to robotic milkers. All in a Time when Dairy is on very shaky ground.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

rjmoses said:


> There was a movie?
> 
> Ralph


Come on Ralph....Charlton Heston was the leading character....it's only been about 45 years ago.

Regards, Mike

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070723/


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## BWfarms (Aug 3, 2015)

I won't ever have chicken houses for two reasons, too many around and I don't want them. Can't do hogs because of the moratorium. If cattle cease, I will more than likely become a sodbuster because that would be all that's left.


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## bbos2 (Mar 20, 2015)

Think how much that would affect all of ag. Less competition for corn, pasture, hay/forage. Like Mike suggested, with people worried about eating an animal that eats corn... How could they bring themselves to eating something outta a test tube? But wouldn't surprise me


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

bbos2 said:


> Think how much that would affect all of ag. Less competition for corn, pasture, hay/forage. Like Mike suggested, with people worried about eating an animal that eats corn... How could they bring themselves to eating something outta a test tube? But wouldn't surprise me


Because a large majority will believe anything they are told to believe....sheepeople


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## Grateful11 (Apr 5, 2009)

Yuck! I won't be eating that.


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## luke strawwalker (Jul 31, 2014)

BWfarms said:


> I won't ever have chicken houses for two reasons, too many around and I don't want them. Can't do hogs because of the moratorium. If cattle cease, I will more than likely become a sodbuster because that would be all that's left.


Yep, and them chicken companies are crooks...

They snookered a lot of guys around the country up near Shiner... Come in and start talking about the huge profits and all this and how it's a "turn key" operation... and all for a "minimum investment". So, guys would bite and go borrow a hundred thousand or so and put in a broiler house and the equipment. The company provides the chicks and the feed-- you just raise them to slaughter weight, they come get them and you wait by the mailbox for the check...

SO, the first year goes okay, and the company man comes out, pats them on the back, and gives them their check, and tells them, "Wow, you did GREAT! Ya know, if you built another chicken house, you could have made TWICE as much money!" So, they bite, go borrow another hundred thousand, and build a second chicken house...

The next year goes by, the company man comes out and hands the farmer the check, and tells him how great he did... Then starts the same song and dance with him about how he needs to build a THIRD chicken house... Well, the old farmer looks at his bottom line and his notes and doesn't want to mortgage the farm to build ANOTHER chicken house, and says so... That's when the company man switches to playing hardball, and says, "Well, now... we're looking for PROGRESSIVE farmers, farmers that want to grow *WITH* us and become more profitable... if you don't want to do that, we understand... BUT, we can't be tied down with a bunch of "penny-ante" small-time operators... If you don't build another chicken house, well, there just may not be any GROWING CONTRACTS for you next year, and the two chicken houses you have will sit empty and idle..." Of course, they know FULL WELL that an empty chicken house makes you exactly ZERO money, and the bills on the mortgage to pay for the darn things STILL comes due whether you're making money or not... so the farmer ends up mortgaging the place and builds more houses, until the company's new processing facility isn't so new anymore, and the tax abatements and stuff start running out and they have to start paying property taxes on the facilities, and they run out of suckers willing to play their game in the local area, and the company finds some other town willing to give them land and build roads and lay water and sewer lines out to the big new processing plant they want to build in their community, with all the jobs and benefits they promise to deliver, in exchange for guaranteed tax abatements for the next 10 years... so they come in and build a big steel processing building and relocate, and leave their old place vacant to rot down and let the county take it back rather than pay property taxes on it... after all, they've gotten their 10 years tax free out of it, now it's just a liability... besides, moving somewhere else, they have a whole new crop of "suckers" looking for easy money they can lure in with big promises of fat chicken raising checks for "minimal investment" and "minimum risk", since the company owns the chicks and provides the feed, all the farmer has to do is provide the chicken house and tend to the chickens and wait for a check at the end... It also solves the problems they face when the local community figures out all their promises of "lots of good paying jobs" at the chicken plant was mostly hot air, and most of the jobs go to "imports" they bring in on work visas or people "fresh off the boat" who agree to come work for the company for a year, bring their wife and 9 sickly kids, none of whom speak English, and swamp all the local health care resources and the school system, that now has to hire a bunch of new multilingual teachers for the influx of ESL students that the school is suddenly saddled with... and hire more cops and EMS and etc to deal with all the immigrants in low-rent cheap apartments working in the chicken plant, with all the low-rent crime, drug, and health problems they bring with them...

And it's not like you can grow chickens without a contract with one of the major companies... not commercially anyway... the big companies produce their chicks and feed and supply their contract farmers, and they don't buy from non-contract producers... So basically once you sign a contract with them, your STUCK-- do it their way, or go without-- they KNOW you MUST have a contract with them to survive the debt of building the chicken houses... and if you don't play ball, all they have to do is say, "Well, you might not get a contract next year if you don't blah-blah... (whatever they want).

Nope, I'd NEVER mess that with that bunch of crooks... too many horror stories from the guys who have...

Later! OL J R


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## RuttedField (Apr 24, 2016)

You just might be surprised. They developed a hormone that makes sheep going into heat so more crops of lambs could be produced by a farmer. People are up in arms about that, but a person would have to eat 230,000 pounds of lamb to equate to what one woman consumes in hormones from being on the birth control pill for 1 month.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

luke strawwalker said:


> Yep, and them chicken companies are crooks...
> 
> They snookered a lot of guys around the country up near Shiner... Come in and start talking about the huge profits and all this and how it's a "turn key" operation... and all for a "minimum investment". So, guys would bite and go borrow a hundred thousand or so and put in a broiler house and the equipment. The company provides the chicks and the feed-- you just raise them to slaughter weight, they come get them and you wait by the mailbox for the check...
> 
> ...


Cambells soup had a plant here.They remodeled it from a spent layer processor to a plant that processed broilers.Talked 20-30 farmers into building broiler barns.A couple yrs later they closed the plant.

They all said they would never close it after the remodeling where they dumped 10+ M into it but they did.


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