Central North Carolina | Howdyjabo - 9/27/2014 23:25 +100 That run up in feed prices caused a huge loss of demand from livestock. Its coming back for chickens and hogs but it may never fully recover for the cattle. We lost and continue to lose infrastructure that cannot be rebuilt or shifted for YEARS. And I am not the only one that has completely switched systems so that I never have to rely on corn or corn products again. Many of those that couldn;t switch off corn just went out of business and won't be coming back. The ethanol subsidy screwed all farmers-- It just took a few years to get to all of them. Any time a farmer makes good money, you can be sure they are doing it off the backs of other farmers. Thats just the way it works. The only exception I see is if there are food riots going on.
Exactly. Export demand due to the cheap dollar is about the only thing that kept cow/calf guys afloat from 2006-2012. A couple years of good prices will never make those years up. High corn prices have destroyed some corn demand and has financed corn production expansion all over the world. And farmers are not retaining heifer like you would expect because they know current profitability won't last. One bad corn crop and prices will fall right back down.
Ethanol mandate was nothing but another big corn farmer subsidy. It is great if you can get it I suppose. Pure politics.
Edited by Douglas 9/29/2014 13:09
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Ethanol running cattle feeders out of business.
