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Economics 101, Beef and Cattle
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Schram Cattle Co
Posted 5/3/2021 20:49 (#8985830 - in reply to #8984989)
Subject: RE: Economics 101, Beef and Cattle


MB, Canada		Good post--I think you're bang-on here and make an important point that a lot of people on here seem to want to ignore, which is that the packers are violating laws against monopolies (or oligopolies technically), so anyone who says to nut up because the world isn't fair is essentially saying that they're fine with a status quo that is at its roots very illegal. It's like someone in 1980s New York just saying 'Well the mob runs things and that's how life works so if you don't like it I guess you should leave". There's a lot of talk on here about ignoring the markets and just putting your head down and going to work but these days it's sounding less like a tough talk from good old boys and more like a bunch of folks with Stockholm Syndrome.

I'm a relatively young guy in the game. I've taken over an established family ranch, I keep my pencil very sharp, and I don't run any equipment that isn't at least a decade older than me, and I'm getting by so far. But I'm watching a lot of other people my age taking over their family ranches and either working full time on the side or just hemorrhaging equity.

Those who are saying that the market should just take its course better be ready to face the reality that there just won't be a lot of ranches left in the end. What they call a correction in the markets is going to be an erasure of a lot of the people, lifestyle, and ideas that make family ranches so great. As I write this, I can look out at the 130 year-old gable roof barn in my yard with the 806 parked in front of it and a post pounder behind. That 806 has a little metal seat on the fender (with a seatbelt). I sat on that seat as a kid while my dad worked, and my 15 month-old son is going to sit on that seat soon, and I don't want to be the one to eventually break it to him that he'd be better of to sit in some office somewhere than be on the land the way every last one of his forefathers were. Because our generation didn't have the guts to stand up to a broken system.
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