Death comes to us all. Life's but a walking shadow | I have been wondering many of the same thoughts myself. And my first thought after reading your rant is: Do any of the Packer's people ever read any of the comments like yours (and mine) here on NAT. In contrast you will never see anything like this reflected in trade publications like Drovers Journal. There is never a bad word written there. And you are absolutely correct, many of us who have the knowledge and resources to go back to raising calves or feeding cattle are either too old or too wary to. I've got the barns and pastures sitting empty but I didn't like or trust those people then and have no reason to now. The packers very well might have to wait for a new generation of naïve suckers to come along.
I had hoped that the crisis would result in the failure of one or more of the packers so they could be broken up and have some reasonable competition restored to the market but it doesn't look like it will be the case. The latest results for heifers on feed indicate that heifer retention is underway. (Although some of that heifer retention might just be overdue cow replacement with no net herd increase.)
The only question that I have now is whether the packers can find a way to consolidate the feeder segment of the industry enough to gain leverage over the price of calves. That is my fear. Right now the cow-calf farmer finally has some small leverage over the packers but it doesn't take much imagination to see how that could change quickly, |
Have packers beat the dog so much it won't come when they call
