|
MN | Higher prices is what is needed. I think this will sort itself out, but it's going to be a smaller cow herd than we are used too. Maybe part of the answer lies in a more efficient dairy industry, where cows last longer and more of the dairy herd can be bred to beef bull ( say the bottom half of the herd). If cows last longer this is increasingly possible. Check out Wulf cattle breeding to feeding program for limo-jersey crosses. The dairy industry is already geared to handle this. Less jersey bulls getting euthanized and more feeders into the supply chain.
Another possibility is dry lot beef cow production and early weaning of calves. If done under a roof environmental factors are more controlled. Labor is more evenenly spaced out over the year. Takes less land. Takes less feed to early wean calves. Of course this takes capital, hence higher calf prices to make this work. But, cows fed TMR is much more land efficient than pasture raising cows. Can use corn stalks, low quality alfalfa, DDGS, sweet corn silage, corn silage, etc ... Whatever is cheapest.
The market will figure it out. Economic factors like labor efficiency and subsidized crop insurance have moved capital both human and monetary to row crop production. There will always be a place for the cow herd covering land out west and marginal land inbetween to run cows on, but whatever can be plowed up will get put into row crops. As an industry, we need to figure out a way to produce more calves with less land and less labor. To me this means more capital and in order for more capital to come to our market we need higher prices. | |
|
What it would take to make cattle appealing
