is feed gonna go through the roof?

[Skyesrocket]

With corn at $7.00 a bushel, you bet prices are going up!
I was talking to a livestock driver this weekend and he advised me to get a couple of calves for beef. He said that here in NE Ohio holstein bull calves averaged $100 a head. Now, he is hauling the calves in to the auction houses for sellers and instead of sending the seller a check he is sending them a bill because the price of calves is less than the price to transport them. He said the reason was corn prices.
So, even with the increase in corn, I'm getting a couple of calves to feed the family. By getting them now I will only need to winter them once and butcher them the following fall.
Pigs are going the same route. I didn't want to raise pigs this year, but am reconsidering. I have people begging me to raise some for them.
I just read in Beef Cow weekly that the Canadian government is going to subsidise hog farmers $1.5 billion to destroy a huge amount of sows.
I wish I was smart enough to understand all of what is happening, but I'm not. So I will stock up the freezers and hope for the best, but be preparred for the worst.

 

[sundance]

I bought chicken layer crumbles last week $11.50 for 5olbs, goes up every time i stop by the co-op for feed,but hay went down to my surprise to $8.50 a bale, I usually buy the wheat straw for the run but I need regular hay for the nests and coop, when they are cleaned out, which when it dries out will be done again,At least the hay with all that chicken poop on it will go on my garden.

marrie

 

[Eggseronious]

There is one thing for sure that high priced corn makes cheap feeder cattle. I think we are in a transition period of prices on grains and livestock for sure. Everything is through the roof corn was $2.00 a bushel for years. Now that fertilize has tripled in price, equipment is unreal. Everything has put pressure on the american farmer hes not making anymore just swapping dollars. Corn needs to be higher than $2 but we are in a transition and no one knows where its going to settle, but it will in time.

 

[Harleywood]

Here in Tucson, hay is $15.00 a bale already and pellets $14.50 a bag.

 

[Wildsky]

We still have corn growing here in Nebraska, we had a few large storms go through here a few weeks back - hail and such - ruined some of my veggies - but I do still see rows and rows of green in the fields around here.

 

[jtotherow]

When we started last April with our chicks feed was 6.00 a 50lb bag. Now it is 9.25 a bag. Luckly our guy in the country store 15 miles south makes his own feed. the girls love it! I make sure that i buy a monhtly supply because of the gas prices! The stores closer to me are 13.25 to 13.99. For the same stuff. Someone is getting rich! Why don't they open our wells and get our stuff back in our hands. We shouldn't be so dependant of foreign oil. Lord help US!

 

[Eggseronious]

Fertilize such as 19-19-19 is $930.00 per ton thats picked up there, at our local Coop. I don't see any relief for feed prices.

 

[dogzrule5]

Prices were going up before the flood.

Two weeks ago when I went grocery shopping at a local Food Lion, the store manager told me that Cheerios will be $6+/box due to grain prices.

Not a good indication of things to come!

 

[Skyesrocket]

I copied this from Beef Stocker Trends:

Markets
$7 Corn — No Relief In Sight
Maybe $7 is the last straw, the tipping point at which cattle prices begin running inversely to corn prices again. We’re fixing to find out.

“Insurmountable pressure from the relentless surge in corn prices has finally broken the feeder cattle market rally, even though available numbers are tight and expected to become progressively more scarce,” said analysts with the Agricultural Marketing Service on Friday.

Massive flooding in the Midwest last week helped propel every traded month of corn futures through September 2009 (next September!) past $7/bu. For the week, cash fed cattle dropped back a dollar; that was on early-week trade before the weather busted loose the corn market. Feeder cattle were called weak to $3 lower, with calves $2-$6 lower than the previous week.

“Spiking oil and corn prices have crippled the economy and crushed consumer confidence, while fear has set in as we have no way of knowing how high prices can go as market indicators show no signs of grain/fuel prices weakening,” explained AMS researchers.

It doesn't sound like corn will be going down anytime soon.

 

[summerwindsfarm]

Im predicting that food prices are going to do just what gas prices have done. My city friends and family are giggling at the idea. I hope im wrong..but i dont see how i can be. With gas prices up and corn prices up and hay prices up..how can food prices *not* rise accordingly?

We raise our own meat..and this year have increased our number of grass feed critters (lamb and beef). We've already contracted with 2 of our neighbors for hay.. some bermuda and some prairie grass. My birds are my biggest concern since i feed them commercial feeds. They do free range..but not a lot to free range on in the winter here sigh.