They should make the same money if they're billing for the absence of the subsidy. The entire cost is just directly transferred to the shelf price.
They should make the same money if they're billing for the absence of the subsidy. The entire cost is just directly transferred to the shelf price.
I wouldn't want to be a dairy farmer. Pay $360/T for hay and get up at 4AM to milk then milk again in the evening, 7 days a week. Add to that their equipment and land costs and the investment in livestock and frankly IDK how they make it work for $1.60 a gallon currently.
http://www.wikinvest.com/futures/Milk_Futures
That 18.57 per 100 pounds.
http://www.wikinvest.com/futures/Milk_Futures
That 18.57 per 100 pounds.
The large commercial milk producers don't have to get up at 4am.
Check it out. The cow decides when it's time to be milked and begins the process without human intervention.
Of course, these are large commercial milk production facilities.
Check it out. The cow decides when it's time to be milked and begins the process without human intervention.
Of course, these are large commercial milk production facilities.
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BULL~! "and provides just a little bit of money. It could be anywhere between five to ten percent, it all depends on the farmer. That gives them just a little bit of money that helps them get through the market , and gives them incentive to stay in the business." So your telling me that them not getting their 5-10% kickback equates into me getting "milked"
for double the price at the market? Not buying this one bit.
for double the price at the market? Not buying this one bit.
I've got two dairies within 5 miles of me, and another about 12 miles away. I've asked them the same. I think it's something that they grew up with, they do anything they can to make it work and keep it going. Some place like Braums or Hiland, I can see, for the small dairy guy..................I don't know how they keep it up.
So do some of the farmers and ranchers...................tough times for a lot of them. It's a life long learning experience. I work for a couple during the summer and different times throughout the year. Come out for wheat harvest next June (if there's anything to harvest), the A/C is cold!
Braums is the master of vertical integration. They have 13,000+ acres along the river that they grow silage to feed over 10,000 head of cattle. Thats just in Tuttle. IDK how many they milk in Shattuck but I'd guess 2-3000. Might be more.
Even with control of the source of their feed, they spend an ungodly amount of money on irrigation and fertilizer. Not to mention the amount of dozer work they do. They are always clearing out trees to make more farmland or creating irrigation ponds.
I and many others have said for a long time that if Braums had to make it farming, he would have been busted out long ago. In fact, I doubt they even want the farming operation to make money. The money coming in from ice cream sales must be pretty good.
They have control of their product from the feed the cow eats, through the pasteurization process, to the packaging, to the point of sale.
Ain't that the truth. No two years are the same and lessons learned one year don't carry over to the next.
Ours is not a true pure capitalist/free market. That is what led to the monopolies of the early 1900s. There has to be regulations, there has to be farming programs, otherwise, this entire system doesn't work. If you let all of the smaller farms fail, then you have more people in the unemployment lines and less food in the markets. There are also reasons to pay farmers to not farm certain lands at certain times.
I could say the exact same thing about the small mom&pop stores driven out of business by Walmart.
That doesn't mean we give them a .gov subsidy so they can stay in business.
That would be socialism!
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