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Letter Re: Implications of High Grain Prices for Livestock Owners -- Stock Up!

Dear JWR,
The prices for wheat and soy and orchard grass crop seed have risen 40% in our region this spring. And that is the farm supply co-op pricing. The N and Phos. fertilizer is pretty well matching this increase. Lime is only 20% higher than last fall. Most of the larger crop farmers (200 acres or more) in our eastern central area (which 5 years ago used to be primarily tobacco fields) are now counting on a moderate to large profit in return because these edible cash crops are being currently negotiated and purchased in bulk to be shipped to China (soy) and Egypt (wheat). The corn crops grown locally are being sold for US bio-fuel production.

Heads up! If you have large farm animals and poultry, put up a one year reserve of feed grains and feed hay or fodder now, if you can find it for a reasonable bulk purchase price and get busy breaking ground on that fallow pasture land and start planting your own rotational plots of grasses for hay, forage and feed grains! I am perplexed to how many people are selling off completely or drastically reducing the numbers of their large farm animals now at a time that they should bare caution in their reflexive reactions. Consider that this may not be the best resolution as a result of the price increases of the grains.

This is the time to ride the grain increase out until they can become self sufficient in their own home grown supply and to stock up on seed. The prices will only get much higher in a year. If they can just hold out until their own grains come on line, the inflationary prices to come will make the value of those animals worth triple or quadruple their price in the short coming years. Trying to buy new livestock is not going to get cheaper either. Now is not the time to be selling off your extra edible or working farm animals. This is a time to hold and make yourselves busy as self sufficient farmers. We're now in this for the long haul! Think for the long term future, not just for today. - KAF

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