If last week was cold enough to freeze the cannon balls off the brass monkey, the cannon balls will really be rolling on the deck this week. Minus 30 temperatures and a wind chill over -40C were felt. Every year we get some of this weather. Let's have it now and get it over with, I say. I see forecasts that it is going to warm up. Some years when we have cold weather in November and December, it can be quite nice in January. Here is to hoping, anyways!
The beginning of the week was so full of hoar frost I didn't know which one to mark down. Needless to say the beginning of June is going to be wet, wet, wet!
The old cows have a hard time with this weather. Not a good time to be a cow right now. When I had cattle, I had a policy of giving them lots of bedding on a bedding pack. There is a little heat comes off the bedding pack if you use the same spot every year. We didn't feed them until 10 a.m. as the theory was the cow would be warmer when she was lying down. She had to heat only one side. The day would be warmer after 10 a.m. We also wanted the cows full, so in this weather, roll out more feed. This is also a good time to be feeding grain or pellets. Keep the old girls full and hope for warmer weather. You old cowboys, dress warm and hope for warmer weather.
On the home front, everything has stopped. I was out pushing snow in my yard. There is an unbelievable amount of snow out there. Some of it, I think, is the neighbour's as it has drifted in and piled up. I have the front yard clean but the bin yard is still full. The hydraulics were so stiff on the tractor that the blade would hardly lift. Today, I looked the situation over and made an executive decision, Gee whiz, it's - 36 C, there has to be a "better" day.
Last week I was talking about the disparity between last year's price and this year's price. I used the price of $9 a bushel last year compared to $6 a bushel this fall. A person who farms pointed out to me the $6 a bushel is gone and the new price is $4 something, under $5. I didn't know that! What has happened?
I couldn't believe that the price has eroded down that low. I checked the CWB PRO price, still over $6. I checked the Minneapolis grain market. That price had a quote of $8 per bushel. I know there is freight, basis and carrying cost. Where did this $4 and change come from? Have the companies decided to take advantage of the situation and begin padding the bottom line? So much for the open market giving farmer full value for their work!
As far as I am concerned the open market, the Easter bunny and Santa Claus are all the same, a figment of someone's imagination and not real.
Another report I heard is Stat-dicks (not a spelling mistake) Canada has reported the farmer has grown one of the largest crops in history. Down goes the price! Then they wonder why I refuse to fill out their surveys. Anyone with a wild-eyed guess can predict what the farmer grew. They have satellite imagery and they know more than we do, presumably, about what we grew. The idiots can predict production, but somehow they are not smart enough to count usage. In the charts for Canadian Grain Commission they have tracked movement. The last two weeks has seen record movement to Pacific terminals of over 300,000 tonnes each week. The grain will be moved, there will be no surplus left. We have never had a surplus. There have been contrived surpluses in the past, but it is more related to non-selling by a big government agency that claimed they worked for the farmers, but really was only concerned about providing cheap wheat to their friends. They have lost their monopoly now but only time will tell if it is going to be better for the farmers. It was definitely better last year, but now it is beginning to look like the forces of greed and evil are closing ranks and the farmer is going to take less.
Joke of the week …
This old cowboy is in dire need of a good cow horse, so he checks out all the classifieds in the newspapers and his eye catches this ad by a known horse trader. " Young strong and nice horse for sale, but he don't look so good. Cheap!" So, the old cowboy, always on the lookout for a bargain, drives to the horse trader's and checks out the horse. The horse looks real good to him and he makes an offer to buy the horse on the spot. "But you must remember," the horse trader said, "This horse, he don't look so good." "Ah, he looks very good to me," the old cowboy said, and loaded the horse there and then. A week later, the cowboy pulls up on the farmer's yard, fuming and swearing. "You sold me a horse that is blind in his one eye!" the cowboy ranted. "Yes, I know," the horse trader said,"I told you, this horse, he don't 'LOOK' so good!"
