Maybe It’s Time for Another Tractorcade

In 1979, thousands of American farmers drove their tractors to Washington, D.C. They were facing rising costs, weak commodity prices and a farm economy that increasingly didn’t pencil out.

Nearly 50 years later, some of those problems sound awfully familiar.

Farm debt is climbing. Production costs remain high. Many farm families rely on off-farm jobs just to keep their operations going. The circumstances aren't exactly the same as 1979, but there are enough similarities to make the history worth another look.

I wrote about the 1979 Tractorcade, what farmers were fighting for then, and how it compares with what's happening in American agriculture today.

The bigger question is one I'd be interested in hearing from farmers and folks in rural communities about:

Are we approaching another point where American farmers need to make Washington pay attention?

https://pickup-trucks-progress.ghost.io/maybe-its-time-for-another-tractorcade/

I’ve got black angus heifers that will be ready to breed this next breeding season.
I’ve been thinking about putting them with my Red Angus bull because he isn’t huge like my Black Red (2100lbs) and low birthweight (my black angus bull is a higher birthweight but small).

Would putting them with my Red boy be risking hybred vigor and cause big calves or is there enough similar genetics that it will be fine?

We preg tested our replacement heifers last week. Had 22% open (11/50) on a 30 day breeding season. One 2-year old bull and two yearlings. Been bouncing between 15% and 20% the last few years. Would like to be at 10%, but that’s tough to get in 30 days.

Full salt and mineral, good water, and a flax seed lick tub.

But they’re in great shape and the opens should bring a premium at the sale barn!

I’m not talking about the data center stuff but end of summer drought and drying ponds/tanks.

Ours are looking a lot lower than last year. Not as bad as the big drought but I hate seeing them getting in the mud to drink.

We are in NE Tx and normally only have to water things in pens and lots.

We definitely aren’t set up for large scale watering. Hopefully this breaks in the next few weeks

Hello-

I need to leave the state of TX. It is myself, a cat, and three horses. I am about to finish my degree, and just want to find a job in the local area and plan on only staying 1 year unless you also like the arrangement.

Open to feeding/picking stalls/etc. and have experience with beginner riders, young horses, and adding good miles to green horses. Willing to negotiate work for reduced cost.

I would like to be close to Corinth, MS but I am open to anywhere in the US.

In essence I am dealing with a domestic violence situation that I need to get out. I’m not looking for sympathy just a symbiotic environment where my horses and kitty can feel safe for a bit while I rebuild. No kids- just cat/3 horses.

I will be going out and learning how to use spurs tomorrow. Whats ya'lls thoughts on this setup.

Thanks for the help.

Hi everyone! I have wanted to ride and have my own horse(s) since i was a little girl and was thinking that a summer ranch hand job could be the perfect taste of what the lifestyle entails. But i dont know what i dont know, so im not sure what it takes to do a good job or even get the job at all! What do ranchers look for? Could i actually get a position or do good work with 0 experience? Also, it may be an odd question, but does being a young woman influence my chances? (20F for context)

Thanks for reading! (And hopefully responding, lol)

Would be nice if it was related to the hay industry; trying to stay as updated as possible.

Hi everyone. We are primarily cow/calf producers in the good ol USA. Usually, we set up butchering for a few local customers in the spring. Every year, we have our customers ask if we have any ground beef for sale in the fall. Sometimes we do, and sometimes we don't. This year, I think it's imperative to figure out how to get ground beef in their freezers.

We already have 1 customer wanting a whole beef for ground beef. If I can find a butcher with one slot on short notice, we can make that happen. When we bring our cattle back to winter pasture, we are going to preg check and sort off older cows. The drought has been brutal, and our winter pasture is struggling. So, anything we can pull off and sell the better.

The issue right now is the 300,000 metric tons of questionable beef the government is importing. This is the 2nd year in a row that our government has done weird importing of foreign beef immediately before fall calf sales. This causes our prices to drop considerably AND introduces questionable beef into our supply chain. I believe this is done to undermine our American Ranchers and to help the big 4 cattle processors.

I am trying to figure out how to get into the butcher quickly. Any tips or ideas. I do not want our customers to be forced into buying a subpar product from the grocery store.

I also think one of our next large purchases should be a good sized walkin freezer with solar backup.

Is anyone else nervous? And if so, what are your plans?

Howdy folks, I'm looking to buy a tractor in the next few weeks. I was looking for some human input from those with experience to help with the decision.

My needs are as follows: I will be managing 59 acres of land. I will be clearing about 25 acres of forested and overgrown land into pasture over the next 7-10 years to increase my land carrying capacity, I will use it to maintain my driveway, I will use it to build and repair fence, I will use it for some building projects in the future, I will use it to bring hay to my sheep, maybe some light gardening, and a other basic homesteading tasks.

We are looking for a used tractor. It looks like, at least from what I understand, we need at least 50hp and we need something that is built well for our needs (heavier duty). I want something that I can work on that is pre emissions (pre-2013 I believe) i am looking at kubota tractors mainly because they have the most service support in my area. I am looking at the MX and M series but I am unsure if the MX will do just fine for my needs. Any input on that would be appreciated.

I need 4WD and a third function kit to run a grapple or auger in the front

So far i found an MX5000D that is priced well. The ones that are in the M series are listed 7-9k higher price. I would like to stay closer to the lower end of cost if possible, since I may need an additional 1k to add a third function kit and more money for implements. If it isn't required of course, I'd like to stay closer to the 20k mark on the tractor. 18.5k-27k seems to be the range of what is out there depending on the series, size, and features.

Any input on this subject would be appreciated. Thank you for your time.

Week of Aug 17 came in at $175/ton across all grades, up 0.8%. First uptick after three straight weeks down.

21 markets reported, 117 quotes, 35 price series matched. Range across everything was $60 to $480.

Week of Aug 24 is still filling in, 7 of about 28 markets so far, so this could move.

Anyone seeing prices firm up in your area, or is it still soft?

I'm taking over the place and business from my dad and I'm a big believer in writing things down. That said, what sort of things are you guys keeping record of, keeping inventory of, needing reminders on, and so on? Are you guys keeping photo records of all of your livestock? Looking for advice.

Have been using eShepherd for about 6 months now and for the most part we like it. However the group of 17 heifers and a bull have started exhibiting some really strange behavior when it comes to creeks and I wanted to see if anyone else using that system has seen the same thing.

In two separate paddocks that they have been moved into, they will NOT cross a creek, no matter what the incentive. The border is set up properly and nowhere near the creek, confirmed on foot that they are not getting a warning tone when they go down to drink. Yet you can box them in with an open side facing the small creek that you can step over and tons of green grass on the other side and they would rather run you over vs stepping across the water.

Is it possible for the collar to give a shock without the warning tone? eShepherd customer support has never heard of any issue with creeks causing a shock, has anyone else seen this?

We bought these three heifers at the sale by bidding online. They were mixed in with the beef calves and the auctioneer called them “Mixed breed black calves” and when we picked them up they were skinny like dairy calves. We don’t know much about dairy cattle. We got them pretty cheap for today’s market so worst case scenario they move to the freezer later on. Any idea on what they might be? Thanks!

Simangus bull this year

I work at a residential foster care placement program for behaviorally challenged teenage boys, and I run the work-crew programming. Work-crew is meant to be a form of vocational training, but may also include life-skills and some educational work. Our facility is located on a ranch but, mostly, the boys are not allowed to work with the livestock. Right now we are working on clearing up briars and such off of our fence-line.

What are some other ranch-hand tasks that I could get our residents involved in?

I'm a cofounder of a company that tracks hay prices. We pull the USDA auction reports every week and build a national index off them, but USDA doesn't report from everywhere, so half the country has no real number.

If you sold anything this month, drop your state, hay type, bale size and what it went for. I'll tell you how it compares to what I've got for your area.

Running numbers are over at r/HaywireAg.

Hi everyone,

I work on a cattle station. We've been here for 5 years. Things have changed in the owners personal situation, they actually lowered our pay and without going into detail...the work has become more intensive and honestly just chaotic.

At the moment I'm really struggling to cope. After the pay cut and we're only 'allowed' to put in 5 workdays a week so they can cut costs. We live and work at the place and feel very responsible my partner and I also works for their other company and thats also an irregular job where we have to be available when they need us.

I want to address with my boss that we're not coping anymore. There's no planning, everything needs to be done at the same time, we hear a day before that cattle will be sold and then we've got three days of mustering and cattle work ahead of us. It's the constant nature, but at the same time expectation that we dont cost them too much.

I can understand that the owners of this farm think...well, what did you expect living and working on a farm...

But honestly I would just love to be able to talk to them, explain that I keep canceling appointments because they will always come up with heaps of work last minute. That we're actually working 7 days a week with an average of 100 hours that we dont get all paid to keep the joint running and operating. That we're just not coping with the pressure and the constant changing plans and having to be available.

Just curious to hear from farmers that also might have caretakers and if there even are ways to balance it all a little bit from an owners perspective. Or is it just the good old suck it up.