farmerjan
Super Self-Sufficient
Thank you @Britesea for a well "spoken" down to earth common sense post. I am so much in the same corner. And as far as the post by @Mini Horses , I also have felt little actual problems from this because I also don't care about alot of the shopping and such.....I am not helping the economy along because I am not a big "consumer".....
My job as a milk tester is considered "essential" so we just kept on as business as normal..... the biggest things I have seen is just the lack of stuff in the stores; all the things most have seen in short supply or unavailable. Many things like seeds and stuff are pretty much available here. I come and go as I want with a "letter" from my company in case I get stopped... shoot, I seldom see any cops around. Did see a couple on the interstate so they are looking for speeders and such, but they are not near as visible as they were before.
It is hurting us as far as prices go with our feeder cattle sales. But the cows are calving as normal, takes 9 months, so you aren't going to stop that now..... rebreeding may be assessed.....
There will be a shortage of meat in the stores for awhile due to the shut downs and slowdowns of the processing plants. MILK, hogs ,piglets, chickens, baby chicks, and hatching eggs are being dumped and destroyed and it will continue when there is no where to take them to be processed. It is not a lack of supply, it is lack of processing ability. Part of that is from the take over and control of the 4 biggest meat companies, that control 75-80% of the slaughter/processing of our animals, and the few milk co-operatives that control anywhere from 50 -75% fluid milk in this country. Part of that is also due to specialization...... you cannot change over a plant that is built strictly to "do one thing" ,and change it overnight....... because that is what has been demanded over the years for efficiently producing what the different industries have required.
The rules and regulations have made it very difficult for the small guy to compete with these big companies..... and financially impossible due to the small profit margin that is seen in some cases...... and the companies that have sold out to big conglomerates because they cannot afford to operate..... and then we have become dependent on these companies and they are foreign owned in several cases.....
Like our pharmaceuticals.... we have out sourced so much.....
My job as a milk tester is considered "essential" so we just kept on as business as normal..... the biggest things I have seen is just the lack of stuff in the stores; all the things most have seen in short supply or unavailable. Many things like seeds and stuff are pretty much available here. I come and go as I want with a "letter" from my company in case I get stopped... shoot, I seldom see any cops around. Did see a couple on the interstate so they are looking for speeders and such, but they are not near as visible as they were before.
It is hurting us as far as prices go with our feeder cattle sales. But the cows are calving as normal, takes 9 months, so you aren't going to stop that now..... rebreeding may be assessed.....
There will be a shortage of meat in the stores for awhile due to the shut downs and slowdowns of the processing plants. MILK, hogs ,piglets, chickens, baby chicks, and hatching eggs are being dumped and destroyed and it will continue when there is no where to take them to be processed. It is not a lack of supply, it is lack of processing ability. Part of that is from the take over and control of the 4 biggest meat companies, that control 75-80% of the slaughter/processing of our animals, and the few milk co-operatives that control anywhere from 50 -75% fluid milk in this country. Part of that is also due to specialization...... you cannot change over a plant that is built strictly to "do one thing" ,and change it overnight....... because that is what has been demanded over the years for efficiently producing what the different industries have required.
The rules and regulations have made it very difficult for the small guy to compete with these big companies..... and financially impossible due to the small profit margin that is seen in some cases...... and the companies that have sold out to big conglomerates because they cannot afford to operate..... and then we have become dependent on these companies and they are foreign owned in several cases.....
Like our pharmaceuticals.... we have out sourced so much.....
