One bolt of lightning kills 52 cows.

[Siberys]

Odd News - Lightning strikes only once _ but kills 52 cows

That's...pretty scary actually.

[Tricky]

Ah, the vengeful god. That will teach them to eat grass all day!

[SupaCat]

Poor cows, but then again, somebody has to do it, wether it's a butcher or the weather (or as some may see it: God)

[Kaer]

Apparently god was playing Fallout 3, and failed to notice the cows only had one head.

Seriously, unfortunate for the farmer, losing 52 cows is going to be a massive loss for him. A good breeding cow is worth thousands.

[VonDondu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kaer Seriously, unfortunate for the farmer, losing 52 cows is going to be a massive loss for him...

That's what I was thinking.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kaer A good breeding cow is worth thousands.

I'm just curious, where did you get that figure? I don't think you could get more than a thousand dollars for one at auction (I haven't checked prices lately), but over their lifetime, cows can produce several steers, and that's where most of the money comes from (you can also sell a few young calves). But with prices for livestock going down and prices for diesel, fertilizer, and feed going up, it's a lot more difficult to make money in the cattle business these days.

[Kaer]

My mother, uncle, and just about everyone of that side of the family were farmers, same with a goodly few way back when on the other side of the family. There's been a few cows that we had which turned out quite a few successful childbearers and more than a few good bulls and steer. That 800 dollar sow you buy can easily be worth a few thousand over it's lifetime, especially if it turns out some good quality children.

If you want, I can try and hunt you down auction results in Ontario -- I only ever got peripheral experience on the farm, but I know some of the prices we paid for cows.

I take it you have a lot more experience than I do, could you toss out some figures from whenever you were last involved with cow auctioning and the like?

Also, you are right where you say that cattle raising is becoming less profitable, farming in general has been going downhill for a while now. For my uncle, the only farmer really left farming in my family that is that closely related to me, his small herd and small pastures which have been in the family for a few generations now aren't enough to keep up with the costs of having them -- we've been doing beekeeping and raising some chickens alongside that now, as well as the crops we've always been doing. It's getting really hard for farmers now (even harder than before), unless you happen to have a massive, MASSIVE amount of land to work with.

[penguin_king]

serves them right, cows are stupid!

at least theyre already cooked now

[VonDondu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kaer My mother, uncle, and just about everyone of that side of the family were farmers, same with a goodly few way back when on the other side of the family... I take it you have a lot more experience than I do, could you toss out some figures from whenever you were last involved with cow auctioning and the like?

Many of my relatives are ranchers, but I was raised in the "city" and I haven't been directly involved in their business, so I don't know very much about their finances. I just ask them how things are going, and I get answers like, "Beef prices are going down" and "feed prices are going up". Out where they live, people ask people like me a lot of questions about money (like, "How much did you pay for that car?") but they evade specific questions about their own finances. Besides, they don't seem to think there's any reason for someone like me to be interested in the cattle business (they don't think I know anything about business or finance), so I don't bother to ask many questions.

It has been many years since I've been to a cattle auction. From what I remember, the going rate for most animals was less than $1 a pound, depending on the type of animal. Most cows weigh less than 1000 pounds, and I think they were going for about $500 each back then. You get a lot more money in the long run if you make them produce calves (after subtracting overhead and expenses).

Incidentally, my uncle changed his business model a few years ago and now raises Angus bulls for breeding instead of Hereford steers for beef, and the market is a lot different for that kind of product. The cows (which are "registered") as well as the bulls are lot more expensive. I didn't mention Angus bulls before because it's sort of a specialty market (probably not as lucrative as it sounds) and I didn't want to sound like I was showing off or sound like I'm some sort of elite farmer or anything like that.

[Argonian Thief]

Quote:

Originally Posted by penguin_king serves them right, cows are stupid! at least theyre already cooked now

How old did you say you were?

[Kaer]

From what I got the going prices were like that about half a decade ago, 500-600 was expected to pick up your typical cow in rural Canada, at least in Ontario. Some ran much higher into the 4 digit range but they tended to be very well bred, and typically good cows cost about 800-1000 or thereabouts.

Since then, though, I have no idea. I'm not too enthused with seeing my uncle or talking to him, he's grown into a bit of a luddite recluse over the past few years.

[Siberys]

Even if they were only a hundred bucks a cow it's still a crap ton of money down the drain.

[Xandax]

I like my steak rare, not well done.

[Moonbiter]

It's Mother Nature's revenge. People blame parts of the greenhouse-effect on cattle-farts.