Sumner GA, Located in southwest GA, | Would like to hear everyone's opinion on where the livestock industry is headed, as well as state my own opinions, so, here's mine.
Way I see it, Livestock is going to split into two camps, the big, and the small. I believe we have seen, and are going to see more of all segments consolidate. Chicken and turkey production is pretty much all intergrated now. Pork appears to be headed there at a rapid clip. Dairy and beef are getting there, but they will most likely be controlled with contract production and not a fully intergrated model. Reason I single out dairy and beef is simply that the ruminant needs forage, and forage is not economical to haul in. Poultry and pork are much easier to be company controlled simply because they are grain fed, grain being much cheaper to transport since it is more energy dense. I think we are going to see it go to where in dairy processors will demand a farm be able to fill a tanker in contract producting, vs. multiple farm pickup with the Co-op. Beef will probably be harder to control, but I do believe it is going to eventually evolve to the point were to be able to sell, cow calf people will have to be able to fill a semi, load lots, with someone elses protocol concerning vaccination, possibly even feeding. Same with stockering and feeding, more oversight, and doing it someone elses way, not necessarialy your own.
The other trend I can forsee happening concurently is smaller livestock operations, in order to survive, are going to have to get into further processing, niche marketing and the like, anything from frezeer meat sales all the way up the chain to owning the processing plant and maintaining a storefront, depending on size, scope. At this point I will say I am looking at this option towards the future vs. the commodity route, but that is a different discussion alltogether. I really just dont see how you can be small and make it in commodities, not saying that biggest is best, but I don't think you can be small and survive in the commodity market. It would really appear as if you want to be independant, you will have to market to the public and not the board or the stockyard.
How about the rest of yall, whats your opinion where the livestock industry is headed?
Edited by JoshuaGA 7/29/2010 21:13
|
Where is the livestock industry headed?
