Sunday, July 24, 2011

This just in...  

From our correspondent in PA:
Demand rationing may have occurred in an unexpected manner (can you say black swan event?) here in Lancaster County. Friday's record heat of 103, not since 1966, was absolutely devastating to poultry and hog facilities. Friday evening saw dump trailers showing up at layer complexes to handle the mortality a tractor trailer load at a time. One of our son's works packing eggs, and hours needed to pack eggs are down 25%. If eggs are not there, the hens are not eating because they are not there. Fire companies were out Friday afternoon wetting down the roofs of livestock buildings to lower inside temps. I understand second handed that mortality was very high in sow units. If sows indeed are lost, again, not a mouth to feed, but also their offspring are not going to need that 10 bushels of corn each.
Meanwhile, O'Hare set a rain record.
It’s officially the rainiest day on record in Chicago since 1871, according to the National Weather Service.
As of 10:30 a.m., 6.86 inches of rain had fallen since midnight, according to NWS Meteorologist Richard Castro.
“This is the rainiest calendar day already,’’ Castro said. “It’s an incredible amount of rain.’’
Nearly all of it pelted the area between the hours of 1 a.m. and 7 a.m., when 6.85 inches fell at O’Hare – the most since officials began keeping records in 1871.
The prior record was the 6.64 inches that fell on Sept. 13, 2008, Castro said.
In the 24-hour period that ended at 7 a.m. Saturday, 8.20 inches of rain had been recorded at O’Hare, according to the weather service. [More]
Four years do not climate change prove, I freely admit. But how many years of below-trendline yields, deluges and droughts will make critics even pause to consider?

I'm guessing 7. (It's very biblical).

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

7 years? Maybe John, but to quote Max Planck: "a new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it." The really stubborn irrational deniers will die before they change their minds.

JRthe Original said...

John here I the dairy world we have seen the same thing big death losses on farms cows that were less than 60 days bred have lost calves and cows that were calving in the heat have pretty well been toast for this lactation. if you go to agweb's dairy section you will read some of everybodies experiences,
Here is a pratial quote from a post I made.

Yesterday the Accelerated Genetics guy stopped by and told some hellish stories also.

Now I am passing on Gossip here take it as that but it does have some truth in it. And no I didn't buy any semen from him I do buy other supplies from him tho.

1. New tunnel ventilated barn with 1000 cows in it are down 60 pounds a cow right now.

2. He said every farm he has been on this week had at least one dead animal on it. It didn't matter the size of the farm. He thought average death loss was 2 cows for every 100 on the farm.

3. He thinks this is a 90 day hit in pregs. he doesn't think that anything with a calf less than 60 days was able to keep pregnant. And he said 60 days before cows will cycle again.

4. Guys have done all they could do to keep cattle alive NOBODY better hang there heads in shame and NOBODY with any class would point fingers at these farmers.

Back to my contacts from yesterday. My milk plant is off 30% on their receipts of milk. Any real dairyman knows........... OOPS any unreal dairyfarmer knows this is a multi year cycle. Doesn't mean 30 dollar milk but I think we have a strong floor under us.

http://discussions.agweb.com/showthread.php?13208-Dairy-barn-fan-question....

Anonymous said...

We have a tunnel-ventilated barn holding 1200 cows and our milk production was only down about 12-15lbs...still alot of milk, but nowhere near the 60lbs that you're talking about. Also, we still had cows to breed and while our weaker cattle did not make it through the heat, we did not lose 2 cows/100 cows.

While this has been very tough in the Midwest...a friend of mine in CA said that they have had a very mild summer and he knows of herds that are still getting 85+lbs in late July. CA is still the 800lb gorilla in the room...

Gotta be careful with these rumors...I will tell you that we had a rain event in May that brought us 5.0" of rain in less than 4 hours...yikes it was a mess!

JRthe Original said...

Annon were are you in the midwest. ANd while I like to spread a good rumor as much as anybody. this really took it's toll on many cattle. It sounds like that new tunnel vent barn paid for itself then good for you. My cows are jealous!

As to Cali they are still dependent on where the price of corn goes and with hay topping over 300 a ton 24 dollar milk will not give much breathing room to the highly leveraged.

JRthe Original said...

Annon were are you in the midwest. ANd while I like to spread a good rumor as much as anybody. this really took it's toll on many cattle. It sounds like that new tunnel vent barn paid for itself then good for you. My cows are jealous!

As to Cali they are still dependent on where the price of corn goes and with hay topping over 300 a ton 24 dollar milk will not give much breathing room to the highly leveraged.