06-26-2008, 10:51 AM
Damon's got the basics on Parker Ranch (and several thousand more) calves being weaned and shippped, especially to BC, Canada.
Beef and dairy in Hawaii are in bad sorts with the price of grain beyond stratospheric levels. High grain prices tend to depress weaned calf prices, under most circumstances; and the dairy farms here have been based on a business model just like California: small amount of land, large number of cows, import grain, and depend on government to bail out when it (inevitably) doesn't work.
Forage-based dairy and beef is a done thing in New Zealand and, according to private sources, investment is being made in using that success to establish forage- based cattle production that will supply local (archipelago) beef and dairy product markets.
James Weatherford, Ph.D.
15-1888 Hialoa
Hawaiian Paradise Park
Beef and dairy in Hawaii are in bad sorts with the price of grain beyond stratospheric levels. High grain prices tend to depress weaned calf prices, under most circumstances; and the dairy farms here have been based on a business model just like California: small amount of land, large number of cows, import grain, and depend on government to bail out when it (inevitably) doesn't work.
Forage-based dairy and beef is a done thing in New Zealand and, according to private sources, investment is being made in using that success to establish forage- based cattle production that will supply local (archipelago) beef and dairy product markets.
James Weatherford, Ph.D.
15-1888 Hialoa
Hawaiian Paradise Park