Adventures in trying to convert a cattle ranch

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Dsalles
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Re: Adventures in trying to convert a cattle ranch

Post by Dsalles »

ALmost everyone I know here has a pet of some sort (of the regular kind) and even those who raise meat animals like being around animals.
Sometimes, when I explain to people why I dont want to be in meat production, that I would hate to sell the animals to get killed, I get interesting reactions. Some instantly understand, and say they could never do it either. (though they eat meat) Others seem baffled. They say, that is what you have to do, or that is what they are there for, variations of, dont think about it. It is not even questioned. They are there for meat, that is all.

It is like for them it just hasnt come up as an issue.

Yeah a local support group would help.

Today I met some orange growers who want to plant oranges, lemons and avocado on my land.
One of them said: so, I heard you are vegetarian (always the most interesting thing about me)
He said he had a friend who was a vegetarian. Then he said that one advantage of being vegetarian is you smell better. Vegetarians do not need deodorant, apparently.
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brimstoneSalad
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Re: Adventures in trying to convert a cattle ranch

Post by brimstoneSalad »

Oranges and avocados, interesting. Are you thinking of renting it out to them?
Dsalles wrote: Mon Jan 29, 2018 3:18 pm He said he had a friend who was a vegetarian. Then he said that one advantage of being vegetarian is you smell better. Vegetarians do not need deodorant, apparently.
Statistically, probably true since vegetarians tend to be leaner. There are also metabolic conditions that make some people smell very bad when they eat meat (depends on genetics). Maybe that's where it comes from?
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Dsalles
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Re: Adventures in trying to convert a cattle ranch

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It has been a while! Just an update, I am still converting, now most of the farm is corn, tomatoes and bananas. But the neighbor is still there with his cattle. Now that I dont have to deal diresctly with the animals I dont feel the terrible guilt that I did before. I have a short lease with him. The reason I keep him is it is just easier to get him out when I do take over eventually, and I am not sure when that will be.
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Dsalles
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Re: Adventures in trying to convert a cattle ranch

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Also I am going to try and go off-grid with solar panels. Tomorrow they start the base for the water tank.
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brimstoneSalad
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Re: Adventures in trying to convert a cattle ranch

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That's great to hear, thanks for the update! I'm sure we'd all love to see pictures of your conversion to going off grid & the new farming.
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Dsalles
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Re: Adventures in trying to convert a cattle ranch

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Why even raise beef, if from a financial standpoint it has very low profitability? I am doing the math on productivity of my land, based on what people who leased my land have made. The tomato farmer is extremely productive, and yielded, over six months, about 100 tons of tomatoes per hectare. The cattle man fattened about two steer per hectare over the same time period, which earns about 800 reais each. The tomatos at wholesale sell at 28 reais per 20 kg bushel, at the low end, so that is 100,000 kg / 20kg * 28 = 140,000 reais. He spent 50,000 reais per hectare, making 90,000 reais per hectare profit. The 800 reais for fattening a steer over 6 months is already a profit after selling the steer and deducting the cost of buying it when it was younger.
90,000 / 1600 = 56.25 times more profit in rasing tomatoes. The only advantage of cattle is the cost is very low and so is managing, finding buyers, and depending on everything going right. But still, what a sharp difference! Why would anyone get into the cattle business is truly beyond me.
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brimstoneSalad
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Re: Adventures in trying to convert a cattle ranch

Post by brimstoneSalad »

@Dsalles I think people mostly do it because it's what they've known?
People getting into it is odd. But it is lazier than something like tomatoes, both physically and intellectually. Growing vegetables, you have to do it smart so you get a good yield. For cattle, it seems people mostly just rely on the cows to do all of the work and they just rent and strip the land of nutrients and move on.
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Dsalles
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Re: Adventures in trying to convert a cattle ranch

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That is exactly right. It is much easier, and the animas do most of the work, especially raising young. That is where the sentience comes in handy, as does the fear of death, the animals want to preserve their own life and grow.
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