We have all got our own way to blow money. Some of us like a holiday or a flash car and then there are those of us who like a new tractor or the latest piece of modern machinery.

Of course, anyone who earns lots of money is entitled to spend it whatever way they choose. But I just sometimes wonder are there any farmers earning enough money to justify a lot of their new toys.

I would like to be able to spend my money on all of these things, but that is not going to happen this year. It looks like I have been too busy blowing my money feeding cattle just to ensure that the meat plants have a profitable Christmas at my expense.

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I always plan to have most of my cattle ready for slaughter in the run up to Christmas. Usually, there has been a slight price rise, which has helped to justify feeding them.

This year, if I had sold my cattle at the end of August, I would have got a similar price to what they are going to make in the meat plants now. You might think that’s OK, but they have eaten £150 worth of meal in the intervening period, without counting anything for silage. It simply just doesn’t add up.

The only thing that keeps me from going mad is the fact that it’s money that I never had as I hadn’t to buy the cattle to finish.

However, it leaves me wondering just how beef finishers are able to stay in business. How do they make it add up? How long can you work for nothing in the hope that there in something better around the corner?

I also don’t understand the thinking of the meat plants. They seem prepared to cast the beef farmers to one side when they are getting their fill of cull cows as a result of the problems in the dairy industry. Do they really think that farmers are going to keep blowing money indefinitely? I suppose that we farmers will again just use our subsidy payments to try and tide us over until better times come along. It would be nice to think that good times are just around the corner but, in reality, there aren’t many reasons to be cheerful in the short term.

Simple

Before we had suckler cows, we used to buy stores and finish them. Things were simple then, as no matter what you bought, they always made a profit. Of course, there were always ups and downs, but the ups were really good and the downs not that bad.

Now it seems that the good times are not very good and don’t last very long, whereas the bad times are really bad and last a long time. It would be nice to think that things would stabilise into a sustainable position, but I can’t see that happening.

There are big problems on both sides. Firstly, I think that the meat plants should show more respect and loyalty to their producers. After all, if there were no producers then there would be no need for meat plants.

The second thing, and probably the hard thing to do, would be for farmers who are losing money to stop farming. I know it is very hard for farmers to do this but if you can’t make a profit without your subsidy, then you have to ask yourself, is it wise to continue?