Long-term Collapse of the Beef Industry

When it comes to the cost of cows these

days, people are having a cow now,

aren't they? Huh? People got beef with

beef approaching seven bucks USD and LBe

for ground. It's grinding down people's

wallets. But how did we get here, huh?

Well, after decades of disaster in the

beef biz, the small mom and pop cow calf

shops are finally price takers on all

ends no longer. And society's rioting.

Beef farmers aren't allowed to win, are

they? Godamn. But hey, I think they'll

be winning a little while longer yet, as

structurally this business is stuck.

Societyy's screwed cuz they're keeping

cows from screwing. Cattle birth rates

these days dropping quicker than the

West for Christ's sakes. And honestly,

you'd be shocked just how interesting

this story gets. So, gather around as we

inquire today. When will a pound of beef

stop costing a pound of flesh? And

Christ, okay, I can't think of any other

funny cow puns to carry us out of this

intro here off the dome, but uh imagine

I did. Okay. And it was hilarious and we

all laughed.

Oh, that was a good one. take you down

down.

>> If you're hoping for costs to come down,

you'll be crying till the cows come

home. It was right there. [ __ ] Anyway,

sorry. What was I saying? Uh, US calf

population is at its lowest point since

1950. Okay. And just to give you some

context here, the last time that US was

in 1950, they had a population of 151

million people, which is about 40% of

what they got today. Okay? And you know,

if we're doing comparisons, I should

also note that beef consumption back in

the day was about 42 pounds per person

per year compared to 56 pounds per

person per year right now. That number

is falling, but that's also because the

beef price is rising. So, it naturally

would be higher than that. And so, back

in the day, they consumed 1/4 less beef

than they do today. And they had 40% of

the population you have today. Okay,

that is not good for the cost of beef.

Supply and demand dictates that [ __ ] go

up and it is. But in terms of the

overall beef population for cattle, the

cattle currently in the states for beef

is about 86 1.5 million. Back in the

1950s though, when you last had this low

calf population, that was about 80

million. Which means that implicitly

this herd is going to fall further. The

calfs dictate the future. I mean,

Christ, it's actually gotten so bad that

Tyson meat pack and plant and

slaughterhouse people, they just cut

capacity that is equivalent to 7 12% of

your entire country's ability to produce

beef. Take that in. 7 and 12% of your

entire slaughterhouse capacity and

packaging is gone. And I mean that does

sound bad, but don't worry. It's already

priced in. And by that I mean they

already were over capacity on production

ability by 13% post pandemic. So really

it doesn't actually change [ __ ] All

right. They're just rebalancing the

market realities. Okay. But hey, at

least heer populations on feed lots are

down, which [ __ ] Okay. First off,

heers. Heers are female cows that have

yet to conceive a calf. And uh also I

should really state that I do use cow to

mean all cows in the same way that I use

car to mean all cars. Okay, a truck is a

car. God damn it. I will die on this

hill for Christ's sakes. And I don't

give a [ __ ] what you think. Okay, go

have a cow in the comments for Christ's

sakes. I will just say it. Cows are

cows. I don't care if definitionally a

female cow is what a cow is. The boy

cows are steer. I don't give a [ __ ]

Steer me away from that opinion, okay? I

call all cows cows and I don't give a

[ __ ] what you say anyway. Oh. Oh, also

also feed lots. Feed lots are the final

stop on the road before the slaughter

house. Okay, so the mom and pop cow calf

chops, they basically raise the cows

from calf all the way up to about 600 lb

usually and then they ship them off to

the feed lots for final fattening before

being forked over to the slaughter house

before forking knife on your plate.

Okay, but hey, at least the heer

population in the feed lots is down,

which should imply a rebuilding season.

You know, the cow cycle, the cattle

cycle, this is a real thing. Usually

when the market's doing great, you sell

off all your cows. The population goes

down. But then there's a rebuilding

phase where they stop sending all the

heers off to slaughter and keep breeding

them instead. And then that's when the

population grows back. Usually it starts

with a downturn. But again, like I said,

you'd think, "Oh boy, the heers in the

feed lots are down. That means that

we're in a rebuilding phase, which means

the end is in sight. We will be back to

normal beef prices within about, you

know, 2 and 1/2 years." No, that's not

what that means. And to explain that,

let me tell you a little bit about cow

STDs. I bet you didn't see that one

coming, but let me be telling you, the

cows do become This reminds me back in

the day on my beef farm, right? I

remember exiting the family farmhouse

one day and I'm like, "Father, what are

the cows doing over there? They're

always doing that. What are they doing?"

And what I was witnessing and asking

about, you see, okay, cows, you know,

they're just standing around in the pen,

you know, mooing about, you know, eating

grass, whatever the [ __ ] And then every

once in a while, a cow will come up

behind another cow and it will be like,

"Moo." And then the cow on the ground,

it'll start going like moo. And it's

like scuttling about trying to get away.

And but the cow on the back of it will

kind of like puddle along like I was

like, "Father, why why did they do

that?" Just imagine him breaking into a

cold sweat like h it's piggyback son.

They are giving each other piggyback

rides. Isn't that nice? And I'm like,

"Wow, that's so cool." And I I don't

think I realized I I actually I think I

was like 16. I'm like, "Wait a [ __ ]

minute." I don't know why it took me

that long. And honestly, even better,

you know, as I grow older, I really

appreciate the moment that he must have

experienced just like, "Oh god, what do

I say to this kid?" But even better

though, not just was it explaining the

birds and the bees or the moos and the

mis or whatever the [ __ ] It's also all

cows. And I call all cows cows, but

definitionally was the way they were on

our farm. All cows were girls on our

farm. And so, not just was that normal

cow sex. No, I was witnessing some

lesbian action. Okay. And so, not just

would you be like, "Oh god, this it's

sex." But also it's like uh this is

technically gay too. Oh god. Should I

explain I should You can't You don't

explain gay [ __ ] to a kid at like 10. I

don't [ __ ] know, right? Like imagine

the [ __ ] thought process and

conflicting thoughts that we're going

through. That was hilarious is what I'm

saying. I could just really appreciate

all of the concern. It's just a funny

moment. Anyway, sorry. Birds, bees,

cows, STDs. All right. So, you see

Mexico, you see they got a bunch of cows

south of the border and they be coming

north of the border. Back in the day,

that was fine. But about 2005 or so, I

want to say, they cut off the access

there specifically for any breedable

cows. So any heers coming north of the

border got to be spayed, neutered

because of brucyosis. Bruceosis will

[ __ ] your [ __ ] up. All right. Raw milk,

that's actually how you get it. You see,

cows get it from But then the milk that

they make, it is inside the milk. And so

all of the raw milk enjoyers basically

would die off if this was allowed to

breach containment. This is why you

don't drink raw milk, by the way. It's

cool and all. Drink it warm right out

the udder. is an experience. Okay, I

will say that. But brucyosis, if it were

to be north of the border and among the

cows, you could not drink raw milk

because what brucyossis does, it's a

bacteria. And this bacteria when it gets

in you, the number one symptom that it

gives you is like picture you're just so

tired and so weak you can't pick up a

cup of water type [ __ ] Like this is

crippling and it lasts for weeks to

months. And you take an antibiotic to

get rid of it. Great. And it's hard to

get rid of. But then you know chronic

lime, right? Like Averil Lavine got

that. You know, skater boy, see you

later boy girl, Canadian. She got it.

Chronic lime cripples you. You ever hear

of chronic brucyosis? Like first off the

symptoms. Let me read you off the

symptoms of brucyosis here. I forgot.

You got fever, chills, sweating, joint

muscle pain, headaches, heart tissue,

swelling, arthritis, spinal issues, and

loss of appetite among others, right?

Bad [ __ ] You literally get like POTS

and [ __ ] Like it's it's just horrific.

This is a horrific illness to get. And

like I said, weeks to months to get rid

of. Then if you get the chronic kind,

you're like that for life. Okay? That's

your life now. That shit's permanent.

You were just [ __ ] for life. Every few

weeks to months, it'll just reappear and

be like, "Oh, you got this [ __ ] again."

And then you just can't lift a cup of

water type to your weakness. You can't

get out of bed cuz the blankets are too

heavy. That type of [ __ ] And it lasts

for weeks to months and then it [ __ ]

off again. And again, there's nothing to

get rid of. You can't take a course of

antibiotics to get rid of this cuz it's

just chronic. This is just your life

now. It's permanent. You were broken and

this never goes away. In short, scary

[ __ ] All right. So this cow STD that

gets in through raw milk and would kill

off all the raw milk enjoyers pretty

quickly if we were to allow it to breach

containment. This is horrific. And so

all cows, all heers that come north of

the border from Mexico must be neutered

and spayed. All right, you're following

this. And so basically all these cows

from Mexico, they are not breedable.

They're not able to contribute to the

stock, but they're still allowed to flow

north of the border no longer because of

a second issue. This one's not beneerial

in nature. Okay, this one, the [ __ ]

new world screw worm is a [ __ ]

nightmare. All right. Unlike most other

in its family, this specific fly will

[ __ ] go on an open wound. Like let's

say the cow gets dehorned or maybe the

steer gets castrated. All right. Either

way, if there's any sort of cut, no

matter how well treated it is, if

there's any wounds, even if it's

healing, doesn't matter, will go and lay

its eggs there. And then when the eggs

are like, "Ah, I'm a maggot now." It

eats the flesh. But unlike every other

family member of this fly species, it

doesn't eat necrotic or dead tissue. It

eats the living flesh. And usually

whatever the [ __ ] it's eating drops dead

within a few days. And then a few days

into this feast, these maggots will just

flop off onto the ground and then

[ __ ] become their own little screw

flies. And then they fly off and they

got a 20-day life cycle. Do you know

what happens in that 20-day life cycle?

Five broods totaling 3,000 eggs per

female. Like this [ __ ] multiplies

exponentially. And also, not just do

they be [ __ ] they be flying, too.

Okay, 200k. They fly within that 20-day

period of a life. Holy [ __ ] All right,

that's crazy. And so that's that's what

they do. They fly 200k or 120 mi within

that radius. They lay 3,000 new ones to

go at and it's a 20-day period this all

happens in and it just keeps repeating

and exponentially growing. It's a

nightmare. And how did we get rid of it?

It used to be endemic to the southern US

actually. That was its native range, but

we got rid of it. And honestly, I did

not know I did not know we had this

technology in the 80s, but we did.

Basically, we went out and we're like,

"All right, we're going to put a bunch

of fools screw flies to screw. Okay,

they're going to be screwing all these

sterile screw flies and then no kids

will be coming when they come and then

that's just all she wrote and somehow

that worked and I don't know why we

haven't done that to the [ __ ]

mosquitoes. What? Like come on. Anyway,

sorry. Okay, so the screw fly is screwed

up and it's going to screw up all of our

[ __ ] livestock and [ __ ] and maybe

humans too. Who knows? And so we keep

that [ __ ] south of the border through

quarantine. But the thing is it was

eliminated from Mexico too until

recently. Farmers worst nightmare. And

so they shut that border down. And so if

you look at the amount of heers that are

no longer in the feed lot, it looks

like, hey, it's a regrowing, it's a

rebuilding year, the cattle cycle starts

a new. No, because if you back out the

amount of Mexican cows, the heers that

were neutered in spade to begin with, so

never contributing to the growth of the

population, you back out the amount that

are stuck south of the border now.

That's the amount that it went down in.

So there is no rebuilding phase to be

started here. And by the way, as well,

the Mexican farmers got real [ __ ] too

by this [ __ ] because the Mexican

farmers, when you neuter this [ __ ] you

have like a 180day period that you can

send that [ __ ] north of the border

before you're no longer allowed. And

they're going through a drought right

now, too. So, they're pairing down their

livestock population as well. And now

they got a bunch of old maids

essentially that they can't [ __ ] get

rid of. Like, it's again, they're

overproducing beef, getting rid of it.

They're going to have their own beef

apocalypse here soon for pricing. But

anyway, that also means no hope or help

is coming from south of the border, too.

We're on our own here. The North

American cattle population has

collapsed.

So surely there's some sort of market

incentive to make the breeding cows come

about again, right? There's some sort of

market incentive coming to save us,

right? Oh, there's market incentive, all

right? Incentive to [ __ ] send every

goddamn heer to slaughter right away.

Okay? Because let's be real here, the

cow calf operations out there, you do

the math. Every March, I think if I

remember correctly, is cving season.

That's when all the calves come about.

And then from there, by fall, you can

sell that [ __ ] off. At least in Canada,

I want to say 3,300 bucks in your

pocket, which is nominally the best it's

ever been for the beef industry. And

especially when you get these upper

prices, typically that's when you really

earn that margin, which means you get

way more money proportionately. And so,

this is like the time to be making hay,

okay? It's never been this good. And in

fact, beef as a business has been

[ __ ] awful for decades. Like

genuinely one of the worst types of

farming to be in. that in mind, 3,300

bucks in my pocket, guaranteed if I sell

this heer right now or or instead the

alternative to what you're asking of me

essentially as a farmer would be I'm

going to keep this cow, keep feeding it

for another 5 6 months, let's say,

right? Get her up in age and body weight

to the point where they're breedable and

then you have a big bull come down,

right? And the breeding bulls, I want to

say they rock up and nut up to 50 times

a year. Let's say that's 50 cows taken

care of. But the cows themselves, we got

the gestation period of them, right?

Nine months, same as us. And so you get

the breeding bowl down there and then it

takes another month or two in the pen

before that bull mounts, so to speak.

You know, the proverbial piggyback,

let's say. And then from there, okay,

you got to wait another 9 months for it

to be gestated. And then once the cal is

born, then you got to wait another

[ __ ] 7 8 months before they're old

enough to be able to be sold. And so

overall, you're looking at 2 years extra

for not much extra. And in fact,

probably way less because let's be real

here. This is the peak right now. This

is the best it's ever been in my

lifetime to be a beef farmer. Okay? And

what you're banking on is essentially

saying, "Oh, I know it's the best today,

but 2 and 1/2 years from now when all

this shit's taken care of and I finally

have a new cow to sell, then it will

somehow be better. Oh, and by the way,

it's also the worst time ever to be

raising a cow because the costs have

gone up so [ __ ] much, way more than

inflation. And so, not only is it the

best time to be selling the cow early,

it's also the worst time to be raising a

cow into breeding. This is why the beef

industry is structurally screwed.

They're stuck in short supply because

the best price to ever be selling that

early is right now. And conversely, the

worst time to ever be keeping that [ __ ]

to be bred is also right now. There's no

planet in which it makes sense to keep

that cow for breeding. And honestly, the

beef industry in general, I think, is to

blame in part two. And I don't mean the

beef farmers, by the way. No, it's a

natural reaction to the beef industry in

the way it is because you get paid dick

off for all your years of work, decades

on end. Literally never a good time to

be a beef farmer until now. And so with

all this in mind, you're like, "Oh my

god, I can't I can't [ __ ] let my kids

befall this fate, too. I got to dissuade

them from ever desiring to dig up the

[ __ ] plow." And oh my god, why would

you ever want your lineage to It's

literally like we're stuck in purgatory.

Okay, the rest of you have escaped. But

for the 1% left, still stuck farming.

God help you. Okay. And so these

farmers, they know this and they're

like, "Okay, I got to make my kid not

want to be a farmer." And I was one of

these kids. My father refused to ever

take me farming as a kid. You think

trains or planes, whatever dumb shit's

cool? [ __ ] you. Okay. I had tractors

right outside my bedroom window as a

kid. That [ __ ] is dope as hell. God damn

right. I wanted to go check out those

tractors. I always had toy tractors and

[ __ ] I love that [ __ ] I'm like, "Dad,

can I go plowing with you or like

planting?" And he's like, "No." And it's

because, god [ __ ] forbid you ever

have your kid want to be a farmer

because again, you need to rescue your

lineage. We're in purgatory here. We

need to [ __ ] escape. And you don't do

that by making your kid grow to enjoy

farming. God [ __ ] forbid, right? And

so you try and do everything in your

power to make them not enjoy it. And so

I never was really brought about on the

farm. I mean, I was for the bad things.

Like for example, you got to go and feed

the cows every morning. Silage. You got

to go shovel silage, right? Summer,

winter, Christmas morning, doesn't

[ __ ] matter. there. You can't leave

the house, by the way. You're stuck.

You're chained to these cows cuz you

have a half a million dollars in assets

that need to be fed. And if you aren't

there, you can't hire someone and trust

them to do this. Like, you could if

you're lucky or if you get lucky with a

farm hand. And you got to find basically

an autistic man who has no other social

life and just enjoys farming. That's the

only type of farm hand that can [ __ ]

function in this role. The rest of them

are unreliable. And so, you're just

chained to this farm. You got to feed

these cows constantly. And so, he'd send

me out there. And child labor laws, they

exist, but they are exempt for farm

kids. And I fully agree with this. I

agree with that. I am down for the child

labor. What I'm not down for, though, is

the fact they have minimum wage

exemptions, too. Okay? Why am I getting

paid a quarter of minimum wage for this

[ __ ] This is [ __ ] Okay? I I

don't think the kids should have full

access to the full funds because minimum

wage doesn't sound like much, but if you

have no expenses, that [ __ ] stacks

pretty quick, right? I never felt more

rich in my life than I did in high

school. 25 bucks an hour roughly with

commission at Bell. That [ __ ] I was

[ __ ] wealthy. wealthier than I am

today. Anyway, dissuaded from being a

farmer. My sisters weren't though

because my sisters, you know, girls

don't usually want to take over a farm

and then so they could do 4 and [ __ ] and

they got to enjoy it. And around when I

left for university is when the script

flipped. Okay? And it's because we

paired down all of the different farming

that we actually did. The only way we

escaped the cycle is by basically

stopped being farmers financially. We

are now entertainment farmers, I'd call

it, because we basically earn all of our

living off of people paying to go walk

through a corn field that we mow a

[ __ ] maze through. And it's

beautiful, but it's so dark that the

only way to win at farming is to

effectively stop farming. That wasn't a

clear path back in the day. In fact, my

first waking memory of farming and

business and my family's finances was

boine spongifor and sephilitis. Okay,

every 3 years we'd almost be losing the

farm, whether it's hurricanes, a

strawberry virus that was covered up.

The one that scarred me most was ovine

spongififor and septilitis. The [ __ ]

British, okay? They were feeding the

cows to the cows. They got pryions in

their brains and the brains with the

pryons were then eaten by the British.

And the thing is, the pryions can affect

us too. And so 10, 20 years later,

suddenly you drop dead from this

overnight Alzheimer's. It's the most

horrific [ __ ] ever. Pions are

terrifying. Oh my god. And the thing is,

it was in the UK, okay? And so to this

day, I want to say that the UK cannot

donate blood if you're of a certain age.

And honestly, I'm thankful for that. I

don't want some [ __ ] British [ __ ]

flowing through my veins. Gross. But the

British, they exported those cows. And

so two or three made it to Alberta and

they [ __ ] got quarantined

immediately. It was fine. But the thing

is, our nation got quarantined because

of that [ __ ] Our beef industry

collapsed and it took over a decade for

it to even recover to the point it was

at before. And that was not a good point

before either. Like [ __ ] it's awful.

Okay, God [ __ ] help you if you're a

beef farmer. All of this [ __ ] Losing

the farm every 3 years scarred me to the

point where as soon as I got to be an

adult. That's why I started a [ __ ]

private equity firm at age 22, 23. I'm

working 100 hours because I just need to

get my money right. So, I just don't

have this worry, this fear because my

dad, if we lost the firm, I don't know

what the [ __ ] he'd do because I I don't

see him being an employee. He's a great

worker working for himself, but to work

for someone else, I'm sure he like he

would do what needs to be done, BUT LIKE

[ __ ] I just don't know. But it's

[ __ ] Okay, God [ __ ] help you if

you're a farmer. Okay, if there's one

thing certain in this life, it's that

God hates farmers. Don't you ever look

me in the eye and try and tell me

otherwise, okay? There is some

primordial sin that this occupation must

have done against God, I don't know

what, but if there's one thing clear

through the way that life phases, it's

that God [ __ ] hates farmers and you

cannot convince me otherwise. And

actually, the more I think about it,

thinking back to the cow piggyback ride

thing, that's that those were that was

lesbian [ __ ] right? Like the cows are

girls. That's gay. No [ __ ] wonder God

hates us. Cuz if there's one other group

God hates, God hates that. Smoking

kills. What the [ __ ] No one told me

that. God damn. What was I saying? Oh

yeah, God hates farmers. Don't ever

[ __ ] forget that, okay? And don't

ever let anyone try to tell you

otherwise. It's an objective fact. Just

look at the evidence, okay? But anyway,

as I was saying, whether it's the

fathers or the sons of the Holy Spirit,

convincing them either way, no one is

coming to be the next generation of

farmers. For better or worse, way she

goes. Anyone sane would look at this and

say, "Fuck that." Right? And so many

are. And so we were at what, 90% of

people on this god-forsaken continent

being farmers back in the day, two

centuries prior. Look at today. We're at

less than a percent left being farmers.

And of that less than a percent left,

over 2/3 of which are over the age of

55, which means clock's ticking, okay?

They don't got much time left. Nothing

sadder than seeing an old farmer out in

those fields [ __ ] going to die of

skin cancer any day now. Skin looking

like leather. Oh my god, their bones are

creaking. It's just sad. You hate to see

it, but that is the average farmer these

days. Retire, but they can't because

it's a [ __ ] industry and they got to

make hay while the hay is making good.

Okay? And so what you're left with is no

one coming in to be the next generation

of farmers. And the issue is the next

generation of farmers, the young bucks

are typically the ones doing all the

breeding ops because the old wized ones

look around the market and they're like,

"This [ __ ] doesn't make sense

financially." And so they don't. And so

no new cows are being made, okay? And we

are all [ __ ] for it. And beef is not

going to [ __ ] recover because we are

structurally screwed. But if there is

one nice thing to come out of all this,

it's nice to see the mom and pops

winning. You never see that these days

anymore, do you? this industry for

better or worse. Partly because it's the

worst industry to be in. You don't see

the corpos coming in and taking it over

like you do with the feed lots and for

once they're getting [ __ ] and thank

Christ for it. Okay, go [ __ ] yourself.

Love to see the corpos losing. Okay, but

anyway, as I was saying, we're all

[ __ ] structurally. [ __ ] ain't going to

be getting better. So, where does that

leave us? Okay, where are we going from

here? Huh?

And so, how's all this [ __ ] going to be

shaken out, huh? Well, I hate to say,

but I think government intervention, god

forbid, is the only way. Cuz as it

stands today, you're either going to see

population figures continue to spiral

down and down or at best stabilize into

the sorry state you see today, thereby

leaving far fewer cattle for us to be

killing to cover our consumption demands

for beef. Okay? And yeah, sure, beef

cattle have gotten bigger over the

years, but we sure as [ __ ] ain't doing

to them what we've been doing to chicken

over the years, and so that's not

[ __ ] saving us. And so what we're

left with, you see, far fewer cow calf

operators yearbyear, far fewer youngans

to be running breeding ops with. And

yet, when you look at costs, the

expenses to raise a calf to a cow or a

cow to conception are through the roof.

And yet, conversely, you're seeing the

profits for hawking off a heer to the

[ __ ] feed lots right away again

through the roof. So between all this

[ __ ] import shuttering and my this is

why you're seeing all of the [ __ ]

supply shocks and structural failures of

the market that you're seeing today.

Okay? And so like I said, government

intervention, I believe, is the only way

for us to be solving this issue. You're

going to have to subsidize the cow calf

operators to keep their heers and start

breeding with them a few cycles of those

done and population figures can recover

to what they were before in the before

times, right? thereby breeding out any

sort of profit the cow caffers briefly

had. And so now you might be thinking,

"Oh, why why would any [ __ ] farmer

agree to that then, right? They're not

going to do that." And you'd be wrong

then. They're going to do it. Okay? And

it's not because of some tragedy of the

commons of them betraying each other for

their own self-interest. In fact, it's

the opposite. They're going to do it

because they're the only group left in

society with any sense of moral

obligation to their fellow man. They're

the only ones who think the social

contract still exists. And honestly, you

may think, "Oh, well, there's many other

honorable occupations out there, right?"

All I'll say to that is they sure as

[ __ ] seem to love to get together and

collude to say, "Hey, wait a minute. We

got leverage here. [ __ ] you. Give us

more money or else we're going to

withhold from society healthcare,

education, law and order. You sure as

[ __ ] don't see farmers say no [ __ ]

food now, do you? Huh?" And it's

because, again, they are the only group

left in society that still is fighting

that good fight for the social contract.

They're the only ones who are still

putting the group above themselves and

doing what needs to be done to their own

detriment. Okay? And all these other

occupations that are so honorable, they

get to go home to a wage, a pension, job

security. You're not allowed to fire

most of these groups because that's what

they've bargained for through threats

and action of strikes, depriving society

of critical resources that again we deem

hyperimportant, right? That's why

they're honorable. You don't see farmers

doing that. In fact, farmers, yeah, they

got assets, but they dwindle because

farming is not profitable. You have a

few years of making hay every once in a

while, but all that does is raise back

up the [ __ ] water, but then it keeps

dropping. And if you ever hit zero, you

[ __ ] lost the farm. And you know what

the [ __ ] answer after that is? You

kill yourself. That that's the next

step. Because what have you done, right?

Your forefathers, everyone that's come

before you has worked. And the farm is

the summation of the value of what they

brought to this earth throughout their

time spent collectively on it. and you

blew it. You lost it. You're a failure.

No other job asks you to feel this way.

And they're going to do it. They're

going to take these subsidies again to

their own self-deterriment. And it it's

tragic, but it's going to happen. And

honestly, it sucks because farmers are

the hardest working people. And I'm not

glazing them for any sort of incentive

or obligation. There's nothing

compelling me to do this, okay? I'm not

inheriting a farm. I have no horse in

this race, okay? And no reason to be

saying this other than for the fact that

it is a statement of fact, okay? you

[ __ ] get [ __ ] on as a farmer because

anytime you do well, people hate you.

People hate to see a farmer doing well

because by doing well, by definition,

that means society is not doing well

because food prices would thereby be

through the roof and people are rioting.

Okay? You're not allowed to do well. And

so what few times you are allowed to

sneak through any sort of profit.

They're so few and far between that you

remember them for your entire life

because that's how little it comes

about. And yet even in spite of that,

again, they're going to [ __ ] take the

subsidies to their own detriment. And it

just sucks cuz you hate to see it happen

to a better group of people. And so

don't worry. I mean, do worry cuz the

cattle cycle's a decade, okay? So don't

be expecting beef prices to be back to

where they were before tomorrow, okay?

It's going to take a while, quite a few

years. But it will certainly be back. It

will cuz they're going to take the

[ __ ] subsidies. It's morning.