> now take purcashing feed. with
> large purchases of feed these guys
> can get bargins and hauling
> reductions that small producers
> cannot, these can be easiliy in
> excess of $30-40 dollars per ton.
Hi,
They do seem to have this advantage. But it's more apparent
than real.
It's not just circumstances that cause this, it's failure of
the little guy to react to the disadvantage.
I've illustrated this many times before on Graze-L.
A small farmer needs just two things to buy feed cheap. An
aggressive attitude and a truck.
If you are agressive, and have a truck, all that you need to
do is to get in line with the semi's trucks, and put up a
bold front.
Central Soya has a huge facility near here that loads 100
car trains and even deep water ships.
One day, a while back, I followed in there behind three semi
trailers from Purina. Right behind me was a wolf pack of
semi trucks from the biggest farm coop in the east.
When my turn came to weigh in for the tare weight, I just
parked my truck on the scales, pulled the keys, and walked
in looking for the grain buyer.
A short conversation led to them knocking off $5.00 per ton,
and they seemed grateful for the attention.
Purina and Agway paid full price for their soybean oil meal
that day and the little guy with the attitude got the price
break.
This isn't an isolated instance. You can negate the
economies of sale that seem to belong to the big guys.
There is always a "way".
It really isn't the size of your business that makes the
difference. It's all in the attitude. You can get what
you want.
--
Kindest regards,
=======================
F. W. Owen
Owenlea Holsteins
9430 Spencer Road
Homerville, Ohio 44235
e-mail fwo@bright.net
home page http://www.bright.net/~fwo
voice & fax 330.625.2369
=======================
