another dumb market question ???

the market pricing is interesting to me how it goes up/down daily,im no farmer,so could you please explain to me what the value is based on ??.like today corn went up .02,whats that value on,a lb,gallon,bushel,im assuming shelled ??.the other post I made about the hay value against the 128 cow value,this really sounds dumb but I was thinking 128 per cow,yea my sugar was low this morning,is that 128 a lb when its alive,or is that 128 a lb after its been gutted and skinned ready for butchering??.hows milk sold by the gallon or by weight,how does the milk truck keep the milk separate from different farms,im sure certain farms have different quality,for human drink vs cheese ??

88-1175- price is CWT, which means per hundred pounds of animal weight. So, you bid 120 and the critter weighs 500 pounds...you pay...120 X 5= $600.00.

While it is alive and on the hoof weight.

Well lets start with grains. They are just about all priced per bushel. For corn that is 56 lbs. Soybeans 60 lbs., Oats 32 lbs. The market price is reported on the Chicago Board Of Trade daily. All the grains are commodities and are traded accordingly. Just like oil or sugar. Then your local price is can be lower or higher based on local demand.

Live stock is priced per pound. It can also be per hundred weight. They do that so your not talking about fractions of dollars. So when you see cattle at $128 that is per hundred weight or $1.28 per lbs. For cattle the price is usually live weight before slaughter. If you hear the term hanging weight then that is after slaughter and that would be higher. Hogs are priced per pound as well but it is only slaughtered weight anymore. They do not quote live weight prices.

Now for milk. It is sold per hundred weight. Then the farmers are paid a premium on top of the "fluid" price for protein and low bacteria counts an other things. So if you see $15.60 milk price that is per hundred weight and before any premiums. As for how milk is hauled and weighted. Most milk tanks have a very accurate dip stick that tells you the weight in the tank for the level the milk is at. The milk truck driver records this level before he loads the milk. The driver also takes a sample of the milk. The milk is comingled with all the other farmers' milk on that route. So if you have some trouble with your milk it can cause the entire load to be dumped and your charged for it. As for milk and cheese there is two common grades of milk production. Grade "A" and grade "B". Grade "A" is for direct consumption as a liquid. Grade "B" milk is for processing only. So this would be for cheese mainly. The Grade "B" milk is low priced than Grade "A" milk. Grade "B" is usually not quite as clean( higher bacteria counts) as grade "A". Grade "A" producers can be kicked off grade "A" if they have too high of bacteria counts or fail milk inspections. This failure can have nothing to do with counts but buildings or milk tank issues.

As for hay. There are many ways hay is sold. Small square bales are usually sold by the bale with the weight not being a factor. Round bales can be sold by the bale or the ton, it depends on the local market. Large square bales of hay are usually sold by the ton.

Having grown up on a farm, I am familiar with the pricing but just now realize how complex it is. J.D. expressed it well. I heard in some farm magazine how some city lady went to an auction and bought several feeder calves at a price like forty eight fifty, thinking if they were that cheap she would buy them for pets. She was in shock when she went to pay. her husband was ---------

ya i would be furious also I got married an right away i sent my wife to the sale barn an but 40 head good way to start i thought what do you think

Your questions are not dumb but it is always somewhat vague even to those of us who live and work in the ag industry as what prices are based on. Just as JD Seller posted, a bushel of grain is of different weight for different grains. I have always wondered as to why we don't just use pounds or tons to price and determine yields for all grain crops instead of some old outdated bushel measurement.

You sent your wife to the sale barn? How long did that marriage last?

For milk.
The driver shows up and measures how much milk is in the tank with a dip stick.
He then turns on a mixer that mixes the milk and takes a couple of samples.
He then loads the milk in his trailer mixing it with everyone else's milk.
When he gets to the drop off point they test every sample for bacteria.
If all samples pass he is allowed to unload.
If one sample fails he is not allowed to unload and the farm that bad sample came from just bought that entire load.
From these samples they also test what each farm shipped as to quality of the milk.
Fluid milk is bought and sold with a butter fat of 3.5% So if your milk is 3.8% you get a premium for it.


Here is a typical milk check.

A threw E tells how much the farmer shipped
It shows total pounds shipped and what the milk contains for butterfat and protein.
This farmer shipped 113,448 lbs of milk in this month.
It had 4311 lbs of butterfat that computes to 3.80%
So while farm A and Farm B may both ship 100,000lbs per month farm A may get a bigger check because his milk is higher butter fat. In other words farm A really shipped more milk because when they water the milk down to get the desired 3.5% butterfat he was allowed to add more water so he had more milk.

F and I is just adjustment to location so the milk is produced around the country.
G is a volume premium if you ship large amounts such a full truck loads.
H is your Cell Count.
J is your hauling fee; milk promotion fee for commercials or bill boards; and your coop fees.





I do not know grain prices well enough to comment so maybe one of these other guys can explain.
But the way I understand it is the price you see on the exchange is delivered to mouth of the Mississippi.
So while corn may be listed a $3.60 per bushel there are many deduction taken out of that price to cover shipping; drying; and other things to get it to a base level.

[i:654c4848f0]You sent your wife to the sale barn...[/i:654c4848f0]

What did you get for her?

Let's do it the easy way. For two out of three years the price of whatever you are selling will be about 10% below cost of production. The third year the price will be just high enough to recover your losses for the last two years and persuade you to stay in business. The IRS gets everything else.

See? It's quite simple, really. Lol!

This milk statement looks very strange to me , to say the least. Needless to say , our system is diffrent here in Canada. What I do not see is any report to the farmer of the Bacteria count in the milk shipped.The milk from our farms is liquid volume, in liters and we are paid on butter fat/protein My last shipment of milk was 5.02 BF and 3.99 pt . We milk Jersey cows, no advantage in selling water, and milk samples are tested for added water, inhibitors, scc , bacteria and Iodine. and penalties are given for doing so.Milk, temperature also must be below 6 degrees C , or the transporter can refuse to load the milk. All milk in Canada is Grade A , the two grade system was phased out over 30 years ago. We have rules coming out of our ying-yangs.

Milk sample is taken from the bulk tank to determine bacteria level- not at the plant. Milk is tested at the plant for ANTIBIOTICS before the tanker is unloaded. If positive, individual samples are tested to see who"s milk made the load hot...and that farmer pays for the tanker load.