Dear Yabba,
The system of Globalisation is a very destructive system leading into the New World Government which is all about power. Due to our individual apathy and gutlessness we have allowed a progressive socialist takeover in the name of democracy and Social Justice, Nazi's and Commo's,the flip side of the same coin and it doesn't work. For their final solution comes from the barrel of a gun.
Bellys answer is leave me alone so I can sleep in peace. Just make sure I get enough pie to eat and while you are at it lets take some pie of the rich bastards and give it to the poor and underprivelaged. Charity begins at home not in someone else's home. The poor bastards in third world countries are starving because global trade has destroyed the incentive to produce food and there is no surplus for foreign aid. So what is the socialist's answer. Population control and starvation, destroy the farmers and import the food from 3rd world countries. Even blind Freddie can see trouble coming. Farmers are price takers not price makers and are last in the power train. Unions are trying to mount a takeover but as we outsource jobs their power base is disapearing. Banks and Governments are in control and everybody is paying the cost. History shows that democracy does not work. Only the maker has the original blueprint and only when we are hurting enough do we cry out "God help me".
Farming is now a lifestyle not a business for as they taught us in the program "smart moves" business's make profit or fail. Sadly all the teachers of "smart moves" were made redundant but thank God they all got redundancy packages. Now they spend their time castigating farmers for making a buck sending sheep and cattle on a cruise ship instead of giving their union brothers a free ride on the gravy train.
She ain't worken and a train wreck shees a comin.

Yabby>>your butcher friends earning many times what the PM earns. Clearly
there is a rip off going on

But Yabby, he makes the same % in profit that the supermarkets do. Your words not mine. How does this make him a rip off?

>>I am selling lambs next week, 4.60 a kg. It costs 1$ a kg to
knock em off, the meatworks get the fifth leg for free, 1 $ a kg
to cut them up and they could be home delivered with a handsome
profit for another 2 bucks a kg. Total cost 8.60$ a kg is hardly
too expensive for the housewife. But perhaps that would not be
enough margin for our butchers.

Yes I saw the back yard butchers on ACA. What a joke!
You confuse 'margins' with 'profits'. To make $2 profit, one has to add at least $3.
Stick to 'hobby farming 'mate.

I pay $6.20. Tassie lamb. Could sell from accredited premises for $11kg. A small price for healthy food.

Now out of my $4.80 comes rent, wages, power, advertising, super, compo, insurances, complience costs, legal costs. Hopefully, 3% profit.

>> But I'm seeing plenty of our
best farmers pack up and leave, they have had a gutful of you
blokes

It's not us mate. Many farmers have educated their kids and their kids have decided it's to harder life. That's the reality!

>>Now pricks like you want to shut
it down, for your own little-selfish-interests.

When in doubt, turn nasty!

Q. If the government were to subsidise your freight, effectively placing you on a 'level playing field', with the rest of the country, would you stop live exporting?

Continued

Cornflower >>Specifically what handouts would those be?

Well they have just come through drought. They are now about to seek relief for foods.

Now what about the other businesses who rely on farmers for their business. They don't get any relief. Why?

As for the 'big boys'. Perhaps you should ask the general public who support them, knowing full well they are killing off all small retailers.

Belly>>Farmers ,like you, have every right to earn a living and droughts and other things get us tax payers helping we can not after all live without both food and exports.

As I say belly, what about everyone else. The truck drivers who sit idel. The agents, the processors, the retailers. What about support for them. Why just farmers?

Now one reson why we have a lamb shortage, 60% as Yabby says, is that the breeding heard is short. Now I have no objection to live export for old, worn out ews, but not prime breeding stock. At least not until we have re-built our herd.

Two things caused the present shortage. A huge drought in the early 90's and live export.

Back on toppic
Low wages in the retail sector are due to consumers forever seeking a better deal. Lower prices mean lower margins, means lower running costs, means lower wages. It's not rocket science.

Food is one of the few areas people can save. The price of fuel is the price. Rent is rent, power is power, etc etc. All non-negotiable. Food however is negotiable and, if the price is to high people simply won't buy.

It is the consumer who has driven wages low in retail, not the businesses, large or small. Plumbers, sparkies, brickies, chippies, concreters all make huge money compared to retail staff.

A telephone tech charges around $90 per hour to fix a phone in a shop where the staff there get paid $20hr. Who is the rip off?

I will bet even garbage collectors get paid better than retail staff.

*Two things caused the present shortage. A huge drought in the early 90's and live export.*

Rehctub, that is pure rubbish. Yes droughts cut numbers in some areas,
but the main thing has been farmers getting out of the
sheep industry, because they could not make a living. Thousands and
thousands of them. That land now grows crops mainly, some went into
cattle, as wild dogs were less of a problem. The live trade exports
mainly wethers, they have little to do with the breeding flock.

In fact if anyone had a positive effect on the breeding flock it
was live exporters, as they paid a fair price and did not screw
farmers into the ground price wise, as processors did.

If one bloke is paying 60 bucks and another paying 20 bucks for the
same weight animal and you have a family to feed, who would you
sell to?

*he makes the same % in profit that the supermarkets do*

You are trying to dig yourself out of a hole here Rectub, instead
you are going deeper. You bragged about mates and what they earned.
When I challenged you, based on your continual attack on live exports,
you conveniantly quoted a single bloke, who happened to have figures
which equate with the 3% that supermarkets like Coles work on.
What about all the rest?

*Yes I saw the back yard butchers on ACA. What a joke!*

Rehctub, once again you are confused. Even in WA we have licensed
and accredited meat packers, who do nothing but break down beef, mutton and
lamb carcasses. They will even pack them on trays and
cryovac. Cost is around 1$ a kg.

In fact in a large and modern plant, you can slaughter and break down
a sheep into portions, including automated packing, for around 1$
a kg. Then you still have the 5th leg left over for sale.

tbc

So the actual cost of a lamb, broken down and ready to go to the
consumer, is between 5.70-6.70 a kg.

A refridgerated van can deliver them straight to the customers door,
take peoples money etc, at the rate of around 4 per hour.

Allowing for 80$ an hour to run your van and employee, that's 1 $ per
kg. Allow another 50c a kg for advertising and phones, your cost
is around 7.20-8.20 a kg, landed at the customer's door. Add
another 1 $ for yourself, you are making money and the customers
is getting value for money. Given that that lamb is in your possesion
for no more then a few hours, you are making a great quid for your
effort.

The theatrics that go on in a shopping centre and all the costs
associated with it, have everything to do with theatre and little
to do with the cost of food. Don't blame farmers for food costs,
if you want to play theatrics.

Yabby, I must admit I know little about L/E so I will take your word for it.

>>What about all the rest?

Well I was refering to 'mates', not the industry as a whole, however I do have two other mates that make big money out of their shops.

They to have invested millions$, employ many staff, take huge risks and often do a weeks work in two days.

Now if I outlayed $6+ per kilo, then took all the risks associated with business, then delivered the meat all for one dollar, or 16%, well, I would go broke.

Now on the other hand, if the one dollar you refer to was 'net profit', then that would be fine.

>>>Don't blame farmers for food costs,

Have I ?

BTW, are you going to answer my question about subserdised freight?

Or is live export to good a thing to let go?