Sad story

[Patrick]

Many of you probably have already heard about it, about the dairy farmer who killed his cows then self. Can't imagine what the guy was going through. I suppose in some ways we're lucky that the small family farm poultry industry died years ago.

http://www.thedailymail.net/articles/2010/01/23/news/doc4b5a8594d27e5066242281.txt

[Altair]

Yeah that's nuts. My thoughts go out to his family who're left to pick up the pieces.

[kenmisk]

Yes it is sad. I live near Lancaster Pa. and hear all the time about how terrible dairy farming is, in the local farm paper. It is ashame when you cannot make an honest living, while providing the public with very essential food. And to make it worse, the price of milk in the stores is going higher and higher. So you know that they are getting the short end. Pa. does allow them to sell their milk from the farm raw, with a permit. Maryland will not allow any of that and that makes it really hard on the farmers.

ken

[prairiechicken]

As someone who's in the dairy business, let me say, this lousy price has hurt the factory farmer more than the little farmer. The factory farmer has to buy all their feed and they've borrowed small fortunes to keep the cows fed. The little guy has never made money anyhow, so he's used to it. :)

Anyway, the price is up now!

Sad, I read in Dairystar about the guy who took his life plus killed his best cows. Sad. Selfish. Suicide is a selfish act as they've given no thought to the poor people left behind to pick up the pieces and live with the shame.

[snipe67]

I think the dairy farmer has a major depression and have a big problem so ge killed cows and also himself.

[Steve]

A few persons are saying that it is due to economic crisis and some are saying that was a insane person.It is not a way if he was suffering from crisis then he must discussed with friends .Its really tragic.
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[rayhusten]

I think the farmers do not have much income so that they could feed their cows. And this really sound sad to me.


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[Angela]

It's very hard out there right now.
Not just for the dairy farmers, but anyone raising livestock. Last fall, I was offered 16 bottle calves for free....the owner did not have the where-withal, or desire to feed them. Unfortunately, neither did I. In this area, you can't give a horse away....and you better check your trailer when you leave the livestock auction....you could have some strays. I would like to run more beef, but can't afford to feed them. Even the cost of poultry grains have required me to really cut back on my birds.
I can almost understand his despiration. Most dairy farms here, have been owned for generations. There is a large on that backs up to my property. It's a century farm (been operated for over a century). They've been in trouble recently and lost a parcel of land for a judgement. They've also liquidated half of their herd. A very sad state of affairs. Makes me really count my blessings

Angela

[hazelbates98]

It's very tragic. I feel sorry for that guy. Maybe he carries a lot of burden and very much depressed. I think we have to pray for his soul.

[Mary]

Don't think badly of a person until you have walked a mile in their moccasins. One has no concept of the depression or what ever was riding him. Having been married to someone who suffered severe depression I know we can't begin to imagine what they are going through.

Yes, it is sad for the family and for the poor animals. I think it is a sign of how bad times are for lots of people. We just have our own unique way of responding to them. May God have pity on his eternal soul.

[goosedragon]

The man seems crazy. Why does he need to kill the animals too? I think it doesn't make any sense to kill others because you hate the world and you'll just kill yourself so you won't get the blame.Well if he couldn't feed his animals, he might think it better to end it fast rather than pass the burden on to the family. If he didn't leave a note he might have just planned to off the cows but offed himself in remorse. My sister's huband's folk run a business where they go out to the drought areas on the eastren side of the rockies and buy cattle cheap. Often it is the rancher's wife that call because they are afraid the man is too attached to the stock and will not consider selling at a loss, and hold off waiting for a rain. once stock start falling it can get messy in a hurry.

[Angela]

This draught is going to cause a lot of this type of behavior. I've never seen such total devastation.

Rog spent $10.00 each on what I consider to be small square bales (60#). A large 1000 #+ round bale (which is what I feed) is now going for upwards of $100.00 each. I need two a week. Luckily, my Uncle set a few back for me in the spring. Five years ago, cracked corn was about $6.50 cwt. It is now almost $19.00 cwt. Scratch grains are over $20.00 cwt....don't even want to think about layer ration.

I've got a lot of mouths to feed around this farm, including my own. Sometimes, it seems like an impossible chore.... But, we may get some rain tonight...I am hopeful.

[Oregon Swedes]

It's very sad, but that case was a mental illness issue, not an economic one.

Farmers are hurting, though, and a lot of small farmers will be ruined by this uncooperative weather this year. I've not seen a huge increase (yet) in the price of poultry food. I am always careful to keep numbers down and even so, I have reduced the flock, and a few more are marked for the freezer.

The hay crop appears to be good around here, but it has always been high priced. Hay was $250 a ton last year. So far, it has been around that price, but it usually goes up after hay has been all cut and in the barn, so I expect it to go higher.

[Angela]

It's very sad, but that case was a mental illness issue, not an economic one.

Ya think? Triggered by?

A friend, who is a second gen dairy farmer, is being forced to sell the dairy because he can't afford to feed his cows. Struggling with the knowledge that "dairy" is all that he knows. What's he going to do for a living? 50 + with responsibilities that he can no longer handle. No future, no retirement, legacy gone.....Think that it might trigger some depression and despiration?

It's a whole nother world out here....

[Mary]

Angela, I tend to agree with you. It is different when we are young and things go bad. We still have time to change things. Change jobs, learn new things, go back to school. When one is older it is much harder and some, especially those who maybe didn't finish high school may view themselves as not able to start all over and learn from (basically) scratch. Lack of computer literacy can have a negative effect, too. It can be very frightening out there when you have done the same thing all your life.

When I was at the feed store the other day I heard the small rolls of hay being sold for $250.00. I think they are about a 1/4 ton. Hay here during the winter went up to $20 a bale for 75-90# bales. There seams to be a get rich quick at other's expense with this drought over a large portion of the nation.

I reduced my flock of chickens from 40+ hens to 23, ducks from 35 to 10 and geese from 11 to 4. The cost of feed, not enough people willing to buy fresh eggs were the primary reasons. At the current rate of laying I am being able to sell most of the eggs I produce between eggs for eating and hatching eggs. A couple of ladies want hatching eggs every couple of months. I had to make major changes in the way my buildings and pens were set up for feeding to reduce the sparrow load as they were eating 3x's the food the flock were.

Angela, I hope folks like your friend can see their way to reduce their herd and stay in the business and hold out for better times to come. Better times should come again. Sadly, it could be several years. I don't have a crystal ball so my guess is as valuable as anyone else's. Not much. IF they aren't able to then recovery from the situation will be harder for everyone.

[Angela]

It's so very easy for people to make flip judgements about things that they know little about. The general population takes much for granted, and are woefully unaware of what is going on around them. It's easy to call someone cruel or crazy....but I'm sure that they were not born that way. What circumstances drove them to such extreme actions?
I've heard it said many times that suicide is a coward's way out....I think that is a petty and narrow minded viewpoint. I think that any extreme emotional state such as hopeless desperation, and even love can drive one to extremes. Either way, I would not dream of passing judgement. That is between he and his maker.

[Maradevale]

It is really a sad story.:(

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