A quick update on grain markets and trading opportunities!
The Pint-Sized Agfinity Newsletter!
The Pint-Sized Agfinity Newsletter!
Just like your last nerve after a long road trip with your kids… short, bittersweet, but worth holding onto! This is your Agfinity Pint-Sized Newsletter!
Some victories only come on the other side of stress…
– Joseph Billett
On March 31st, all five Billetts arrived home safe-and-sound after 6853.8 kms, for a total driving time of 85.08 hours, burning 1758.8 litres of fuel! We drove down to Anaheim, CA, taking 2 weeks during spring break and hooking up with my brother-in-law and their small, 4 kid family. The trip was awesome! Trip of a lifetime – full of laughs, memories, and equally as important, the topic of today’s conversation…….. STRESS!
After experiencing all the highs and lows on this adventure, we all still agree – it was an awesome time. However, I don’t think the adventure is quite as sweet without all that stress. Now, we all know, to build muscle you need to stress your body. Break the muscles down so they can rebuild – bigger and stronger! This is only possible by developing resilience in our bodies and minds. Unfortunately, we usually view stress in a negative light, but without it, how are we able to grow and learn!? Or push ourselves further!?
On this trip, we discovered my youngest son Samuel is a stress pee’er. This revelation came after a few repetitions of pulling our 38 foot straight hitch trailer through Las Vegas, and then Anaheim, with multiple lanes of traffic. Amidst vehicles flying past us at 120+ kms an hour, and the reality that if we miss our overpass we’re screwed, a voice from the back seat called out, “I have to go pee! … And I can’t hold it!”
My first response is…..peeeeerrrfect. As parents, we know reminding Samuel that only 30 minutes prior we were at a gas station and he didn’t need to go does not help the current situation… But it at least seems to make us feel better by stating these futile facts. Then, after Samuel’s crying and nervous laughing we hear an “ahhhhhhh” in the back seat, followed by an “it’s okay, mommy! I don’t need to go anymore!”
After spending a little quality time with the Lysol wipes, we got the truck clean. So, on we went. Later that afternoon, in a 14 lane freeway in the middle of San Francisco rush-hour, Samuel utters his newfound stresstime catchphrase, “I have to go pee! And I can’t hold it!”
But this time, I had the solution!! In all my fatherly wisdom, I said “give that kid a bottle! Samuel, today, you become a man!”
Samuel’s first attempt was a near success! His big sister was trying to help out, but they didn’t stick the finish, and all of a sudden we could heard screaming and giggling (never a good sign when pee is involved in your truck) … Samuel sits right behind me, but luckily, the head rest took the brunt of the attack… There would be another date with the Lysol wipes later that evening.
After these experiences, the next time nature called, the team in the back seat nailed it! The bottle was passed, pants were unzipped, pee strictly entered the bottle, the bottle was filled and the lid securely fastened! Success!! Samuel was so proud of himself, and even better, we got a hilarious family story to add to the Billett family file.
All of this brought to you by the word of the day: stress .
We know you have your fair share of stress right now as well. All of us being touched by the tragedy in Humboldt… Looking out the window and still seeing snow on April 11th… Not the best temperatures for calves, is it? Not to mention, the hundreds of other things you’re dealing with…
But none of our victories and triumphs come without stress, do they? I encourage you to embrace it and not run from it. Use it to make yourself better! More resilient!
Let’s take it head on, together! … And hopefully the head rest will take the brunt of it…
By Ashley Robinson – Commodity News Service Canada
While feed barley prices are holding steady in the Lethbridge area, further north around Edmonton, prices are starting to climb.
“We’re starting to see already just difficulty with loading here and there and buyers getting caught off-guard with not getting barley coming in when they needed it to happen. And that’s spurring some pretty large prices to get these short coverings filled,” said Jared Seitz, trade manager with Agfinity Inc. at Stony Plain, Alta.
In Lethbridge, feed barley is sitting at $240-$250 per tonne for April, May, June, July delivery – while in the Edmonton area it’s at $239 per tonne, delivered. A month ago prices were lower at $205-$223 per tonne in Edmonton, according to Alberta Agriculture and Forestry. In Lethbridge there hasn’t been as much of a price increase; a month ago feed barley was $227-$232 per tonne.
“There’s quite a few sellers looking for movement before road bans,” Seitz said. “So that has created a bit of a glut for most of the market except for a few buyers that are finding themselves short right now.”
The barley supply is currently tight. Barley exports have been higher this year with 1.3 million tonnes exported as of March 25 compared to only 736,800 tonnes a year ago, according to Canadian Grain Commission data. According to Seitz this has led to Canadian buyers having to pay more for feed.
“Whether it’s an export sale for movement right away or for movement later on in the spring it really does affect our domestic market,” he said.
Edmonton buyers are also facing logistical issues. In the Lethbridge area, it’s easy for feedlots to switch to corn for feed due to their proximity to the U.S. border. Further north, the switch to corn is expensive due to shipping costs.
Currently in Lethbridge, corn is sitting on par with feed barley at around $240-$245 per tonne, but buyers want to pay less for corn than feed barley.
