LAMB PRICES PLUMMET LOCALLY FOR ONE PRODUCER

Well, lamb prices took a nose dive around her y’day.
I was outside flipping square bales of hay in the sun. Why?, you wonder… I had a nice little patch of lespedeza/OG mix that I worked and seeded this year. It was a really nice looking field with good yield and few weeds.

The day before yesterday, I was out baling the hay with my trusty ole NH269 and accumulator; out of nowhere came a .15” rain. It didn’t bother me so bad that the unbaled hay got rained on, but the 10-bale pads lying throughout the field got wet on top. Grrrrr, cuss, cuss, grrrrrr.
First year with accumulator and never experienced anything like that. Dumbfounded with a new-found way to take it in the shorts from mother nature, we scrambled for the best way to handle the situation. We thought about leaving them in the field (they would be sitting on dry ground and there was only 10% chance of rain for the next day. Uneasy gambling my hay away, I loaded the now-wet hay on the wagons and put them in the barn.
It way my day off the next morning and I was in no hurry to get out of the fart-sack. Honey wakes me up to tell me that I’d just as well sleep in because we got 4” of rain overnight. Well, she’s a dirty rotten liar…we only got 3.9” total!!!!
I wait until about noon- until the front yard (a rolling hilltop) had dried a little. I unloaded the wagons onto the less than soggy ground to dry out.
About 3 hours later, I’m out there flipping the bales like I’m frying taters in a skillet. It’s a tightrope act to keep flipping the bales so the top dries more that the bottom absorbs.
By this time, I am experiencing a physical phenomenon that I attempt to avoid…my skin is leaking this clear salty liquid at a profuse rate and I hear a rushing noise in my ears. I’ve had this before…right before taking a faceplant in the dirt. I stood erect to catch my breath, but the rushing noise didn’t go away.
Lo and behold, it wasn’t my heart-pressure, it was a truck coming down the driveway (3/4 mile from the hardroad…) and I don’t recognize it.
I tap my pocket to make sure, and start walking toward the truck, but he don’t see me (I don't like being seen until "it's time"). He pulls into the gates leading to the just-rained-on hayfield with his diesel one-ton with a 24’ gooseneck in-tow.
I’ve can exhibit a couple of different demeanors…he got the blunt, to the point one. I hollered HEY!!!, and he mashed the brakes. I walked to the truck at a rather brisk pace with hay in my horns. I let loose with “who the blank do you think you are, what the blank do you blanking think you’re blanking doing? So you're such a blanking blankety blank that you think you can just drive up my blanking road and drive around in my blanking hayfield??!! WHO the BLANK are you and what the blank are you doing here?
He said " I’m (a name, but not person that I recognize) and I guess I’m lost; I was going to (neighbor’s name) to get a load of hay." Seeing as how I had approached his truck from the passenger’s side, I walked around to his side…with a fairly determined stride. I recognized his name to be the son of a person that me, my uncle and my dad have dealt with…his father had passed away a few years ago. This guy had moved back to the area and was going to begin buying sheep, and livestock as his father had.
Like I said, I walked around to his side of the truck without letting the grass grow under my feet. He is a rather large lad, but I think he feared that I was gonna yank him out thru the wing vent. I jabbed my paw thru the open truck window and said “nice to meet ya. Ifn you cain’t tell, I’m having a piss-poor day and you just caught the culmination of it” We jabbered for ½ hour or so before he headed to by hay from the neighbor that I had baled as a custom job.


He claimed that he didn't mind my demeanor, and it reminded him of his dad in that you didn't have to wonder what was on my mind either.
We’ll see how much he remembers the encounter when I call him for lamb prices when I have the next load ready to sell. The next door neighbor (@2 ¼ mile away by road-3/4 miles as a gut pile smells) called me last night to let me know that I left somewhat of an impression as I was the talk of the hay transaction.
I sure WAS looking forward to him to start buying as it would be ½ the distance I am currently hauling… I ain't betting that prices haven't plummeted for a certain producer.

Oh well, it won't be the first time that bumpin my gums has cost me money...but I sleep good at night 'cause it ain't all bottled up.


73, Mark

LAMB PRICES PLUMMET LOCALLY FOR ONE PRODUCER