Wondering about Timothy Balance Cubes.
Made in Canada.
Bagged in the US.
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I wonder if this will affect the transporting of live horses across both borders for slaughter. If it does, it then presents additional welfare issues with horses having nowhere to go and being at risk of abandonment.
My bet is that DT opens up US slaughter plants again. P25 already specifies that mustangs are to be moved from storage to profit systems so it is a logical conclusion that US plants will be the next step.
As terrible as this sounds, at least the poor animals aren’t subjected to extended travel over the border.
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A lot of Canadian hay around here. I’ve always wondered how Canadian hay can be cheaper than local but a lot of hay fields here turned into corn when corn prices were so high. I guess hay prices are going up.
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Probably not available in the southwest, but in New England you can still easily get shavings from several mills in New Hampshire and Vermont. Our forest economy in New England has been diminished for sure over the past few decades, but does still exist. We have several managed timber stands on our farm and have a cut coming up. Our last cut was during Covid, and I feel really guilty saying it, but the insane lumber prices then really kicked in at the right time for us.
I do generally wish we had more of an orientation to local economies across all industries so that world events wouldn’t be so disruptive - even though that would mean prices would be at least a little (and, in some cases, a lot) higher in the normal course of doing business.
(To be clear, I am not in any way supporting any of this current tariff policy whiplash and unnecessary provoking of such key partners.)
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A couple of years ago there was some sort of a disruption to the train tracks that allowed shipments of bagged shavings to get from Canada into the US. It’s amazing to me that my horses’ bedding is coming all that way, via train then by truck, to the middle of Arizona.
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We are lucky here in the Portland area that our pelleted bedding comes from E. OR (Blue Mountain brand), among others. We have a thriving stove pellet industry so that helps. Shavings used to come from lumber mills, but those have disappeared. Maybe the double tariffs will bring some smaller mills back online to produce domestic lumber?
I do wish hemp bedding was a thing. I am concerned about feed grains and beet pulp-- I know Alberta produces sugar beets and pulp. Not sure if all Canadian feed products/wood products will jump 25%, but that would be a huge hit to cattle, horse and poultry owners.
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got two tons of TEFF hay last week, price went down 3%, the delivery fee was down 25%
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The United States is currently one of the world’s largest producers of sugar beets. In 2023, the US produced about 35.23 million tons of sugar beet. The Red River Valley in western Minnesota and eastern North Dakota is largest producing area un the US
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It makes no sense for them to impose tariffs in retaliation. It only hurts the domestic consumer. The exporter doesn’t pay the tariff. The importer does. Which means higher prices to the end consumer to cover that extra import cost. The theory is to promote buying domestic and to encourage more domestic production. Which would also cost more as there is a reason for sourcing materials abroad in the first place. And then there are some products we just don’t produce here, and/or at least not year round.
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Probably due to the exchange rate on the dollar.
In case anyone didn’t know.
The North American Free Trade Agreement (1980s) and it’s successor (signed by Trump last time around) created a much more integrated economy across the three countries of Canada, Mexico and the USA.
Under these agreements, the auto industry in particular has factories in all three countries that operate cross border without friction. They’ve all set up to do this and are integrated. They can’t really function with this access cut off.
The free trade agreement is still in force, it’s just been over ridden by an emergency measure.
The construction industry is dependent on Canadian lumber. The energy sector is dependent on Canadian oil. The restaurant sector is dependent on Mexican avocados:)
Anyhow, I am interested to watch the response from corporate America as all the trade patterns of the past 40 years are destroyed.
Canada is considering export levies on key raw materials like aluminum, potash and uranium etc that would add to the cost for American companies buying them.
And yes all liquor from the US is getting pulled off the shelves at the BC government liquor stores.
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I must thank Trump for showing me that there are Canadian companies that produce and sale the same items that I was buying from the US. Also, if I can’t find a Canadian company I now look to the EU and Britain. USA is not the only player in the world marketplace. His first time as President taught me this.
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What will cause that?
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I have stocked up three years-plus of parts for my Deere tractor and GM farm pickup at today’s prices. I know I will eventually need these maintenance parts and they are manufactured in Mexico. My hay comes from Idaho and California, and I think that fuel and transportation cost, plus fertilizer costs for the hay farms, will increase my hay price significantly.
Meanwhile my pension and social security income will lag behind the cost of running the farm. I wish I had an idea how the stock market will fare as that’s where my pension fund income is generated.
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Teff hay is about $40 per bale here in Florida. They are big bales but I won’t buy them for that price.
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I use Hemp bedding produced and sold by a Canadian company. https://www.flaxfarm.ca/ It’s great: no dust, a little goes along way, composts quickly and it’s pH is neutral (wood is acidic), absorbs pee well and is easy to pooh pick.
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This morning we’re being told that our collective pain “is worth the price that must be paid.”
And here I was, expecting the price of eggs and bacon to go down. Silly me.
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Clanter- (again, trying to keep this farm related, not political)
Federal and state lands may well be sold to corporate buyers to ‘build homes’ on, or for mineral or oil speculation. This includes lands previously protected by designation as parkland. I can speak to privately owned timber lands in WA being closed off to the public for any use (mostly due to trespassing, vandalism and environmental damage caused by motor vehicle and firearms use). This has impacted equestrian access to wildlands for trail riding.
Tariffs are a terrible economic idea, which has been proven since Colonial times in N. AM. So many citizens fail to see how utterly intertwined CA/US/MX economies are. Let’s hope wiser heads prevail in the long term.
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Yes. Not just entwined, but deliberately developed in a mutually beneficial way over the 40 years since NAFTA was first signed. Trump himself signed off on the renewal in 2020. Many industries in the USA have expanded and stabilized under the protection of the free trade agreement.
The North American Free trade agreements make the cross border transit of components, raw materials and finished goods something very different from importing from China where there is no agreement.
The North American agreement is still in place, it’s been temporarily over run by a presidential declaration of a state of national emergency. That is a presidential right. I expect there will be pushback on how legitimate that emergency is.
Basically all big American manufacturing and especially the auto industry just had the rug pulled out from under them after setting up plants and supply chains in Canada and Mexico. If Ford assembles a vehicle in Canada or Mexico it is now subject to a 25 per cent duty to bring it back to the US to sell.
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And I’m not sure the Social Security is a sure thing, either.
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