£50,000 loss on 60t of wheat - Is the market really that volatile??
Its been a hectic few weeks, hence no time for a blog! Have finally found a spare five minutes, but not sure how much sense I will make!
The mobile signal in our village has been non existent since "the big storm" on 13th March. Despite repeated calls to the phone company, they have been worse than useless in getting it fixed. In the pub at the weekend one chap was moaning that lack of signal had cost him £50,000. I found it very difficult to ascertain exactly why, and then I realised what family he belonged to. The chap in question is a farmer, and one of four brothers making a living off of one farm. All I can say is that the wives must have great jobs, as the farm itself is about 400 acres, and in this day and age I can't see how that could support four families (and not the shrewdest sellers at that).
Anyway, I struggled to compute how he had lost £50,000 (and why he is now sueing the phone company for loss of income). He claims that he has a remaining 500t of wheat left to sell (bearing in mind their total wheat acreage is just 150, and that their yields aren't the best, this must mean they have not sold much at all since harvest) and that his trader couldn't get hold of him when the price was high because of his mobile phone not working. He claims that by the time his trader got hold of him, the wheat price had dropped £10/t. Whilst this is extremely possible, I think perhaps his maths needs looking at, as 500t and a drop of £10/t would mean he lost £5000 and NOT £50,000 as he is claiming. Since speaking to this chap, I have also had a word with his trader, and it turns out that he in actual fact has 60t left to sell, not 500t. One wonders if his claim against the mobile phone company will succeed.
The wheat market has been extremely volatile this week, with huge drops that is seeing many concerned faces. What with Diesel now at £1.20/l and predicted to reach £1.50/l by the summer, one wonders if we are in for harder times than seen when wheat was making just £60/t.
Still the odd lamb arriving at home, with the early ones almost ready to go. It seems later than usual, but I guess that is down to having the early Easter.
The horses are all looking very well. We have sold my big lad, which I am very sad about. He is a fantastic horse, and I really wish that I could keep him. He looks so well now, all that food has done the trick and he is doing brilliantly. Still, I am looking forwards to bringing Oliver back into work, and have a summer full of competitions planned for him.
Evy and Emae are doing very well, apart from the fact that Emae keeps deciding to take down the electric fencing! We need a much bigger zapper on it as she has no respect for it at all. We had the vet out to give Evy an MOT – she had her teeth sorted out, and was sedated whilst we trimmed her up ready for the show ring. We also had the vet check over Alma, who is due to foal in about 3 weeks time – he said everything appears to be fine, and foaly is still moving around, so that is fantastic news – soon we will have the patter of tiny hooves (again).
So, it has been a busy few weeks for me, and it is only set to get busier. Everything is picking up speed at work, and at home the jobs are mounting up. We are lunging the show horses every night to help them build muscles in the right places, and teaching the youngsters to trot up in the show ring. The fields have been fertilised, and I am all set with my new toy (Nomix sprayer) to go an spray the weeds. First show in two weeks and it feels like nothing is ready! Finally, summer is approaching!