Help an elk farmer in need...(revisited)

[BbarC]

I dont think anyone should feel sorry for Judith, it's just another business venture that flunked.It was CERTAINLY not a hobby with 200 animals involved. With cost of animals PLUS the cost of facilities, she put out a pretty big chunk of change. I know most of the elk ranchers[farmers] in Colorado and I know the dealings they had to put up with through the DOW and it was no easy deal. They were put under the livestock division for a while. I agree that farmed elk and wild elk should not be mixed and there have been very few escapes that were not reccovered by the ranchers themselves.Yep CWD was there a long time before she started up BUT the DOW brought it into the state for you guys to have to deal with. It's not good for the hunters or the ranchers or anybody. This is nothing to feud over everyone is entitled to their own ideas. Ol Bob
P.S. truth is I do admit Judith is kinda like a furniture store, she's been "going out of business" for the last three years!! hehehehe

<FONT COLOR="#800080" SIZE="1">[ 09-30-2003 14:05: Message edited by: BbarC ]</font>

 

[JoseCuervo]

Here is my take on Elk farming (and not for high-fenced canned hunts, but for the meat and other products.)

Every so often, some new scam comes along, that makes somebody rich. They then explain it to a couple of people, who then they get rich. And those people pass it on to a couple of more, each, and they get rich. (Kinda seeing the Pyriamid developing???

)
About 15 years ago, everybody was gonna get rich raising llamas. People wanted them for pack animals, and for the wool. People wanted into the llama business so bad, they bid the price of breeding stock waaaaaaaay up. This resulted in the first owners getting rich.

Then the second generation found a bunch of 3rd generation people who wanted llamas, and they sold them and got big $$$$$. (See the pattern? As long as you can find a bigger fool, you can sell your offspring for as much as you paid for your breeding stock.)

Well, except for in SI, the supply of fools is not infinite, and eventually, somebody is left holding the bag. It happened on llamas. Anybody priced one lately? About 40 cents a pound...

Then we had the Emu/Ostrich thing, where everybody was gonna get rich growin these ugly birds. People would pay a couple of grand $$$$ for a pair, and then have this egg laying machine, each egg a Golden Egg, their ticket to prosperity... As long as they could find the next breeder to sell to, they got rich.

Well, lo and behold, the Emu market crashed, and somebody had to start eating the things as you can't just keep selling breeding stock, indefinitely. I began hearing of people just letting their birds loose, or trying to give them away.

I think if you want an Emu, most people would give it to you.

And now, the market for Elk crashed. Everybody was getting rich, selling to the next Fool, and this lady ended up being the last fool, and the market crashed.

It turns out that the _________ or the _________ really don't need that much for ground velvet. And how many Elkhorn chandeliers do you really need??? And you can get the raw material for that much cheaper, from the Boy Scouts. And nobody really wants to eat that much Elk.

When these Pyramid schemes tumble down, it is hard to feel sorry for the last Fool.

I do feel envy for the guy at the top, who cashed in..

Bob, nobody read anything into this. We all knew it was an Elkfactory, but you will never show me a picture of an Elk in a corral, barn, or a high fence that I will appreciate. Those animals are meant to be wild, in my opinion.

I wonder what the next great scam is???

 

[BbarC]

Yep, you're right Gunner. Lots fools went into this deal to get rich quick and the ones at the top did make a ton of cash. Most of the fools are gone now. Connie and I went into it as a legitimate business, never paid or sold for the "foolish high prices". We've raised elk for about 15 years and have made and are still making money at it. Not a lot, but enough to justify it as a legitimate investment and business. We sell a bull to a big ranch once in a while but we do sell alot of meat products and jerky. We have about two animals a month processed. That's about $4500 in product. I buy antlers and make antler furniture, lamps and chandeliers, etc. and that has proven to be very good.I only have 10 large bulls at the present and they pay their way stopping traffic on the highway and getting people to stop by the store where I have a "jerky trap" set.They have had their pictures taken hundreds of times. You'd be surprised at the number of people that have never had the opportunity to see and admire elk. We will continue to raise them for as long as I am able to care for them properly. Ol Bob

 

[JoseCuervo]

Bob,

I think you probably found the secret to making money of Elk, Sell a high margin product (Jerkey or Furniture), and do the value add your self.

I have Orchard friends who have Buffalo out by the main road, right behind their Fruit Farm sign... Stops traffic all thru Cherry season, thru Peach season, right into Apple season...

Just out of curiosity, how long do your elk live, and how long are they good as breeders?

 

[BbarC]

Gunner, the elk are about like people, the females outlive the males. A bull will live to about 15 under ideal conditions. and a cow 20+. I had a cow that died a couple years ago and she was bumpimg 30. She had a calf the last year. I know another guy that claimed hed had a cow 32 and still occasionally having calves. 20 is very common. I'm sure in the wild the span is somewhat less. I think it would mainly depend on their teeth. Bob