Hello All,
Today as we approach the 4th of July, I am reminded more than ever how fortunate I am to be a citizen of the United States.
Though I can’t help but wonder why we as a country have given up so many things to a “world” economy. I was in a major retail sporting goods department over the weekend. As I scanned the empty, hole filled shelves I looked at “American” brands and looked for where it was made. Sadly, many if not most were made in China.
I did this little investigating because I read so many articles about freight costs. How imports of consumer goods are driving up container prices to unbelievable amounts. It is sad to think that we are now dependent on imports to fill the needs of our Amino Acid needs. I think we are lucky that PRRS hit us. Now I’m thinking to myself how could that be lucky. If we had that 15-18% more need we would be dramatically short. That decrease has caused some prices to come down recently as less is selling. When barns clean up, I truly wonder what prices will be this coming winter and next year.
Some feed medication manufactures have recently taken mid-year price increases due to ingredient cost increases, no surprise, those base ingredients are imports. It seems like you almost can’t go wrong buying anything you need, pretty soon it will be going up in price again
I feel like I am getting to put Covid 19 behind me. While I got to regularly see my mother on zoom and in person 6 feet apart. This June I got to hug my mother for the first time in 18 months. When I write this letter next month she will be 98 years old.
The Covid virus is still hitting other nations hard. As I wrote earlier I am reminded more than ever how fortunate I am to be a citizen of the United States, where there is availability and a choice to be vaccinated.