Thanks for (another) insightful piece, Janette. Because I am mainly a “dairy guy” I found the bit about “carcass balance” really intriguing. In the dairy business, we always say that “balancing has a cost” -- one people sometimes miss when thinking big picture.
Cows make milk 365 days of the year and, generally, we have more in the spring than in the fall. Some processing plants don’t want to -- or cannot -- run 7 days a week. Sometimes you need to buy extra milk in the fall. Managing that flow costs something. Balancing cost involves additional plant investment to add different capabilities/lines or understanding the discounts required to move surplus milk (and the premiums to procure extra when you are short).
Oh interesting, so it’s more of a seasonal balancing challenge. Presumably there’s a components balancing challenge as well when not selling into fluid milk markets?
Thanks for (another) insightful piece, Janette. Because I am mainly a “dairy guy” I found the bit about “carcass balance” really intriguing. In the dairy business, we always say that “balancing has a cost” -- one people sometimes miss when thinking big picture.
Ooh that sounds like a relevant phrase in meat also! How do you describe the cost of balacing?
Cows make milk 365 days of the year and, generally, we have more in the spring than in the fall. Some processing plants don’t want to -- or cannot -- run 7 days a week. Sometimes you need to buy extra milk in the fall. Managing that flow costs something. Balancing cost involves additional plant investment to add different capabilities/lines or understanding the discounts required to move surplus milk (and the premiums to procure extra when you are short).
Oh interesting, so it’s more of a seasonal balancing challenge. Presumably there’s a components balancing challenge as well when not selling into fluid milk markets?