Matter of Weiser, Inc.

74 B.R. 111, 1986 Bankr. LEXIS 6593
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, S.D. Iowa
DecidedMarch 4, 1986
Docket19-00196
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 74 B.R. 111 (Matter of Weiser, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, S.D. Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Matter of Weiser, Inc., 74 B.R. 111, 1986 Bankr. LEXIS 6593 (Iowa 1986).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION

RICHARD STAGEMAN, Bankruptcy Judge.

This is a Chapter 11 case filed on January 10, 1986, by the debtor-in-possession, Weiser, Inc. The matters before the court include the Debtor’s application to use cash collateral and a motion for relief from the automatic stay filed by the Perry State Bank (“Bank”). The Bank has objected to the Debtor’s cash collateral application and the Debtor has filed a resistance to the Bank’s motion for relief from stay.

On January 17, 1986, a preliminary hearing was held on the cash collateral application. At this hearing, the court ordered that the Debtor be permitted to temporarily use cash collateral provided the Bank was informed of all expenditures that would exceed $200. On February 10, 1986, a final hearing was held on both the cash collateral application and on the motion for relief from the automatic stay. The court, having reviewed both the evidence adduced at hearing and the parties’ legal arguments, now makes the following findings of fact and conclusions of law.

I.

The Debtor operates a livestock and grain farm in Dallas County, Iowa. The livestock operation consists of a farrow to finish hog enterprise that is projected to produce 1,983 market hogs in 1986. This output level represents a 15% reduction from the previous two year’s production average. The Debtor’s president testified that the projected reduced output is the product of effort to increase the efficiency of the hog operation.

The projected output of 1,983 hogs assumes that the Debtor’s hog herd will experience an 80% conception rate and will yield a 6.6 pig weaned per litter average. The Debtor also assumes that there will be a 3% death loss amongst the weaned pigs.

The Bank challenges the Debtor’s ability to achieve the 6.6 pig weaned per litter average. Although such an average would approximate the state-wide average for mixed pasture and confinement hog operations, 1 the Bank asserts that the Debtor has not been able to obtain such results in previous years.

The Bank, relying primarily on the Debt- or’s income tax data, deduces that the Debtor has averaged between five and six pigs weaned per litter. The first step of the Bank’s deductive process was to divide swine revenues from previous years by $100. The $100 figure was selected as the average price of a market hog in the selected years (1982 and 1983). Thus, the division by $100 yielded what the Bank believed to be the number of hogs sold in the selected years. The number of hogs sold was then divided by the number of sows *114 the Bank believed the Debtor farrowed. This division by the number of sows yielded pigs per sow. Finally, the number representing pigs per sow was divided by the number of farrowings per year to yield pigs per litter.

This deductive process is beset with incorrect assumptions. The estimated value of $100 per hog would roughly equate to a market price of $43.50 per hundred weight. 2 The court notes, however, that the average market price for hogs in the relevant years was $52.60 and $47.99 per hundred weight. 3

These higher actual prices indicate that the $100 per hog figure used by the Bank was substantially understated. Had the Bank used a more reasonable figure of $110-120 per hog, it would have deduced fewer market hogs sold and a significantly higher pigs per litter estimate. For this reason, the court dismisses the Bank’s challenge to the Debtor’s ability to generate 6.6 pigs weaned per litter.

Moreover, the testimony shows that the Debtor is making a concerted effort to increase the efficiency of the hog operation. The Debtor’s veterinarian asserts that the hog herd is in excellent condition and that he has no reason to suspect a health problem. The Bank introduced evidence suggesting that the Debtor’s method of summer farrowing was “atypical”. The fact that the Debtor’s president was named the outstanding pork producer in Dallas County in 1985 would suggest that the Debtor’s “atypical” methods of production are not ineffective. The court, therefore, accepts the Debtor’s estimates as to the number of hogs to be produced in 1986.

The Debtor projects that hog prices throughout 1986 will average $44.00 per hundred weight. Hog prices at country markets are currently fluctuating between $43.00 and $45.00. Livestock Market Summary, Iowa Department of Agriculture (Feb. 14, 1986). The Debtor markets some hogs through packing plants which typically yield a $1.00-2.00 premium. Id. Although hog prices are expected to dip somewhat in the spring months, a rebound is projected to occur in the summer and continue throughout the remainder of the year. Des Moines Sunday Register, February 23, 1986, at F2, col. 4. The court, therefore, accepts the $44.00 estimate of hog prices as being reasonable.

The Debtor has contracted to rent several hundred acres on which it intends to produce corn, soybeans and oats. From these rented acres, the Debtor expects to generate approximately $30,000 in net revenue. If the Bank’s crop projections are adjusted to remove debt servicing costs and to reduce rent charges to actual levels, the Bank’s crop gross profit forecast would closely approximate the Debtor’s own estimate. The court, therefore, finds that the Debtor’s cost and yield estimates for its crop enterprise are reasonable.

The Debtor estimates that revenues from the hog and grain operations will total approximately $411,000. Expenses, exclusive of interest costs and living expenses provided to the Debtor’s principals, will total approximately $341,000. Thus, the Debtor projects that $70,000 will be available for debt service and living expenses for its principals. As noted above, these projections are based on reasonable estimates of the commodity prices, yields and costs the Debtor anticipates in 1986. These estimates are, therefore, adopted by the court.

Prior to the filing of this petition, the Bank served as the Debtor’s primary source of operating funds. As of the date the Debtor’s petition was filed, the principal and interest owing to the Bank totaled approximately $518,000. 4 This debt was declared in default by the Bank one week before the Debtor’s petition was filed. To secure this indebtedness, the Bank has taken a security interest in the Debtor’s livestock, machinery, crops and farm products. On the schedules accompanying its petition, *115 the Debtor valued the Bank’s collateral at approximately $209,000. For purposes of the cash collateral application and the relief from the stay motion, the Bank accepts the Debtor’s valuation.

The Debtor seeks permission to use proceeds from livestock sales to fund its farm business throughout the remainder of 1986. Although the Debtor’s hog herd and feed stocks will be depleted by these sales, new livestock will be added through the semiannual farrowings and the value of the herd will increase through maturation. To the extent that the value of the herd and feed stocks would drop below the value of these inventories as of the date the petition was filed, the Debtor has proposed paying the Bank in cash for any such deficiency.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
74 B.R. 111, 1986 Bankr. LEXIS 6593, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/matter-of-weiser-inc-iasb-1986.