Beef prices way up?

[Conan The Librarian]

I actually do like the monolith model of agriculture. The quality of the result is easy to improve on, and that opens a lot of niches for local and smaller regional farmers whose products are then appreciated and purchased by those who care enough to be discriminating.  With the expansion of big companies like ADM and Hormel there has been a simultaneous growth in organic farming, local meat production, etc.
 
A lot of the super market chains can't relate to this stuff because quantities are relatively low, but we do find the stuff at the smaller markets.
 
For instance, there's a big chain of supermarkets around here called Cub. The pork is not fit to eat (they sell plenty, however). The reason it is garbage and we do not buy it is that it is a Hormel product that is somehow cured to be very salty. The smaller market down the street sells very high quality pork, so we buy our meat there.
 
Likewise with chicken. The main chicken products sold by Cub stink like bleach, are often blood shot, and just don't look wholesome. The smaller place down the street has perfectly good chicken.
 
In both cases, the prices are not that different between the big chain store and the smaller store.
 
In the case of produce, we have a seasonal tomato crop that yields good quality tomatoes from local growers. The supermarkets generally will not buy this product because they can't be assured of a high volume over a relatively long contractual period. Therefore, most of our tomatoes used to come from California, about 2000+ miles away regardless of the time of year. Some enterprising chaps created a hothouse tomato company that produces pretty decent tomatoes year round, and now we don't get the seasonal local tomatoes, but at least we get the hothouse tomatoes, which are from about 60 miles away instead of 2000. Florida and California tomato growers are still getting plenty of business, but people are finding ways to get better results.
 
It seems like most people don't care what they eat, or they are habituated to heating poor foods. I am continually amazed at the supermarket when I see people buying an entire shopping cart of prepared foods like frozen pizza and preservative laden bread.
 
 

[Swampman]

I have to eat what I can afford.  That would be the cheapest I can find.

[DDZ]

I think that beef prices are not all that out of hand. Figure in what it costs for someone to raise the cattle to butcher weight. That includes all costs, just not feed costs. Then add in costs for the butcher shop, then costs for wrapping it and trucking it to a store near you. Then add some costs in for the store owner selling it. Beef is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it, and as of now many people are still paying the asking price. If prices do get to high, people may make the decision to not buy it because of high costs.
Its kind of like buying sweetcorn from local farmers when in season. A local grower sells corn most of the summer for $5 per 14 ears, and its some of the best tasting sweetcorn you can get. Yet I hear people complain about $5 being to much. I tell those people to figure in what it costs to grow good sweetcorn, pay people to pick it and sell it at a roadside. I think the $5 per 14 ears is one heck of a deal. Many people don't have a clue what it costs to raise beef cattle or good sweetcorn, and get it to market.  After seeing the kind of sweetcorn people buy at walmart, many don't know what good sweetcorn is either.   

I hope government doesn't try to save us and make purchasing beef from a local farmer illegal like they have done with milk. I can't drive up the road and purchase milk from my relatives dairy farm legally. I wouldn't pay any consequences but my relative would if he got caught selling it directly to consumers. He is allowed to give it away but not sell it. I'm sure glad our government is watching out for our best interests. I figure the way things are headed buying beef from a local farmer will be illegal before long.     

[hillbill]

i totally understand a lot of the guys rants on the price of beef.the last calf i butcherd was worth 7-750$ on the hoof and cost me about 250$ to get it processed.that there is about 1000$ out of my income for the year right there.i just ate the last of it from when i butchered it 2 yrs ago. id hate to even think what it would of cost in the store.im to the point i may start doing my own processing again like we did in the old days.or just eat more venison.which i do process myself.a much as i like deer, coon, rabbit and squirrel i dont see me me eating a lot of beef in the future.

[Gaz-52]

Gaz, not sure what world you're living in, but if you sell a beef to anybody, you count that into your income and it's taxed..... You know they can track what you sell thru the beef checkoff and brand inspection, and once they publish the animal identification thing into the federal register, you're herd numbers will be entered into the bowels of the federal beurocracy.
 Most folks don't like grass fed beef, as it's a wee bit tougher, lacks the soft fat cover and marbling that makes the meat tender and juicy.
 
Not sure what leftist bunny hugger anti rancher bomb thrower ratdog got his information from, but it's laughable.

         I live in a different country with different State & Federal regulations to your part of the world , but the problems facing consumers who expect value for money , and Primary Producers trying to make a reasonable return on their investment of time & money ,are the same in many respects. That bureaucracy functions to "Regulate" industries to protect the interests of the big "Monopolies" ,but the cost of running the bureaucracy is on the back of the primary producer.  However , country folk everywhere are an inventive lot. Well ,they used to be able to think for themselves.     I'm sure a bit of creative thinking here & there could find ways around these one sided regulations that threaten the viability of the smaller scale family farming and grazing operations.
         Most folks don't like grass fed beef?  Tender ,juicy ,tasty marbled beef cannot be produced year round because of seasonal variations in pasture quality.  Grain feeding has become the accepted  method of ensuring the eating quality year round to supply the mass market.
         Kill your Prime Grass fed beef in late autumn / early winter depending on local conditions . This beef IMHO is the way beef should be, as nature provided without antibiotics to prevent chronic intestinal infections bought about by coarse grain rations.
        Big +1 to Rex in OTZ.

[Ranch13]

Gaz no most consumers of beef do prefer fed beef to grass fat.
  I'll leave the rest of it alone, as a 3rd generation rancher that's old enough to be considering retiring one of these days, I've got precious little good to say about the way some foreign countries have applied trade agreements and dumped on our markets.....

[Spirithawk]

Heck folks, why pick on Beef? Prices of everything is up or did you just think your wallet has a hole in it that you haven't found yet?   

[Brett]

Man did you give me a scare.  I misread the subject line... thought it said "Beer prices way up"! 

[mechanic]

Money is just like anything else.  When you make more of it, without increasing the base on which it is valued...GDP....then it is worth less.  Look for hyper inflation just around the corner.  We've only seen the beginning.
 
5 years ago our entire money supply was less than 1 trillion.  They have been churning out money as fast as the presses will go since.
 
I tried to circumvent the beef thing here in GA.  I wanted to buy a cow just off the grass from someone.  Taking into account the prices on the hoof I was quoted, then the cost of hauling the live cow to a processor, and adding in his fee, and considering that quite a chunk of weight is not usable, I would have almost as much in the meat as the super mkt.
 
If I had a place to do it, I would butcher for myself, but then again...I don't.
 
Ben

[Gaz-52]

Gaz no most consumers of beef do prefer fed beef to grass fat.
  I'll leave the rest of it alone, as a 3rd generation rancher that's old enough to be considering retiring one of these days, I've got precious little good to say about the way some foreign countries have applied trade agreements and dumped on our markets.....

        I agree that  restrictive trade agreements and  dumping product into foreign markets is problematic for producers , but ironically it's often the case that the nations that champion the free trade line for exports apply a different set of rules when it comes to imports. Funny that.
       In this county the market price of a steer in dollar terms is roughly 2x what it was twenty years ago while the price of a Land-cruiser Ute  (pickup truck) is 8x what it was then . The retail price for beef has risen by a similar degree in that time  . Beef prices are way up all right ,but the families growing the beef are pushing s#!t up hill trying to stay in business.I have no doubt that you guys are in a similar position .
        When it comes right down to it though ,I guess most of us are in the beef business because we want to not because we have to.
          Gaz. 
           

[billy_56081]

If you listen to the farm reports this was expected, the drought in the south has caused hay prices to go through the roof in that area, the ranchers sold off their cattle. Now here is the kickier, the prices will go much higher as the supply af cattle has been heavily diminished.

[Swampman]

And I won't be buying any.