Posted on 04/28/2020 8:14:27 AM PDT by dubyagee
Supply Chain Shenanigans So last week I come across this story explaining that a lack of demand for liquid eggs led to Cargill coming in and killing healthy, egg producing chickens. As with many happenings blamed on this virus, it made me go....
Then yesterday, I see this story about Tyson, the country's largest meat producer, placing ads in mainstream newspapers, warning of a food supply breakdown...after assuring us there was no need to panic.
So I wake this morning, grab my coffee and phone, and begin my usual Facebook scroll and happen upon this jewel: "Tyson Joins Bill Gates, Cargill to Invest in Lab-Meat Producer."-- published in 2018.
"Whose name keeps popping up in all things virus, for $500, Alex." Bill Frickin' Gates.
Never let a good crisis go to waste, right? The largest food suppliers in the world are invested to win if the supply chain breaks down -- no conflict of interest, at all, right?
Paint me a paranoid conspiracy theorist if you will, but I believe lab manufactured meat is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the monsters being created behind the scenes while we're all focused on a virus.
Granted that was a lot of money, but also the outflow of dollars compared to inflow was also very great.
Hams can stay frozen as long as they are isolated and don’t pick up odors from other products like Fish. Not sure how long the Hams will stay in the Freezer warehouses, but some locations have a lot of Ham in storage.
The software engineers are having a tough time adjusting the order quantities on the WMS systems - not sure why, but these guys are flying all over the country working 24/7.
So we are now butchering babies outside the womb, and want to grow meat, in the lab. I see a convergence here.
Dude, that’ll just make humblebumblebeegunner even more annoying.
Trading stuff?
Ehh, your mention of the horsemen. I just thought the cartoon was funny.
It is funny. The guy who did ‘Darkside cartoon strips had that same kind of oblique humor. I enjoyed them.
I would love to buy from a local rancher. Unfortunately, what I’ve been told is the processing fees and regulations make it difficult to do that in this area.
In the states towards the west, beginning with Colorado, more ranchers with many head of cattle tend to have contracts in advance for selling all of their cattle to particular buyers. Some will go to auctions, though.
In the states from Kansas towards the east from there, there should still be more small farmers who sell cattle at auctions. The trick is to get to know one and arrange to buy cattle (or one steer) from him. Also arrange transportation to a small, custom processor. The packages of finished product will say something like “not for resale” on them. Tricky, because many of them are probably receiving quite a few time consuming calls and approaches.
That sort of arrangement is best done, when no near future shortage is likely and slaughter beef prices are low. Give a little more cash for beef on the hoof, and make a farmer happy. Making some kind of group buy of several head of cattle with friends or family can also be helpful.
So along with a little salesmanship (approach, acquaintance, appealing character, etc.) pickup (including maybe helping to herd, load, etc.) and transportation to the processor is needed. ...and a more money per pound than market for slaughter beef on the hoof. Slaughter is now called “live” these days or something like that. My ag education and experience is a little dated (’70s and early ‘80s).
Come to remember it, the best way would be to have a pickup truck or trailer with stock racks. Go to the auction and bid on one or several cattle that will be about a thousand pounds or heavier. Make sure in advance that your truck or trailer will hold what you buy. Some animals can exceed 2,000 pounds in weight.
Check the market before going (”live cattle” or something like that) at Bloomberg or a similar market site, and don’t bid too much over that. Local bidding on cattle from smaller farmers may go a little higher than big markets, because smaller farmers more often tend to raise healthier animals.
Maybe some regulations in your area will prohibit that. I don’t know, and it would be worth checking on. Talk to someone familiar with local auctions and someone with a local custom processor (”not for resale” or something like that). The meat will *not* likely be USDA inspected. If you want USDA inspected meat, you’ll need to go to a processor who has that done and pay more.
Hope that helps.
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