Posted on 06/26/2023 12:46:08 PM PDT by CFW
If you’re planning to buy some beef to throw on the grill over the next few weeks, expect to pay up to three times more than you did just a couple of years ago, when our domestic supply was plentiful due to a historic cattle selloff. Since 2021, ranchers have been coping with drought and record feed prices, which forced many of them to send their animals for slaughter earlier than usual. And while that led to a higher supply and steadier prices back then, now it is resulting in falling production, empty shelves, and a painful spike in prices at grocery stores.
According to industry sources familiar with the matter, we’re about to see the worst of meat shortages, and costs are about to explode for US consumers, who may have to trade their traditional steaks for cheaper alternatives for the rest of the year and into 2024.
Our domestic beef cow herd is currently at its smallest size since 1962. And now ranchers who fatten cattle have finally gained leverage in sales negotiations over the meatpackers that dominate the market. The US Department of Agriculture reports that tightening cattle supplies are expected to cause a significant year-over-year decrease in beef production, the first decline since 2015.
(Excerpt) Read more at discernreport.com ...
Good thing democrats stocked up on cricket juice
Agreed. But the low intellect Internet surfers will get their clicks in.
Filing this thread under possible Claim Chowder.
Will check back in 4-6 weeks.
Poll on another thread here says Biden’s popularity is rising.
People love those high prices and shortages.
Dumb headline.
Meat prices won’t triple in the coming weeks.
Use common sense people.
The people writing these blogs just throw crap against multiple walls.
It’s nonsense .
“A boneless rib-eye steak was $35.99 a pound yesterday at the local IGA. That’s the grass fed beef. Regular black Angus was $27.99 a pound.”
Sam’s Club:
Member’s Mark USDA Choice Angus Whole Beef Ribeye $12.48 lb
https://www.samsclub.com/p/cryovac-whole-beef-boneless-ribeye-1-pc-per-bag/prod17160014
90+% of cattle ranches run on a maximum $$$ per acre basis. Mutt cattle. No fault with this.
We had a ranch in OK when I was growing up that went the other direction. Prime beef, registered Black Angus exclusively. Well, almost exclusively. Once, one of the mature heifers died leaving a few months old calf. Bought an old milk cow and she adopted the orphan calf and supplied milk to a number of other calves to boot. Damn but there were fat calves for several years. Lol…
Our family went the other direction with the Angus. Model was prime beef. Much lower cattle per acre. Better supplemental feed in the winter. Much greater $$$ per lb at auction time for steers. Heifers sold for bigger $$$ for breeding stock instead of heading to the feedlots. The local high school 4H kids really liked our calves for livestock shows. Higher end restaurants and meat markets liked our steers for that best you ever had big $$$ steak.
Going with this high end model generally doesn't get the greatest $$$ per acre. However…. It especially doesn't have the extremes of low $$$ per acre when economics are stressed. Also, the land is protected and doesn't look like a plague of locusts ate it bare.
Grab the rifle. Elk all over.
don't know if we'll ever buy rib eye steak again....
there will be a point where people will just stop buying the expensive stuff and it’ll sit there...
all these preppers on you tube have freeze dryers....
they come on as back to the earth off grid types with little money and PRESTO they have a $5000 free dryer....that 95% of people can't afford .....
kind of limit my prepper you tubes now, they all say the same thing, and they all seem to have lots of land and lots of money, from where I don't know but I suspect rich govt pensions or disability..
here’s a hint....grain raised beef tastes better IMO....sorry, it just does....I’m going to try to get to the Chef Store and see if I can get a rib roast for a decent price and have my husband cut it up into steaks...he’s got a meat shop and a band saw...
They did it to toilet paper…why not.
“Look here, brother, who you jiving with that ....
“I stocked up....but trying to clean out my freezer...”
Me too.
When I was a kid my dad’s good friend was a trucker and when gases prices started to go up he told my pops “Stock up on food.”
When Biden destroyed our energy I moved into grocery stores AND STOCKED UP MAJOR.
But I’ve made it my new hobby to research prices at grocery stores I pass on my way to work or on other chores.
Since Covid most chains have put the prices of their products on the net.
A few months ago Aldi’s had chicken legs and thighs for 39¢/lb. but you had to buy 10lb. Bought 20lb.
Food Lion had big blocks of Velveeta for 7 bucks. All the other stores in my area had it $12. Bought 4.
Found loves of bread at Lidl for 50¢, bought 6.
BUT there has been several months that I’ve spent less than 10 dollars. Glad I got an extra freezer in the basement!
I just need more discipline to eat what I have and not what I want.
Craving chocolate ice cream major but so far I’ve been behaving!
That’s a shame. Just in time for the 2024 campaign to be warming up.
I’m 60 years old. My family has raised beef since forever. We generally ran Shorthorn bulls on whatever mutt cows came through the sale barn when we needed to increase the herd, but we never ran so many that they could eat the place to the ground in a month. I can recall a few drought years where we really had to hustle to get the herd through the summer. 1980 or ‘81 it was so bad that we were hand-chopping shattercane out of our field corn and hauling it halfway across the county to feed our cattle.
We finally got out when the city limits surrounded the old home farm on all four sides. With the scumbag trespassers constantly cutting fences it got to the point that Pops and I had to run the line fences every weekend and sometimes once or twice during the week to keep them up. We finally had enough of that crap so we sold the herd and the property that had been in the family since 1840.
That said, here’s what I’ve spent on beef over the past few years...
2019: $659.05 half beef ~$2/lb plus processing $159.50
2020: $672.00 half beef ~$2/lb plus processing $184.00
2021: paid cash no record
2022: $1670.00 whole beef ~$2.60/lb plus processing $504.20
2023: $1977.80 whole beef ~$3.09/lb plus processing $558.50
2024 projection: $2560.00 whole beef ~4/lb plus processing $600.00
So CaptPhilFan, for next spring I’m looking at ~$5/lb. for farmer-raised, grain-finished, clean beef into the freezer. I bought another freezer this spring, and I will likely buy another one next spring.
You can poo-poo the OP’s source all you want, but you can’t change the fact that beef prices have been climbing over the past few years, and this year will see a huge jump due to cost of inputs, semi-low supply, and overall increasing demand.
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