re: Beef prices and farmers...

This is basically the same deal I'm getting from a friends ranch. But have to wait until January

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No such thing as a poor farmer

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Yeah even my brother in law who decided it wasn’t worth it to farm his own land because of crappy grain prices, leases out the land for $100k per year. He literally gets paid $100k to let someone else work his land. He makes more money not farming his own land now. I have yet to hear a story that makes me feel bad for any farmers

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Market price. Probably about $2 a pound live weight for a 1000lb steer. I havent checked prices in a while. That would yield you about 450 or 500 pounds of meat

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That seems high to me? Don’t know, but $2000 for a 1,000 lbs? $4/ lb and that’s before packaging, transport, etc? You can get ground beef for under that.

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Not to be mean, but beef saw an astronomical increase in price about 10-12 yrs ago. Almost doubled overnight. Its about time the market corrected itself

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Should have said “not to be ignorant”

Yes the market was high years ago. Producers were making profits. Currently the cost to get that beef animal is more than the buyers are wanting to spend. Packers are still making 500% profit off of what they bought from the rancher and what they put in a grocery store

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Then what is the point of buying directly from the farmer?

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Your local guy is selling you a steer that was born here. It was only given vaccinations, and growth hormones approved for use in the US (if you’re not buying organic grass fed).

If you buy from the store, it’s likely coming from Brazil or Argentina. They can get a yearling to 700lbs 2-3 months faster down there than we can here because it’s not regulated what they pump into them. Once they ship to the US, they are placed in a feedlot for a certain amount of time and “finished”. They can then be stamped USDA certified beef because they have been here long enough that the chemicals are said to be clean from the meat.

Oh and let’s not forget the US just accepted it first beef import from Namibia. The good quality beef raised and cared for here under strict guidelines is sold over seas for huge profit.

I'm paying $2.50 per pound for a side and another $.75 per pound for butchering/packing. Cow will be slaughtered early June and ready for pickup 3 weeks later

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I can promise you cattle farmers don’t do it for the money

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What many people don’t understand is your small calf / cow guys are being weeded out. But when it comes to talking hard times on farmers, they get lumped in with the feedlot guys, large ranches, row croppers etc.

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Any of you folks ever been to a sale barn? Just wondering.

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Yup. Tylertown every Tuesday back in the day

Any of you around Bham? I want to go in on some beef. I just can't take a whole cow.

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row croppers

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It’s not all sunshine and daisies for them, either. Tenant farming on marginal land will put you in the poorhouse with a quickness. Not everyone in the business has a pile of land that they can just “decide to rent out for 100k a year instead”.

The small-time hobby farmers are all being weeded out, whether it’s beef cattle, dairy, vegetables, or row-crops. You don’t see a 40, 100, even 6-700 acre row-crop farmer in my area anymore. New blood can’t find the land or capital to squeeze in to the business.

It’s sad.