Got Beef? U.S. Beef prices rise above $5 a pound

[BUTCH1]

I almost exclusively shop at farmers markets and only goto the grocery for misc stuff I can't get elseware. That said I find it hard to believe considering Americans have gotten far more advanced at killing animals than even a quarter century ago. We can grow a chicken 4 times bigger in 1/3 of the time and there are cattle farms in the midwest that are literally filled with cattle as far as the eye can see waiting to get turned into burgers and steaks 🙂

Well 2 years running of drought conditions in some parts of the country plus the asinine usage of corn for ethanol production has jacked up corn prices big time. I used to get fresh ears for $.15-.20 cents/ear but not anymore. Now that huge dollar amounts have been invested to make ethanol (which is a sad joke) corn needed for human and livestock will forever be sky-high...

 

[dmcowen674]

Well 2 years running of drought conditions in some parts of the country plus the asinine usage of corn for ethanol production has jacked up corn prices big time. I used to get fresh ears for $.15-.20 cents/ear but not anymore. Now that huge dollar amounts have been invested to make ethanol (which is a sad joke) corn needed for human and livestock will forever be sky-high...

39 cents an ear and we are surrounded by corn fields.

Most of it going to the Ethanol plants.

Genius

 

[waggy]

Well 2 years running of drought conditions in some parts of the country plus the asinine usage of corn for ethanol production has jacked up corn prices big time. I used to get fresh ears for $.15-.20 cents/ear but not anymore. Now that huge dollar amounts have been invested to make ethanol (which is a sad joke) corn needed for human and livestock will forever be sky-high...

I know a few farmers. they aren't planting soy beans this year at all. corn makes more money for them.

we used to get a dozen ears of under 2 bucks. sometimes 99 cents. I haven't seen a ear of corn less then 30 cents.

 

[Pulsar]

Gas prices go down so you start a thread on beef prices? Slow day?

HA! I thought the same thing.

There's a point when people are growing up where they start realizing that prices constantly increase. They look back and think about $0.15 Pepsi's and $0.30 / gallon gas.

Evidently, Dave's just hit that point and it's a huge revelation that a constant rate of economic inflation compounded every year means that stuff gets more expensive.

*gasp*.

 

[nextJin]

Well 2 years running of drought conditions in some parts of the country plus the asinine usage of corn for ethanol production has jacked up corn prices big time. I used to get fresh ears for $.15-.20 cents/ear but not anymore. Now that huge dollar amounts have been invested to make ethanol (which is a sad joke) corn needed for human and livestock will forever be sky-high...

Well I'm not sure how much that actually effects me, I only eat grass feed, pasture raised beef and poultry. It is generally quite a bit more expensive than what is at the grocery and for damn sure more expensive than the on base commisary (which is pretty cheap but the quality is horrible).

 

[TheSlamma]

LOL, Red Meat and Gasoline.

The Drive for Gluttony.

Got Gluttony?

"Americans are eating less meat" And now what have they moved onto? cause it sure aint fruits and veggies.. that's un-gastromedication of them.. err wait I mean unamerican of them

 

[dmcowen674]

There's a point when people are growing up where they start realizing that prices constantly increase. They look back and think about $0.15 Pepsi's and $0.30 / gallon gas.

Evidently, Dave's just hit that point and it's a huge revelation that a constant rate of economic inflation compounded every year means that stuff gets more expensive.

Ah but wages are going down.

That is the problem unless you are happy about the U.S. going down the toilet which apparently you and many on here are especially "Conservatives".

 

[Londo_Jowo]

Ah but wages are going down.

You must be in the wrong business, where I work has been giving yearly pay raises for at least the last 22 years. Many years we have received bonuses as well. My pay has more than tripled in those 22 years.

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally Posted by dmcowen674
Ah but wages are going down.

You must be in the wrong business, where I work has been giving yearly pay raises for at least the last 22 years. Many years we have received bonuses as well. My pay has more than tripled in those 22 years.

What business is that, Oil?

That would not be a surprise given that you live in Texas.

 

[Londo_Jowo]

Originally Posted by dmcowen674
Ah but wages are going down.



What business is that, Oil?

That would not be a surprise given that you live in Texas.

No, though I knew that you believed that to be the case. Our largest customers in the Houston area are the oil refineries and chemical plants in the region.

The company where I work manufactures, provides installation/commissioning services, and provides repair services including maintenance service for large industrial compressors and small to medium sized steam turbines that are used in many industries throughout the world. Our clients are oil refineries, chemical plants, paper mills, steel mills, nuclear power plants, US Naval vessels, and co-generation/power plants.

 

[Matthiasa]

Where I am even at the cheapest place normal ground beef is ~ $3.50 in 5 pound packages. 🙁

 

[Slew Foot]

Good, Americans are too fat anyway

 

[BUTCH1]

Well I'm not sure how much that actually effects me, I only eat grass feed, pasture raised beef and poultry. It is generally quite a bit more expensive than what is at the grocery and for damn sure more expensive than the on base commisary (which is pretty cheap but the quality is horrible).

Cattle graze on grass until a few months before slaughter where they are transferred to "feed lots" to eat whole grains and fatten up before slaughter. Grass-only beef tends to have an opaque color and little marbling, hence the feedlots were invented..

 

[dmcowen674]

Originally Posted by dmcowen674
Originally Posted by dmcowen674
Ah but wages are going down.

What business is that, Oil?

That would not be a surprise given that you live in Texas.

No, though I knew that you believed that to be the case. Our largest customers in the Houston area are the oil refineries and chemical plants in the region.

The company where I work manufactures, provides installation/commissioning services, and provides repair services including maintenance service for large industrial compressors and small to medium sized steam turbines that are used in many industries throughout the world. Our clients are oil refineries, chemical plants, paper mills, steel mills, nuclear power plants, US Naval vessels, and co-generation/power plants.

Strange duck indeed.

How can you say No, then in the very next couple of sentences has Oil?

 

[Londo_Jowo]

Originally Posted by dmcowen674
Originally Posted by dmcowen674
Ah but wages are going down.

What business is that, Oil?

That would not be a surprise given that you live in Texas.



Strange duck indeed.

How can you say No, then in the very next couple of sentences has Oil?

I don't work directly in the oil business, does the company where I work sell equipment/provide service (repair or maintenance) to oil refineries...of course. They paid from a few hundred thousand to millions of dollars for the equipment and they tend to use the OEM for maintenance services and repairs. The company also sells equipment/provide services (repair or maintenance) to paper mills, steel mills, power plants, and nuclear power plants, does that make me part of their businesses as well?

 

[HeXen]

looks like the parties over. Time to turn my backyard into a farm.

 

[alkemyst]

Some perspective:

Source.

lol picking 1982

 

[BUTCH1]

looks like the parties over. Time to turn my backyard into a farm.

That's actually been happening in record numbers, of course zoning laws will prevent most from having livestock it's still OK (AFAIK) to grow vegetables in your backyard, unless your unlucky enough to be in a HOA area that won't allow it. Heck some towns or HOA's outlaw clotheslines, yea, they look kind of tacky but electric dryers gobble up a lot of juice and avoiding using one is a win for the electric bill and the environment at the same time..

 

[waggy]

That's actually been happening in record numbers, of course zoning laws will prevent most from having livestock it's still OK (AFAIK) to grow vegetables in your backyard, unless your unlucky enough to be in a HOA area that won't allow it. Heck some towns or HOA's outlaw clotheslines, yea, they look kind of tacky but electric dryers gobble up a lot of juice and avoiding using one is a win for the electric bill and the environment at the same time..

also more and more people are getting chickens, ducks and turkey's to raise. its to the point even people in towns are having chicken coops.

 

[sandorski]

This is why people are turning into Zombies.

 

[nextJin]

Cattle graze on grass until a few months before slaughter where they are transferred to "feed lots" to eat whole grains and fatten up before slaughter. Grass-only beef tends to have an opaque color and little marbling, hence the feedlots were invented..

Which is fine, and I only eat grass fed beef until slaughter from local farms. Not sure what you were getting at other than cows are force fed grains months prior to getting slaughtered which everyone already knows.

 

[Ventanni]

looks like the parties over. Time to turn my backyard into a farm.

My parents did that. Sure, they spend a few hours at a time working the garden, but they're healthier now than they've ever been. They grow potatoes, tomatoes, spinach, asparagus, gobtons of collard greens, and a few other vegetables. They now also have chickens (which made me realize that humans probably started eating chickens due to their voracious appetite for insects - they're perfect in a garden) and have begun growing various fruits.

It saves them a great deal of money overall, and there's always a huge surplus of fresh vegetables to eat. It's really the best thing they ever did for their health.

 

[hans007]

You must be in the wrong business, where I work has been giving yearly pay raises for at least the last 22 years. Many years we have received bonuses as well. My pay has more than tripled in those 22 years.

Wages are down if you are in construction or real estate peddling or investment money shuffling or some other field that got inflated by the easy credit bubble directly or otherwise .


Since this recession started in 07 my pay has increased 30% and stuff has stayed the same price. We can keep it going indefinitely people will eventually have to learn actually useful skills and it will work itself out.

As for beef.. shit people are so fat in this country its probably a good thing. Double the price of beef pork and corn products

 

[nine9s]

Something to consider, that most people do not, is the physical economics of meat. Depending on the animal, it typically takes about 5 to 12 times the calories fed to the animal than what you get out - and that does not include the tremendous amount of water both in diet to the animal and to treat waste from the animals (it coems out to 100s of gallons of water for 1 pound of meat over the whole process.)

And think about the trend: As more and more rural third world countries become westernized and people move away from traditional diets based on grains to ones centered around meat, think of the geometric amplification on the demand for grains, to feed the animal, and water to feed them and treat their waste. If someone goes from eating 3K calories of grain per day (physical labor rural third world people burn about that much) to eating 2K calories in meat and other animal related products and 1K in grains, that would directly and indirectly be 21K calories of grain consumed (the 1K one still directly eats and the indirect 20K to feed the animals that produced 2K of calories eaten.) That is a 700% increase in food demand for each of those people that adopt a western diet. And then the water usage goes off the charts too.

A business model that has output that is only 10% to 20% of the input is not sustainable. It has been a "luxury" for the middle class and upper class people of the West that was possible becuase of how few people that really was compared to overall worldwide population. Now all the other billions of people are moving in that direction and that unsustainable system will be heavily stressed.

 

[waggy]

This is why people are turning into Zombies.

thought it was bath salts that was doing that?