One remedy is seeking out a local cattle producer. The ranchers aren’t getting all the profits here. Get together with a friend and buy a beef. Have it processed by a local butcher. The last time I looked I could do that locally and save. Last year that cost $5.77 a pound for the hanging carcass including processing.
Interesting. I just sold half my beef to a neighbor. We charged $8.00 lb on the rail. This works out to about $14.75 lb for the finished product which is typically 50% hamburger and 50% other cuts.
This is in Canadian dollars, so that's about $5.50 US.
That's what my sister has been doing for years, but she has 2 boys who eat, and eat a lot. We're empty-nesters now & even if we were so inclined, that's way more beef than we could ever consume. That, and we don't eat as much beef anyway, so I'll bite the bullet and pay more. There's still deals to be had at grocery stores & warehouse clubs...
People talk about the shrinking herds... honestly I think the loss of the way of life is part of this. Used to, ranchers would try to push to maximize their calves every year, push to find extra grazing, push to produce more.
Now, many families with generations of ranchers are sending their kids off to overpriced, idiotic universities to pursue other areas of life - and then they have to hire people to work cattle with/for them, and even that is becoming more rare.
When I meet someone who tells me they're a rancher now, I'm actually surprised anyone is truly 'making a living' at it now, rather than just a side hustle. I don't live in Texas, so I'm not around the Four Sixes or something, but I just get the impression that there aren't nearly as many professional ranchers out there who do it full time.
Let's face it - most Americans (especially American teens and young adults) just flat don't want to work that hard.
I’ve seen several local kids, both girls and boys, going off to college and coming home with a degree in ag economics. They’re ready to take over the family farms and ranches. They have the knowledge to put together a production and marketing plan to make money at farming and ranching. That could well include managing cattle numbers to maximize profit. Why would you want to increase your heard size. You can sell 10 calves for what your father sold 20 for. It takes less land, feed, and labor.
realdocBBQ it's no joke, the work involved. Helped out many times growing up, and it was not easy. And we were only being told what to do. I remember thinking, how do these guys keep all this stuff straight, when to do what, how much to do, etc, etc... Personally, if my parents owned a farm, it would've been a tough decision to go a completely different direction, but a lot of the farm kids I grew up with, did just that.
MAK 2 Star pellet
Big Green Egg
Fuego gasser
Pitboss ceramic griddle
Eastman Outdoors wok burner
Ooni 16 pizza oven
Cast iron chimenea with pizza steel
Breeo smokeless fire pit, with Titan rotisserie and Titan Santa Maria style adjustable grate
Oklahoma Joe Bronco
I hear ya. So thankful for Meatheads chicken section on the site, otherwise it would've been a tough slog with all the chicken we've been eating the last couple years!
dpearce we raised cattle but we never smoked a brisket at the house. That was for special occasions like college graduation, weddings., etc....chicken is way more versatile. Jaccard a chicken breast before frying or grilling and BAM!
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