COOL ain't coming back

[greybeard]

@Branded , what you fail to comprehend is there are far more lower class people that can not afford the places you mention. I have eaten at high end steak houses In my travels and a little out of the way place in South ga has them all beat hands down. There is a market for steaks but their is a bigger and more profitable market for the rest of the beef. And I would bet that 95% of the population could not tell the difference in select vs prime.

I'd bet 95% of the US population has never even seen a prime steak...........and I wouldn't be surprised to learn most of that same 95% thinks "select' means it's a great steak.
(I got a sale paper in the mail just yesterday for a regional grocer (Brookshire Bros) that was advertising T-bones and in big letters it said "USDA SELECT Grade!!" as if that was stickin a fat hog in the butt.)

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

Most of you highly educated folks don't seem to understand that select sells to women who still cook. Prime does not sell in a grocery store in most areas. Select and choice are the grocery store steaks.
As for the labeling I have a friend that own a small chain of grocery stores. He spent several thousand dollars getting new labeling for COOL. He was pissed when they threw it out.

 

[HDRider]

You also have to pay the supermarket employee to install them . Produce has to be labeled in the boxes and on the shelf on country of origin. If it's not the inspector writes up the store. It's a PIA to keep up with.

Don't be so negative.

Just saying it is not as simple as people think. one little sticker on millions of packages takes labor and oversight which equals Dollars. I wish it were mandatory but it's not conducive to cheap product which is what the consumer wants

I agree it isn't so simple. It will be hard. The hardest part is getting the agreement to do it. Everything else is in the details.

I also agree that some people want the cheapest they can get. That market isn't going anywhere. It will be filled.

All I am saying is, I want consumers to know what they are buying, and I want the choice to be clear to them if they want to buy American US BEEF.

I see so many people here that pour their heart and soul into the beef cattle. Mostly small producers that are getting the short end of the stick by not being represented by a label that says "US BEEF".

 

[HDRider]

$1 of beef checkoff dollars to print the labels
$1 of beef checkoff dollars to pay a lackey to put the sticker on.
Seems we are already paying for the labeling, but it's going towards lining the pockets of the NCBA Elites.


The sad part is AAA, Wendy's and Culvers has invested more in marketing US beef than the Beef Checkoff or NCBA has.

NCBA is no different than any other organization. They start out with the best of intentions, they do great things, they have the respect of those around them.

Then one day they become self absorbed. They only want to keep the nest feathered. Soon it is all for show, and we have to keep this gravy train running.

 

[HDRider]

Most of you highly educated folks don't seem to understand that select sells to women who still cook. Prime does not sell in a grocery store in most areas. Select and choice are the grocery store steaks.
As for the labeling I have a friend that own a small chain of grocery stores. He spent several thousand dollars getting new labeling for COOL. He was be nice when they threw it out.

Other than a restaurant, I am not sure I could find a steak labeled prime. It would be a high end restaurant that even sold prime steaks.

Don't even get me started on the dearth and death of a real butcher shop.

Herky jerky policy cost your friend.

 

[Caustic Burno]

Most of you highly educated folks don't seem to understand that select sells to women who still cook. Prime does not sell in a grocery store in most areas. Select and choice are the grocery store steaks.
As for the labeling I have a friend that own a small chain of grocery stores. He spent several thousand dollars getting new labeling for COOL. He was be nice when they threw it out.

Other than a restaurant, I am not sure I could find a steak labeled prime. It would be a high end restaurant that even sold prime steaks.

Don't even get me started on the dearth and death of a real butcher shop.

Herky jerky policy cost your friend.

The real butcher shops are far and few in between. I am a journeyman butcher I doubt many of today's could even breakdown a carcass.

 

[M-5]

Most of you highly educated folks don't seem to understand that select sells to women who still cook. Prime does not sell in a grocery store in most areas. Select and choice are the grocery store steaks.
As for the labeling I have a friend that own a small chain of grocery stores. He spent several thousand dollars getting new labeling for COOL. He was be nice when they threw it out.

Other than a restaurant, I am not sure I could find a steak labeled prime. It would be a high end restaurant that even sold prime steaks.

Don't even get me started on the dearth and death of a real butcher shop.

Herky jerky policy cost your friend.

The real butcher shops are far and few in between. I am a journeyman butcher I doubt many of today's could even breakdown a carcass.

But in the brokehill world everybody should produce a prime carcass. LoL commercial cattle will always be the driver in the beef industry. The folks that eat prime beef at restaurants do not cook at home. 99.9% of house wives that cook were to compare a prime steak to a select r choice in the meat case would choose the select because of Price and appearance. Fat = bad in today's world.

 

[HDRider]

Most of you highly educated folks don't seem to understand that select sells to women who still cook. Prime does not sell in a grocery store in most areas. Select and choice are the grocery store steaks.
As for the labeling I have a friend that own a small chain of grocery stores. He spent several thousand dollars getting new labeling for COOL. He was be nice when they threw it out.

Other than a restaurant, I am not sure I could find a steak labeled prime. It would be a high end restaurant that even sold prime steaks.

Don't even get me started on the dearth and death of a real butcher shop.

Herky jerky policy cost your friend.

The real butcher shops are far and few in between. I am a journeyman butcher I doubt many of today's could even breakdown a carcass.

I worked at a real butcher shop, a processing plant, that did beef, pork and small ruminates. I gave serious consideration to opening a place like it, that is until I understood the incredible level of regulation and the cost to comply.

Some of the folks had worked there for decades. The lead cutter was an artist to behold. He taught the younger generations to go from the kill to the package. It gave me a great respect for the craft.

 

[Red Bull Breeder]

https://www.drovers.com/article/tyson-foods-using-dna-prove-pedigree-premium-beef?fbclid=IwAR2LszNYEfIrvoq5T-hXd6isNszAwR2qtUJw-NHK8cAaZEte0H3k84Y3NAs

Notice where these cattle are being sourced from. Won't help the small producer a bit here in Arkansas.

 

[Caustic Burno]

Rider my uncle was the manager for the slaughter plant that Murchison owned. Worked in an over the counter shop for years. Wife used to weigh the babies on the scales. He is the one got me started in the trade. I decided that there was a better way to make a living for my family. I still worked as a butcher part time for years as a fill in. I think that's a lot of what is wrong with my back today. Those heavy beef fore quarters would separate the men from the boys quick.

 

[True Grit Farms]

https://www.drovers.com/article/tyson-foods-using-dna-prove-pedigree-premium-beef?fbclid=IwAR2LszNYEfIrvoq5T-hXd6isNszAwR2qtUJw-NHK8cAaZEte0H3k84Y3NAs

Notice where these cattle are being sourced from. Won't help the small producer a bit here in Arkansas.

That's a good start. Hopefully AAA will follow in with DNA testing for CAB.

 

[JMJ Farms]

To echo some of the other comments, I don't think labeling is the hindrance at all. Very simple to slap a sticker on a package of meat. It's all about money and greed. Produce has to be labeled according to where it came from. If it's good enough for produce, it is good enough for beef. And I'm all for free trade. I don't care where McDonald's buys their beef. But labeling and transparency is easy. The reason beef is not labeled as US Beef, is because it doesn't pad the pockets of the right people :2cents: :tiphat:

 

[HDRider]

Looks like 16 of these 100 US companies slaughter beef.

None of this beef would be foreign.

https://www.provisioneronline.com/2017-top-100-meat-and-poultry-processors

 

[HDRider]

I know we are beef guys, but this points out how out of control our meat supply is. If they caught this it makes you wonder how much they don't catch.

On the heels of a massive cocaine bust at a New Jersey port, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced another big seizure on Friday of roughly 1 million pounds of pork smuggled from China, where there's an ongoing outbreak of deadly African swine fever.
https://www.nj.com/news/2019/03/feds-seize-1-million-lbs-of-pork-smuggled-from-china-to-nj-port-amid-african-swine-fever-outbreak.html

 

[cbcr]

How many of the big packing plants have foreign ownership?

We have visited with grocery stores that would like to have a more LOCAL source with known origin of their meat. There are USDA processing plants around but capacity to be able to process a number of animals to supply that need is an issue.

Another issue, most grocery stores don't buy whole carcasses. They may buy more brisket or more steaks and hamburger. What they buy depends on the time of year and what sells in their stores. So being able to market all the cuts from whole carcasses would be challenging.

As one buyer ask me one time, "where can I get 5 boxcars of beef a week"? They would like to have a better source, but the amount they need would be a problem. Many grocery stores are part of a chain or a buying group and are not allowed to source their own meat.

We all want products including food that we purchase to be cheap, but be able to market what we produce for more. But, most consumers, even though they are cost conscious, they also want quality (the best they can buy) and most are interested in where their food is from.

Most grocery stores don't make very much money on meat or even grocery products. The supplier and other middlemen is who makes most of the money. The farmer and the grocer on either end don't receive a fair share of the pie.

If solutions to the issues mentioned above could be figured out, it would not only benefit farmers but consumers could probably still have a more affordable product.

Seeing the prices in the store for various cuts of meat, what would the value of a carcass be at those prices vs what the farmers receives.

 

[CattleMan1920]

I know we are beef guys, but this points out how out of control our meat supply is. If they caught this it makes you wonder how much they don't catch.

On the heels of a massive cocaine bust at a New Jersey port, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced another big seizure on Friday of roughly 1 million pounds of pork smuggled from China, where there's an ongoing outbreak of deadly African swine fever.
https://www.nj.com/news/2019/03/feds-seize-1-million-lbs-of-pork-smuggled-from-china-to-nj-port-amid-african-swine-fever-outbreak.html

That's some crazy sh.t right there!

 

[Dave]

Labeling does work. For years chicken grown in Washington state was label as Washington grown. It out sold in both price and volume "southern grown" chicken. The same concept would work for beef grown in the USA. One of the problem is you take a look at the resume of the administrator types at NCBA. There is a revolving door they go through, USDA, big beef corporations, and the NCBA. They generally have worked for the other two and when they leave they will switch to one of the others. That is pushed off as they have "contacts." They certainly do. But who are those contacts working for?

 

[greybeard]

I think labeling works.
In my family even down here in Texas , getting a crate of apples labeled "Washington State" apples was like standing in high cotton.
There were 'apples' and then.........there was Washington State Apples...Boy Scouts and Kiwanis Club sold them every year as fund raisers.

The same with Rio Star and Ruby Red grapefruit from Rio Grand Valley Tx. There was 'grapefruit' but that Rio Star was what you really wanted.

I miss the colorful labels that used to come on the boxes and crates..big collectors market for them now. Repros are available but not full size and aren't as colorful...

 

[CattleMan1920]

I think labeling works.
In my family even down here in Texas , getting a crate of apples labeled "Washington State" apples was like standing in high cotton.
There were 'apples' and then.........there was Washington State Apples...Boy Scouts and Kiwanis Club sold them every year as fund raisers.

The same with Rio Star and Ruby Red grapefruit from Rio Grand Valley Tx. There was 'grapefruit' but that Rio Star was what you really wanted.

I miss the colorful labels that used to come on the boxes and crates..big collectors market for them now. Repros are available but not full size and aren't as colorful...

Me to! Good post..

 

[greybeard]

I bought a slab of frozen ribs several decades ago, cooked them as I always have and they were nasty. Dug the package out of the garbage and they were from, of all places, Denmark. That's when I really started paying attention to labels.
I don't know the answer to this, but there's no good reason NOT to have country or even state of origin on all meat and especially beef, and I don't mean that dang "Distributed by....." crap either.