callmefence
Keyboard cowboy
The meat packers biggest edge is nobody wants to be a meat packer.
The producers biggest problem is everyone wants to be a cowboy...
The producers biggest problem is everyone wants to be a cowboy...
Same here, there was a tobacco seed company that that ran a bus and picked up older kids to work.As a kid I was raised in an area with lots of berry and vegetable farms. There wasn't any "cheap Mexican labor" in those days. Kids 10-16 years of age picked the berries and worked on the farms. The bigger farms had old school buses that they drove on routes to pick the kids up. It was good for the farmers and good for the kids.
their overhead is far higher due to facilities, cost of shipping and regulations. I'm not saying I'm rooting for the packers but their operational investment is the highest until that meat hits the cold case in the storeThe packers should have the lower margins based just on common sense and logic that they move the volume as nearly a whole and have possession of the animals and product the least amount of time.
Be interesting to see costs per head for the various sectors. Relatively easy to get into the calf/calf side or stockers. Feedlots - more dollars to build or buy and more labor and environmental regulations, I suspect. Packers - any company with big buildings, big parking lots for workers and trucks will generally have higher costs of operations, I think.their overhead is far higher due to facilities, cost of shipping and regulations. I'm not saying I'm rooting for the packers but their operational investment is the highest until that meat hits the cold case in the store
No one is denying that they have a lot of overhead expense. Infrastructure construction and maintenance, large number of employees, etc.their overhead is far higher due to facilities, cost of shipping and regulations. I'm not saying I'm rooting for the packers but their operational investment is the highest until that meat hits the cold case in the store
Your response does not address a cost per unit valuation. While total dollars may be higher the rate of volume and turnover and possibletheir overhead is far higher due to facilities, cost of shipping and regulations. I'm not saying I'm rooting for the packers but their operational investment is the highest until that meat hits the cold case in the store
Didn't say drive ten or twenty miles for either. It's still a free country do as you wish. I and many others have to drive farther to Walmart than to a local business. I'm not anti Walmart, but I choose to spread around what little money I have.Ah no... back yard flocks don't also sell out?
Make a special 10 mile round trip just for eggs? ahh no
How is a USDA choice steak from Wal-Mart lower in quality than a USDA choice steak from the local butcher shop? (owned by my cousin)
(again a special 20 mile round trip for single items)
Ten and twenty mile round trip for single items? Maybe you should do like we do here. It is a 60 mile round trip for anything. So we wait and consolidate to make multiple stops in a single trip.Ah no... back yard flocks don't also sell out?
Make a special 10 mile round trip just for eggs? ahh no
How is a USDA choice steak from Wal-Mart lower in quality than a USDA choice steak from the local butcher shop? (owned by my cousin)
(again a special 20 mile round trip for single items)
Multiply that by thousands of head over the fiscal year and it spreads those costs out to where they ain't loosing money. The cattle producers and consumers are absorbing the cost so the packers can keep on making money at everybody's expense.If the packers by a 1,200# steer @ $1.25 or $1,500 and it only yeilds 60% beef that's $2.08 a pound for the beef. Plus they've got labor, trucking, yardage, processing cost, on and on. Does anyone know what they do with the other 40% of the animal to recoup some of the cost. I'm sure there's something but I have no idea. When I'm at the butcher shop there looks to be very little usable stuff left.
Hell no. That is socialism and many great men...some in my family..have given their lives to stop to stop the spread. As true Americans, we are supposed to take up arms and root out socialists/communists in our midst. Not hard to find really, they have a "D" by their name if they are in government. Nothing serves to hold prices down like competition in an un-fettered free matket.Pretty easy to see the issues and concerns. But what are the solutions to poor cow/calf margins?
Do some people need to get out of cow-calf operations or cut back to reduce the number of calves. Hoping to drive the price up.
Should the government require the 4 major packers to sell a significant portion of their facilities. Cannot sell to one of the other 3. What would this do to calf prices short term and long term? Any effect on meat supply short term or long term? Who would the buyers be? Hedge funds and investment firms?
Is more government involvement needed? Subsidies to cow/calf, tariffs on imports, production limits and quotas? Ban foreign ownership? What about other foreign owned manufacturing - Michelin, BMW, Toyota, Purina, Firestone, etc.
I don't think the answers are easy.
A man I know who was buying for a cow kill plant told me that at that time they were breaking even on the meat but the offal and hide provided a pretty nice profit. That was some years ago but I imagine that hasn't changed too much.If the packers by a 1,200# steer @ $1.25 or $1,500 and it only yeilds 60% beef that's $2.08 a pound for the beef. Plus they've got labor, trucking, yardage, processing cost, on and on. Does anyone know what they do with the other 40% of the animal to recoup some of the cost. I'm sure there's something but I have no idea. When I'm at the butcher shop there looks to be very little usable stuff left.
If there is a beef animal out there that will provide 720 lbs of beef from 1200 lb live weight I think even I could make good money on it.If the packers by a 1,200# steer @ $1.25 or $1,500 and it only yeilds 60% beef that's $2.08 a pound for the beef. Plus they've got labor, trucking, yardage, processing cost, on and on. Does anyone know what they do with the other 40% of the animal to recoup some of the cost. I'm sure there's something but I have no idea. When I'm at the butcher shop there looks to be very little usable stuff left.
I was getting some impressive numbers with Belgian Blue on Limo cross cows, but you have to use older cows with a good history of no calving problems. BB are meat factories and very high carcass weight ratios... but they have calving issues with younger cows. Realistic management skills are necessary.If there is a beef animal out there that will provide 720 lbs of beef from 1200 lb live weight I think even I could make good money on it.
I don't know that pencils out here if I get top dollar for 5 wt and 8wt. You're talking couple hundred bucks to put another 300 pounds.I don't doubt the packers are making a killing. The sheer margin they run would make them money. I bought bulls from a man whos FIL was an order buyer. He said he hoped to make $10 a head. $10 doesn't seem like much but he was hitting 3-4 sales a week and turning 7,000 head a year.
Beef goes through allot of hands before it goes through the grocer at $15 a pound. Everyone hates the packers but most can't manage a 50 cow herd much less a huge meat packing facility. Can you imagine the cost just in keeping beef cold from the time it's slaughtered until it gets to your house.
I think the key for producers to make money is stocking rates, quality cattle, and just keeping the calves longer. If you can grow them right @ 825# takes the profit from 2 other operations, buyers, salebarns, and trucking companies.
The shame of the deal is every market except the producer and the feedlot just mark up the product a certain percentage. If the paid us $6 a pound the others would still make the same. Kinda like gas.