# Why does beef cost so much ?



## sags (May 15, 2010)

I am not understanding beef prices these days.

My father in law was a wheat and beef farmer, and they didn't ever earn enough from the beef to earn much profit.

He said he kept the cattle as a "backup" in case wheat prices tanked in any year. The few extra dollars helped them make it through the year.

The other day we went out and bought a couple of small strip loin steaks, and they cost $10 each.

Then I read in the paper that farmer's have gotten rid of most of their cattle because they were losing money on them............but the shortage drove up the price.

How can it be.................the price has gone up because the farmer isn't making any money ?


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## Eclectic12 (Oct 20, 2010)

No competition for the farmer's beef as there is one, maybe two slaughterhouses.

When the gov't gave money to the farmers to help out with mad cow was a problem & the US had shut it's border, the slaughterhouse dropped what they paid by the same amount as the gov't program provided.


A guy who owned a feed lot in the US thought the Canadian gov't was crazy to allow so much consolidation. The W-5 episode the interviewed him outlined that his experience was that his public complaints about how the same company was treating US cattle farmers in his state resulted in him being blacklisted. Like Canada, they were just about the only game in town so that he went from a thriving business to struggling in a short time. The way he turned it around was to be become a slaughter house.


Cheers


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

I'm skeptical that that is the reason--I thought the problem was droughts causing a shortage/increase in the cost of feed.


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## dougboswell (Oct 25, 2010)

andrewf said:


> I'm skeptical that that is the reason--I thought the problem was droughts causing a shortage/increase in the cost of feed.


You are correct


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## peterk (May 16, 2010)

andrewf said:


> I'm skeptical that that is the reason--I thought the problem was droughts causing a shortage/increase in the cost of feed.





dougboswell said:


> You are correct


Yes. That's what I've been told by a colleague who's family runs a farm in Alberta.


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## cainvest (May 1, 2013)

I also wonder if retailers are responsible for some of the prices. When I compared Costco vs Big Grocery Store chains there seems to be a fairly big price difference, sometimes nearly double the $/kg. Supposedly Costco also sells high grades of meat vs Grocery Stores, so why the big difference ....


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## Just a Guy (Mar 27, 2012)

Costco works on a 15% margin. They basically operate at break even while relying on memberships for the profit.


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## gardner (Feb 13, 2014)

My opinion is that it's Cargill exploiting their monopoly on beef and squeezing out profits. It's still an artificial PITA for Canadian beef to cross the border, so there's still a glut of cattle in the Canadian market. Feed costs and all that hit chicken, pork and turkey too, but those meats are not artificially inflated at the grocery this season, only beef. Cargill does not have a monopoly on the other meats, only beef.


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

A lot of retailers sell meat on a high/low model. They charge high prices on other cuts to subsize their loss-leaders.


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## CPA Candidate (Dec 15, 2013)

My answer to this problem is top sirloin. Bought some over the weekend for $12/kg while strip loin is twice that. One steak that cost $8 was enough for my family last night and it was not tough either when cooked medium rare.


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## Rusty O'Toole (Feb 1, 2012)

You must remember beef is a life's work for a cow. Buy a cow from your father in law, have it killed and dressed by the local abattoir and put it in your deep freeze, you will save a lot of money. About half the live weight of a cow is beef.


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## peterk (May 16, 2010)

CPA Candidate said:


> My answer to this problem is top sirloin.


What an awful solution.


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## Islenska (May 4, 2011)

I'm more of a fish man, but do enjoy the odd steak

In a similar light had a young moose stride thru the yard, now that is a sight, very unusual and No I couldn;t shoot him!

We are 5miles out of town along the Carrot River, which leads into the Sask River, both are very low this year, way too dry a season!


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## Just a Guy (Mar 27, 2012)

My bet is, cattle will flood the market this year, as the price of feed hits the roof but, like oil, the prices won't fall. Then, next year, there will be a shortage which will be the excuse as to why prices will increase even more.


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## mrPPincer (Nov 21, 2011)

Lower demand from the slaughterhouse during the mad cow scare combined with high feed prices forced farmers to thin their herds; cattle are expensive to maintain when the market dries up.

It takes years to re-establish the herds, cows only birth a calf one at a time, not like pigs which have large litters, or poultry for that matter.
With chickens, the breeder bird lays an egg every single day, which then becomes a broiler ready for market in less than six weeks, so supply is totally controllable; but with beef, supply is not so flexible.

Beef prices will remain high for years to come, thats my prediction.. :bull_head::apthy:ig::love_heart:


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## OhGreatGuru (May 24, 2009)

sags said:


> I am not understanding beef prices these days.
> 
> My father in law was a wheat and beef farmer, and they didn't ever earn enough from the beef to earn much...
> 
> How can it be.................the price has gone up because the farmer isn't making any money ?


Tear yourself away from your computer and try watching the evening news more regularly. Not everything is a conspiracy.


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## janus10 (Nov 7, 2013)

If you have a beef with the higher costs, then take a steak in a processor to get a cut of their profits and meat your needs.


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## dubmac (Jan 9, 2011)

Tho not beef, wild sockeye here in Vancouver is quite reasonably priced! It costs $10 per kg at the local IGA - fresh too. Beef has gone up considerably - even for ground beef. Bacon prices as well have been expensive - paying 5-6 for 367 grams (2/3 lb) of bacon. We check flyers much more frequently nowadays to buy meats.


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## sags (May 15, 2010)

OhGreatGuru said:


> Tear yourself away from your computer and try watching the evening news more regularly. Not everything is a conspiracy.


On the evening news, I learned that whatever nonsense Donald Trump said today is prime time news and Bill Cosby drugged and raped women but will probably get away with it.

Nothing on the price of beef though. I will keep watching ......and hope there isn't more stories on the woman who used to be the man Bruce Jenner.

Oh and that story on El Chapo, who apparently had a construction crew working in his "maximum security" prison cell without anyone noticing the sound of jackhammers.


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## steve41 (Apr 18, 2009)

I'm not sure if this was mentioned, but the dietary gurus have done a 180 on saturated fat. Obesity, diabetes and CVD are no longer said to be caused by sat fat. It is not considered taboo as it once was.


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## Just a Guy (Mar 27, 2012)

Well, the hay prices rising in some cases by 500% this year (was on the news), combined with the decline of supply from the BSE scare a few years ago (also was on the news) have ranchers selling off their herds. To replenish takes years, the average cow produces one calf. Compare that to chickens who lay 180 eggs/year or pigs with several larger litters a year and you may learn why beef supply is limited. Of course, the packers are the ones who really make the money. The price for a head of cattle hasn't really increased much.


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## sags (May 15, 2010)

steve41 said:


> I'm not sure if this was mentioned, but the dietary gurus have done a 180 on saturated fat. Obesity, diabetes and CVD are no longer said to be caused by sat fat. It is not considered taboo as it once was.


There is a documentary on Netflix called "The Widowmaker" about cardiac arrest. 

The science now is that calcium buildup is to blame for plaque in the arteries..............and they don't know why some people have it and others don't.


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## sags (May 15, 2010)

Just a Guy said:


> Well, the hay prices rising in some cases by 500% this year (was on the news), combined with the decline of supply from the BSE scare a few years ago (also was on the news) have ranchers selling off their herds. To replenish takes years, the average cow produces one calf. Compare that to chickens who lay 180 eggs/year or pigs with several larger litters a year and you may learn why beef supply is limited. Of course, the packers are the ones who really make the money. The price for a head of cattle hasn't really increased much.


Yes, and a lot of the farmers who sold their herds ploughed their pastures to grow grains. They will never return to raising beef without their pastures.

The beef herd was always a pain in the butt for my wife's family. They had to have someone on the farm all year to make sure the water was running etc.

Young farmers don't want the hassle of calving, raising the cattle, being tied to the farm year round and taking a chance on earning some money from it.

It is a lot easier to just plant grain.

But I hope somebody is going to raise cattle. I kind of like beef..............


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## dubmac (Jan 9, 2011)

Here you have it
http://www.ctvnews.ca/business/5-th...-plummets-1.2473921?google_editors_picks=true
sirloin steak up 24%, ground beef up 16% over the past 1 yr


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## mrPPincer (Nov 21, 2011)

My brother just bought some ground beef/pork at Food Basics for 3 bucks a pound..

..ground.beef.pork.. :biggrin-new: (funny because it's true)

For anybody that watched the movie Repo Man back in the day.. do you remember?

In the grocery stores they had generic labels on all the stuff, like the bread was just labelled BREAD, nothing else, the drinks, DRINK, and the meat, just labelled MEAT. (if I recall correctly).

There were a lot of firsts in that crazy movie..

I've actually been waiting for this to happen.. next they'll have it just labelled 'Ground Meat' lol :highly_amused:


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## sags (May 15, 2010)

That is hilarious..............MEAT.............LOL...............

My friend used to shoot a deer every year and mix the venison with hamburger.

It was quite tasty and leaner that way........and it stretched his meat budget.

The sausage sticks were awesome.............

I would trust his mixture more than a Food Basics combo though.

Last time my son bought hamburger there it was still a grey colour after it was cooked.


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## mrPPincer (Nov 21, 2011)

^Nothin's better than home-made 

downloading repo man now, will be interesting to see how accurate the memories are from this 1984 movie


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## Beaver101 (Nov 14, 2011)

mrPPincer said:


> My brother just bought some ground beef/pork at Food Basics for 3 bucks a pound..
> 
> ..ground.beef.pork.. :biggrin-new: (funny because it's true)
> 
> ...


 ... better yet give it a futuristic name "Soylent Green". :cool-new:


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## mrPPincer (Nov 21, 2011)

^from the 1973 futuristic movie of the same name, which presented us with the genius concept which will solve the problems of both world hunger and overpopulation 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CK1FH7na4E


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## birdman (Feb 12, 2013)

Fishing and hunting are both way, way more expensive than purchasing beef!


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## Islenska (May 4, 2011)

There is something though frase about hunting that grabs you, won't do it nowadays, just can't kill that innocent animal I guess....But back in the day esp with my older brother we loved heading out and hunting some game.

Sometimes only rabbits or grouse but still the fun was in the adventure and suddenly wandering about became a safari in our vivid imaging young world.

Still recall (this is in the 60's) big brother taking down a full rack moose mid December miles from home. Uh-oh you shot it now what to do, piles of work to skin and quarter the moose, never mind hauling in bitter cold. We were worn out couer-de-bois by days end!

Ah those were busy fun days!


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