Earlier quoted context omitted.
I buy grass-fed beef from my neighbor. There's no difference as far as I can see. I like to support my neighbor, but there's no magic, no difference cooking, no startling color-change tricks as reported elsewhere in this thread.
Arguable. Non-feedlot raised animals do evidence some seasonality in the texture and flavor of the meat. The nutritional value of the meat produced / consumed may be chemically similar although there is some research to support the higher human health benefits (CLAs, Omega 3s,Omega 9s, etc.) of grass-fed beef, but it is the stewardship used to raise those animals has a vastly different impact on the environment. Can'…
High beef prices and the destruction of independent cattle ranching
161–170 of 259 posts
Re: High beef prices and the destruction of independent cattle ranching
#162Earlier quoted context omitted.
This all sounds pretty labor intensive to me. About how many hours per year do you think goes in to this? Like is this something that could be a weekend hobby? Or does it require more substantial lifestyle change?
Raising animals is definitely not a weekend hobby. It can be a hobby, but it's daily work that you really can't avoid. When people start waxing poetic about how nice it is to live "out here" and how beautiful horses are, I usually mumble something about how it's nice until it's -20F and the snow is coming down horizontally and they still have to be fed and watered. Water freezes pretty fast at -20. I'd say that the m…
You are absolutely right. Being tethered to home is a big responsibility/limitation if you have year round animal operations.
This is why I only have seasonal egg chickens, as an example and not full time layers. And why I grow the yearly amount of chickens at once. Same with Rabbit.
We spend a lot of time away from home, so all of the meat we raise is seasonal and pre-planned.
Re: High beef prices and the destruction of independent cattle ranching
#163As a small farmer, I can tell you: independent small-scale farming is not profitable in any meaningful manner. Government is actively killing it, by giving away every possible concession to Big Ag. The food in stores is pretty much all garbage compared to food raised on small farms. It sickens me to see things go this way, but this is the reality that we have created.
> Government is actively killing it, by giving away every possible concession to Big Ag. If government were out of the picture would small-scale farmers be better able to compete with Big Ag? If you were making policy, what would you have government do instead?
Asset tax for large scale and absentee owners.
Basically if you live on the farm you don't pay. If you own a property remotely or its above a certain scale you pay x% a year asset tax.
I think this could solve a bunch of foot in the door issues around farming.
To add to this they need to break up the meat processing side. In US there is something like 4 meat processors holding most of the market. It's far too dominant for one country. There need to be I dusty breakup and easy of regulation for local small scale butchers.
Re: High beef prices and the destruction of independent cattle ranching
#164Earlier quoted context omitted.
Isn’t a cartel more about illicit collusion (often outright illegal) rather than forming a public organisation to act collectively?
It seems like it depends on the industry. OPEC is the largest, and definitely not illegal, cartel, but there are others. [1] 1 - https://guides.loc.gov/oil-and-gas-industry/organizations
OPEC would be illegal if replicated by a band of American companies, no? I think it's only "legal" because the sovereign entities running it transcend any laws of commerce as we understand them in America. Not dependent upon the industry so much as the scale of the participants and the laws those participants are beholden to.
Re: High beef prices and the destruction of independent cattle ranching
#165As a small farmer, I can tell you: independent small-scale farming is not profitable in any meaningful manner. Government is actively killing it, by giving away every possible concession to Big Ag. The food in stores is pretty much all garbage compared to food raised on small farms. It sickens me to see things go this way, but this is the reality that we have created.
My friend Kathryn Bertoni used to be a farmer, and she survived for awhile by selling the produce via a CSA and various farmers markets, but in the end, she couldn't make a go of it. She wrote a great review of the book 'Farm (and Other F Words): The Rise and Fall of the Small Family Farm" which you can read here:
https://demodexio.substack.com/p/family-farms-are-doomed-buy...
Re: High beef prices and the destruction of independent cattle ranching
#166Earlier quoted context omitted.
You misunderstand. It's not that there was one monopoly wholesaler and now there are two. It's that there was one monopoly wholesaler, and there still is, but now it's negotiating with a new cartel of manufacturers. That's not better. Don't form a new cartel, break up the old monopoly.
Who is this monopoly wholesaler? Also, it's not a cartel if they don't control/regulate production.
I see the confusion, you're the OP and you're talking about what you suggested instead of what azemetre suggested.
The independents creating their own meat packing plant is a fine idea. Increase competition. It's like a co-op in reverse. They could even accept third party jobs. If they were even smarter they'd open one, sell it as a going concern, use the money to open another one, and repeat until the concentrated market is good and thoroughly disintegrated.
Having the independents come together to form a cartel to negotiate with the existing concentrated market of meat packing plants is the bad idea.
Re: High beef prices and the destruction of independent cattle ranching
#167Earlier quoted context omitted.
This all sounds pretty labor intensive to me. About how many hours per year do you think goes in to this? Like is this something that could be a weekend hobby? Or does it require more substantial lifestyle change?
Raising animals is definitely not a weekend hobby. It can be a hobby, but it's daily work that you really can't avoid. When people start waxing poetic about how nice it is to live "out here" and how beautiful horses are, I usually mumble something about how it's nice until it's -20F and the snow is coming down horizontally and they still have to be fed and watered. Water freezes pretty fast at -20. I'd say that the m…
At our property (small cattle farm) we rely on neighbours for the most part to get away.
Pre-holiday you prep everything and someone will drop by ever day or few and throw some food and generally check on livestock.
If going away for a longer period often people find a house sitter.
But 100% it does take over life vs 'enjoying the view' type view of the lifestyle. Busy as it is I find it amazing. Something wholesome about it you don't get in urban life. Not least this covid period where lifestyle hardly changed for us vs friends in the city.
Re: High beef prices and the destruction of independent cattle ranching
#168As a small farmer, I can tell you: independent small-scale farming is not profitable in any meaningful manner. Government is actively killing it, by giving away every possible concession to Big Ag. The food in stores is pretty much all garbage compared to food raised on small farms. It sickens me to see things go this way, but this is the reality that we have created.
Nonsense - you can get everything from trash to exceptional quality food, depending on the store you buy it from. Not disputing your point that small farmers have it hard but on the consumer side there's lots of choice.
Consumers can throw less food in the trash and they'd be able to afford more
Re: High beef prices and the destruction of independent cattle ranching
#169Will this be relevant in X years when cell based meat is cheaper and cuts off the low end of the market? I imagine high end will demand local so where does that leave industrial meat packers?
Re: High beef prices and the destruction of independent cattle ranching
#170Earlier quoted context omitted.
Quoted post unavailable.
Not OP, but 10 or 15 years ago sure maybe. The problem is we can't look at it now that Amazon is huge and deregulate. If we deregulated now, Amazon will absolutely destroy any new competition.
I could see this case for the likes of Apple or Google, because it's a market where the top two phone platforms together have >99% of the market and there is a strong network effect.
Amazon is the biggest retailer, but they have a hundred competitors of all sizes. If you make it easier to compete with them, they would have more competitors. If they had more competitors, they would get smaller. What else do you need?