High Hamburger Prices

[Briar Lee]

According to government data released last week, the average price of a pound of 100 percent ground beef rose to $6.12 last month, up from $5.98 in May and $5.47 in June 2024. Experts have said this trend shows no signs of slowing, meaning there may be upward pressure on prices through 2026 and beyond.

"It might be at least two to three years before we would see any significant change on the supply side that would ultimately lead to some moderation in beef prices," agricultural economist Derrell Peel told Newsweek.

Ground beef prices reach record highs as warning issued

As the country continues to grapple with shrinking herds, experts say prices could continue to rise through 2025 and beyond.

www.newsweek.com

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I’m glad my Amish renter is now a wealthy man if he sold out.

15 years ago he had nine scrub old grade cows and now he has about sixty fat black cows with calves.

I’ve heard old timers talk about how from the end of World War Two until about 1953 they could buy a brand new truck with the cows it would haul to the sale barn.

How did that end up?.

The invisible hand of Adam Smith always rains on cattle prices.

Eleven Cent Cotton and Forty Cent Meat
(1928)

 

[The Benedictine]

Farmers make a lot less per pound of beef than what the producers sell it for and then the producers sell to the market where the cost is raised even higher. It's all an offset of cost.

Apparently here in Indiana people were getting out of the cattle business due to rising cost of grain and making less per pound they need to survive. Now there is a demand for beef and a dip in grain prices and farmers are regretting getting rid of their cattle.

With the oversaturation of beef on the market it makes other meats at a premium. Our goats are home processed and sold at $8 a pound. Lamb goes even higher. Even chicken and pork are at a higher price. If the US didn't just focus on the beef/poultry/pork markets, prices would reduce significantly.

 

[Briar Lee]

Farmers make a lot less per pound of beef than what the producers sell it for and then the producers sell to the market where the cost is raised even higher. It's all an offset of cost.

Apparently here in Indiana people were getting out of the cattle business due to rising cost of grain and making less per pound they need to survive. Now there is a demand for beef and a dip in grain prices and farmers are regretting getting rid of their cattle.

With the oversaturation of beef on the market it makes other meats at a premium. Our goats are home processed and sold at $8 a pound. Lamb goes even higher. Even chicken and pork are at a higher price. If the US didn't just focus on the beef/poultry/pork markets, prices would reduce significantly.

There are 8 billion people on earth living in 195 different nations (as counted by postage stamps) and if any of them want a hamburger you need about a two year old Mama cow that’s been on at least two or three acres of grassland to have a calf and that calf has to be weaned and fattened and transported and killed and butchered and packaged and sold by the pound—-right beside the pork, chicken, cheese, eggs, and fish and beans and sweet corn and flour and macaroni.

Yes, there’s a market for goats, sheep, rabbits and buffalo.

My wife hasn’t asked me to stop off and buy a couple pounds of rabbit or lamb or goat in awhile.


Price of corn today



Chicken corn ratio

One bushel of corn can produce approximately 21.6 pounds of chicken when used for livestock feed. Other sources provide slightly varying figures, with some indicating about 20 pounds of chicken per bushel of corn or stating that it takes about 2.5 pounds of corn to produce 1 pound of chicken.

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How long does it take to raise a hog to slaughter?


about 6 months

In a farrow-to-finish operation, 22–26 weeks (or about 6 months, starting at birth) are required to grow a pig to slaughter weight. Sows nurse their litters for an average of 3 weeks before they are weaned, or separated from the sow, and are able to digest a solid ration.Jan 8, 2025

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High cattle prices always, end in tears.

 

[Servant King]

This should not come as a shock to anyone. The US dollar has lost something like 98% of its purchasing power since the inception of the Federal Legalized Counterfeiting Operation Reserve during the WWI years. It's looking like it'll be a pretty long and drawn out process to finally finish off the final 2%, but considering every fiat currency in history eventually goes to zero, the smart money (no pun intended) is on the dollar eventually possessing no properties outside of tinder or toilet paper. And knowing what a pathogenic sanctuary circulated currency is, I'd certainly hesitate to befoul my own ass crack with such an item unless the only other choice was a pine cone.

 

[Briar Lee]

This should not come as a shock to anyone. The US dollar has lost something like 98% of its purchasing power since the inception of the Federal Legalized Counterfeiting Operation Reserve during the WWI years. It's looking like it'll be a pretty long and drawn out process to finally finish off the final 2%, but considering every fiat currency in history eventually goes to zero, the smart money (no pun intended) is on the dollar eventually possessing no properties outside of tinder or toilet paper. And knowing what a pathogenic sanctuary circulated currency is, I'd certainly hesitate to befoul my own ass crack with such an item unless the only other choice was a pine cone.

Every other one of the 194 nations has a fiat currency except ours is the workd’s reserve currency and every barrel of oil on international markets is priced in dollars.

Here’s the problem with beef.

If you want more beef it takes three years and six pounds of corn per pound of beef at $4 a bushel, plus find two or three or five more acres of pasture per mama cow.

If you want more pork it takes six months.

If you want more chicken it takes a couple of months, at 20 pounds chicken per bushel.

If you want more fish, go fishing.

And that isn’t going to change in a hundred or a thousand years anywhere on earth in whatever money used.

 

[fireground_piper]

Cost is low because of subsidies that help stabilize food markets.

If we paid true market cost at the counter, subsidies should go away.

 

[Sig]

And THIS is why we grow our own food. I knew it would eventually pay off!!
We slaughter between 12-20 Dexter's a year, as a side gig.
Because we are 100% sustainable, our beef is very slightly more expensive than store bought. But the meat and milk is far superior.
The demand is always higher than the supply, but id rather sell calves than sell beef.



We are also stocked with fish, hogs, chickens, ducks, turkeys, rabbits, and lots of deer.

 

[Briar Lee]

Cost is low because of subsidies that help stabilize food markets.

If we paid true market cost at the counter, subsidies should go away.

As the little boy said, it’s complexicated.


America has the very best, greediest, dollar chasing capitalists on the planet.

We fall over trying to give them tax cuts and incentives and perks.

My grandmother used to pay all her household expenses selling eggs, and quit about 75 years ago when corporate ag produced eggs much cheaper than my Mammy ever could.

My Daddy devoted ten acres to about ten sows which ate his extra corn. There’s not been a feeder pig market since I was in college. Big ag has taken over the pork industry.

The big packers have monopolized the fat cattle market since Sinclair Lewis wrote The Jungle.

All that’s left for a small farmer is to graze some Mama cows, that produce feeder calves that are fed out in cattle factories in Kansas.

All this cheap food hinges on cheap corn.

We burn up about four bushels of ten to use to adulterate our gasoline. That’s a subsidy.

At least one bushel and close to two bushels out of ten are sold overseas, most to China. Let’s see how that works out.

Maybe one bushel out of ten is used for cereal and counterfeit sugar.

Only about three bushels of ten are fed to cattle, hogs, and chickens.

If the dad blasted gubbermint didn’t help guarantee the huge multinational bankers the farmers can pay back their crop loans, with subsidized crop insurance and price floors it would be one of them there Biblical Famines of Egypt, you know?

Imagine the fields lying fallow?

Better keep on paying corn farmers to farm.

 

[fireground_piper]

I have no idea what you just said. Most of my beef is purchased locally though.

 

[The Benedictine]

And THIS is why we grow our own food. I knew it would eventually pay off!!
We slaughter between 12-20 Dexter's a year, as a side gig.
Because we are 100% sustainable, our beef is very slightly more expensive than store bought. But the meat and milk is far superior.
The demand is always higher than the supply, but id rather sell calves than sell beef.
View attachment 406098

View attachment 406099
We are also stocked with fish, hogs, chickens, ducks, turkeys, rabbits, and lots of deer.
View attachment 406101
View attachment 406102

That is a nice looking buck. I haven't had venison in a while.

 

[Briar Lee]

I have no idea what you just said. Most of my beef is purchased locally though.

You purchase locally but about 85% of all the beef in America are sold by four huge meat packers.

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In the US beef industry, the four largest meatpacking companies, often referred to as the "Big Four" (Tyson, JBS, Cargill, and National Beef), have a dominant position
. They control a substantial portion of the market, purchasing and processing about 85% of the beef in the United States

Xxxx

Nearly all meat, wherever it is, depends on $4 a bushel corn.

And until the end of time, pork and chicken will be cheaper than beef, because there’s no need to pasture pork and chicken and they can increase production in months, instead of years.

We were taught this over fifty years ago in Vocational Ag classes when corn yields were maybe 25% of today.

Now for some good news.

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The United States spent $3.2 billion in federal farm subsidies for corn in 2024, making it the most subsidized crop, accounting for 30.5% of all federal farm subsidies.
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In fiscal year (FY) 2024, the total US government spending was approximately $6.8 trillion, with the federal deficit for that year being about $1.8 trillion

Xxxx

In 2023, American pet-owning households spent an estimated $45.5 billion on pet food, a notable increase from the previous year.

Xxxx

We get a shitload of cheap corn for 3 billion a year.

And, we don’t have to burn 40% up in our cars.

If we needed to feed that to cattle, hogs, and chicken we could.

 

[RL Bucktails]

I thought this thread was going to be about the tobacco.

 

[Briar Lee]

Feeder calf prices are very close to $4 a pound.



A semi truck can haul about 50,000 pounds of cattle per pot. That’s almost $200,000 worth of feeder calves.

A brand new Kenworth is worth less than one load of feeder calves.




In the short run the cattle raisers are happy.

Check back in a few years.

 

[username]

I noticed at McDonald's the 5 dollar mcdouble value meal is now 6 bucks. If you wanted a McChicken instead it's still 5.

 

[ssjones]

Here’s the problem with beef.

If you want more beef it takes three years and six pounds of corn per pound of beef at $4 a bushel, plus find two or three or five more acres of pasture per mama cow.

If you want more pork it takes six months.

We buy a lot of beef/burger annually. It takes 18-24 months to bring a beef to market and they are larger than ever, thanks to modern science. Bigger cows means more pounds per cut and less processing time for the same poundage.

 

[huntertrw]

High Hamburger Prices​

 

[Briar Lee]

We buy a lot of beef/burger annually. It takes 18-24 months to bring a beef to market and they are larger than ever, thanks to modern science. Bigger cows means more pounds per cut and less processing time for the same poundage.

I need to call my Amish renter and ask for a loan.

But you must be careful joking with the Amish. They are dead pan serious.

If Henry has a pot load of feeder calves, 50,000 pounds, and he likely does or will soon, he could buy 40 acres of pasture land at $5,000 an acre, $200,000.

But he’d need about 400 acres, or two million dollars, to raise that 50,000 pounds of feeder calves.
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Today's feeder cattle prices in Missouri vary significantly by weight, with prices around
$390-455 per hundredweight (cwt) for heavier feeders (over 600 lbs) and $460-537.50 per cwt for lighter feeders (under 450 lbs), according to the latest USDA report from August 4, 2025. Feeder cattle prices were steady to 20.00 higher compared to the previous week.
Specific Price Examples (USDA Report, August 4, 2025):

• 400-447 lbs: $428.00 - $501.00 per cwt (average $466.41)
• 500-547 lbs: $390.00 - $455.00 per cwt (average $420.94)
• 602-647 lbs: $345.00 - $419.50 per cwt (average $391.13)
• 653-697 lbs: $292.00 - $380.00 per cwt (average $366.56) m

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There are small feeding operators that speculate buying a pot load of feeders on credit then having them custom fed in Kansas.

When the catastrophe comes, and come it will, they will be wiped out clean.

 

[sablebrush52]

Just eat grass and save the middleman.

 

[Briar Lee]

Just eat grass and save the middleman.

Here’s Henry’s dilemma he asked my advice on about a couple of months ago.

A mature beef cow, and Henry has about 60 mama cows, weighs close to 1,500 pounds, and after a few years they are like us and lose teeth and get what is called “broken mouth” Eventually, in a few years, one day she is dead out there in the pasture.

Today Henry’s replacement heifers are worth over two thousand dollars. That’s just a stupid price.

And his broken mouth cows, are also worth about $2,000.

—-

• According to the most recent Missouri Department of Agriculture Weekly Market Summary, Cutter (90% lean) cows are selling for prices ranging from $110.00 to $161.02 per hundredweight, with a weighted average price of $137.41.

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Keep that old cutter, and each year she lives she pays for herself. Plus you sell a $2,000 calf you didn’t hold back.

And each cutter sold, won’t have a calf next year, she’ll be hamburger or stew meat. That supports the prices.

But next year feeders might sell for a little over a dollar, the cutter might die, and you need a replacement you have to buy, but at least they’ll be on sale.

My advice was, whatever you’ve done since you turned 9 old cutter cows into 60 fat black pasture ornaments keep doing.

I only have a law degree, I’m a terrible farmer.

But on this day, corn is $4 cheao , hay is beyond cheap, and cattle numbers are the lowest since the Korean War.

But Adam Smith will ride over the hill and ruin all of it.

 

[sablebrush52]

I noticed at McDonald's the 5 dollar mcdouble value meal is now 6 bucks. If you wanted a McChicken instead it's still 5.

The real question is, what's in that burger. McDonald's buys its meat from a number of sources and mixes it all up in a slurry of mystery meat. In and Out controls their sources.

If I really want a great burger I'll go to Jasper's. Ain't cheap, but it's worth the money.

Jaspers Cafe

jasperscafe.godaddysites.com