High Hamburger Prices

[Briar Lee]

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

All of the hamburger served at any franchise operation comes from the same cattle fed in Kansas or other Great Plains states and loaded on pots to their doom at slaughter plants, also tucked far away from the prying eyes of the dad blasted gubbermint and the do gooders. It is all the same, different seasonings and preparation.

McDonald’s supplier is a wholly owed subsidiary of Tyson

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Tyson Foods' CEO,
Donnie King, has stated that a U.S. cattle herd rebuild phase is expected to begin "in earnest" in 2026, driven by ranchers retaining heifers for breeding. This effort comes after years of drought, high costs, and declining herd sizes, which have led to record-high ground beef prices and significant losses in Tyson's beef business. While the rebuild is starting, Tyson doesn't anticipate improved cattle availability and a meaningful recovery for its beef operations until around 2028.

——

The four major U.S. beef packing companies that control a significant portion of the market are Tyson Foods, JBS USA, Cargill, and National Beef. These "Big 4" are responsible for processing a majority of the beef in the United States, with one analysis noting they control about 85% of the beef market.
Here's a breakdown:

• Tyson Foods: A major U.S.-based meat company.
• JBS USA: A Brazil-based company that is one of the world's largest meatpackers.
• Cargill: A global commodity trader and a key player in the U.S. beef industry.
• National Beef: A company controlled by the Brazilian food giant Marfrig Global Foods SA.

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Perdue Farms and JBS, two of the country’s biggest meatpackers, will pay a combined $8 million after the Department of Labor found the companies relied for years on migrant children to work in their slaughterhouses.

The deals, announced this week, are part of a flurry of child labor settlements that have come in the last days of the Biden administration, which has been cracking down on the practice.

It is rare for major brands to come under federal scrutiny for child labor. Many food-processing and manufacturing companies outsource cleaning and other jobs to third-party staffing firms, which technically employ the workers and shield companies from any violations.
——

The price of cheap milk is the utter devastation of all the little Humansvilles in the Ozarks.

The price of cheap hamburger is migrant men, women and children laboring in packing houses tucked away in Kansas and other places far from public scrutiny.

We had to read The Jungle and discuss it under the gaze of the beautful eyes of Miss Charlotte.

At the time, she was a dead ringer for an older and more motherly Joan Baez only with a better figure, much more attractive hair, and make up always perfect.

TRAMP ON THE STREET (1969)
Joan Baez

Sinclair Lewis claimed he aimed for America’s heart and hit her in the stomach.


We are all safe enough now to not be too worried about the souls that prepared our hamburger, you know?

Packers and Stockyards Act | Agricultural Marketing Service

www.ams.usda.gov

But until the next beef cycle ends—-

Go get em Henry!.

 

[Piping Abe]

Maybe the cows make the crop circles..

 

[RPK]

 

[pappymac]

Eat more nutria!
1. It's an invasive species no one loves.
2. It's a herbivore and only eats the roots of live plants which is why it's destroying the marsh lands.
3. It's a lean meat and can be cooked in various ways.
4. In France it is served in fine restaurants as racodín (or something like that.

Yes, I have eaten it in chili, spaghetti, burgers (add bacon to give it some fat), summer breakfast sausage (made with egg, bacon and nutria) and a smoked stick like pepperoni.

 

[Briar Lee]

Maybe the cows make the crop circles..

One of the most wonderful things about the Humansville Amish is they are completely free from superstitions and fallacies and belief in snake oil bullshit.

I think it’s their school system, which ends at the eighth grade.

I can remember when Henry’s parents and a few other Amish families moved into the neighbor hood about forty some or so years ago, about the time of the dairy buy out programs.

They wanted to set up a school and they asked my mother for advice, and Mama said her and Miss Charlotte had the best time helping them.

Their school teachers cannot be married. When the girl gets married she has to have a June wedding and be engaged at least a year so they can find a new replacement.

They cannot be related to the board members nor have brothers or sisters in her class.

She will be paid a dollar more than the published compensation for the Humansville boy’s basketball coach.

She is required to own a good paddle and a set of her own World Book Encylcopedias that are hers—-not school property. Hers forever.

Plus, that girl can use any pair of shoes- she wants.

And she does not teach Bible lessons. The men do that on Sunday. She has a classroom where the World Almanac and Book of Facts cannot be questioned.


Henry and his fellow Amish, have a world class eighth grade education even to this day.

 

[woodsroad]

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

I grind it myself.
Whatever is on sale, but brisket works well. I mix in some pork and lamb, garlic and onion,
Not looking for the cheapest burger, I'm avoiding the pink slime and making a better burger than you can get anywhere around here. We don't eat a lot of beef, mostly chicken, the occasional smoked pastrami and local pork, but a couple dozen great hamburgers in the freezer leaves me with the warm and fuzzies.

 

[tbradsim1]

Wife buys ribeyes that go on sale, mostly at Albertsons, then grinds them up, then we know what we are eating, not cheap, but most of the ribeyes are thin cut and not worth to eat as a steal, buys other cuts also.

 

[Sobrbiker]

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]

What will kill high beef prices for Henry is that demand for beef is highly inelastic.

In other words, the fact beef is about three times as high as a few years ago hasn’t cut demand much at all.

Henry can’t turn a tap and sell more beef.

To sell more beef (long term) he has to increase his herd size and that takes about two years to accomplish that.

And when his herd does increase, lowering the prices won’t cause Mama to buy much if any more beef.

What will cause a catastrophic decline in beef prices is if there’s something like the late 1973 oil price shock.

1973 oil crisis - Wikipedia - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_oil_crisis

I can remember the utter train wreck in cattle prices in 1974.

No matter how low the price went the demand wasn’t there.

People put their beef money in their gas tanks.

Eventually they recovered and cars got smaller and people demanded more beef.

Food is a necessity. Beef is a luxury.

 

[huntertrw]

Ever eat a Nutria? Many parts are edible!

 

[The Benedictine]

4. In France it is served in fine restaurants as racodín (or something like that.

Ragondin. It's more of a rural dish. Usually made into a ragout.

 

[Piping Abe]

I am still using toilet paper I bought in 2020. I will tell you that Scotts brand is young and harsh but after a few years of age, it is softer then Charmin

 

[Servant King]

View attachment 408997

Good one! And with time period accurate firearms with that Mauser rifle. Grandpa's going to be spending more time reloading than he is firing. Maybe he can just sit in a corner remodeling Paul Warburg's face with that nice solid rifle butt.

 

[pappymac]

Ragondin. It's more of a rural dish. Usually made into a ragout.

Thanks for the correction.
In the late 1990s, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries would have a booth at the Louisiana Sportsmen Show and would talk about the different commercial uses for nutria. They would always talk about it being served in restaurants in France and tried to portray it as high-end fine dining. Famous chefs in Louisiana also tried promoting it. I found it just as good as rabbit.

Ever eat a Nutria? Many parts are edible!

View attachment 409125

Why, yes, I have.

 

[The Benedictine]

Thanks for the correction.
In the late 1990s, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries would have a booth at the Louisiana Sportsmen Show and would talk about the different commercial uses for nutria. They would always talk about it being served in restaurants in France and tried to portray it as high-end fine dining. Famous chefs in Louisiana also tried promoting it. I found it just as good as rabbit.

Yeah it's not high end lol.

 

[Sobrbiker]

Good one! And with time period accurate firearms with that Mauser rifle. Grandpa's going to be spending more time reloading than he is firing. Maybe he can just sit in a corner remodeling Paul Warburg's face with that nice solid rifle butt.

It’s a 1903 Springfield, but you’re right-close enough that the US Govt has to pay Mauser Werke a quarter million dollars for ganking their design

 

[AreBee]

God forbid you want to throw some mayo on that burger. Last week the Warden bought a 30 oz Hellmann's with olive oil for $10.

 

[Briar Lee]

To illustrate how delicate and precarious record high beef prices are, let’s update 11 cent cotton and 40 cent meat (1928) to 2025 prices.

11 cent cotton in 1928 would be $2.07 cotton today—



Actual market price of cotton today is sixty some cents a pound. Over three times and nearly four times lower than 1928.



How about forty cent meat in 1928. Poor cotton farmers didn’t buy much perishable beef in 1928. He probably meant “side meat” from a hog. We call it “country bacon” today.

40 cent meat in 1928 would be $7.55 a pound today. More than $6 hamburger. Probably about like good country bacon.



Other versions of 11 cent cotton have the singer “trading with a man named Bob” who keeps on raising the price of flour.

Flour is made from wheat. In 1928 wheat was $1.20 a bushel. $1.20 in 1928 is $22.64 today.



Wheat is ruinously cheap today, only $5 a bushel. Wheat plantings are at 1919 acreage levels. The price is at least a dollar a bushel under production costs.

Americans eat about 130 pounds of flour products a year, per capita, and a bushel makes 42 pounds of white flour. That’s $15 worth of wheat per year.

We know now, that the Great Depression was only a year away when 11 cent cotton was recorded.

Which led to the classic tune—-

4 Cent Cotton

One of the old sayings I grew up with was, nobody can throw a brick high enough in the air that it won’t eventually come back down.

 

[Briar Lee]

My friend JC just called me and we were discussing Froggie Hughes who had a big straight bed stock truck he used to haul cattle after the sales for maybe forty years, from the late forties until he died one day.

JC said Froggie had a good sized truck, no doubt rated 24,000 pounds, but he could and did haul over ten tons of beef, or forty some head, just like my big gooseneck stock trailer will.


I said what would forty some of your five hundred pound feeders bring at Urbana, JC?

He said a check for just over $100,000.

I said just think JC, how rich you are.

You could be the next Froggie Hughes with a brand new truck and trailer, and write them all off against your profits.

JC said I’ve got a whole lot of fences to build, before I feel that Froggie.


While this lasts, it’s sweet sweet wine for the cattle ranchers.

$4.60-$5 feeders.

And no end in sight.

I don’t know what Froggie’s real name was.

He jumped like a frog over the arena rails and dodged every mean bull in the sale ring until he was about JC’s age, eighty some, then he went to sleep one night and woke up to face the Master.

He always bragged how the first load of his cattle paid for his truck.

Not since the late forties and early fifties, could anyone truthfully say that.

 

[Briar Lee]

On the same day JC called fat as a tick from selling his calves my news feed delivered this. The algorithms that direct us news are spookily accurate:

—-

December corn ended the day unchanged at $3.97¼ per bushel.


November soybeans closed down 15¾¢ at $10.28½ per bushel.


December CBOT wheat ended the day down 3¾¢ at $5.24½ per bushel. December KC wheat closed down 2¢ at $5.26 per bushel. December Minneapolis wheat was down 4¢ at $5.92.

—-

If you adjust those prices back to 1970 it’s an unmitigated disaster.

$4 corn today would be fifty cent corn then. $10 soybeans now would be $1.20 beans then. And wheat is the worst with $5.25 current price being 63 cents in 1970 and it was $3 then, and soon went to $6. When wheat fell below $4 I remember several of us from law school going to watch the KC Board of Trade. These are worse than Farm Crisis prices.

I looked up milk.

—-

Milk fell to 17.39 USD/CWT on August 14, 2025, down 0.23% from the previous day. Over the past month, Milk's price has risen 0.23%, but it is still 15.50% lower than a year ago, according to trading on a contract for difference (CFD) that tracks the benchmark market for this commodity.​

——

Milk prices in 1970 were never less than $6 and usually $8 and occasionally $10.

They’d be just over $2 by current prices.

Farming is not a business, it’s an addiction.

The only cure is foreclosure or the graveyard.

But unless prices come up or the bad blasted gubbermint gets out the national credit card to bail them out, it’s not going to end well in flyover country.