Anyone worried about the "meat shortage"?

Nicky Santoro said:

Not worried. It's artificial, short term, and hyped by the MSM to keep the idiots watching.

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I agree it's short term. And it's also over hyped like most things. But I also know it's true enough thats it's bad at least for poultry. I drive by the plant that would be slaughtering a quarter million birds a day. Its setting idle and has been for almost two weeks. That's a fact and I see it myself. I havent watched 10 minutes of media since all this started. And many here may not know much about them but I have also raised the chickens they use for broilers. They are a cross breed that if not slaughtered on time they die via their legs breaking from the weight or their hearts stopping. (They are called a "cobb 500" if you want to fact check.) I've raised them myself. They are broiler weight by 7 weeks (a normal chicken is broiler weight at 16 or more and only half the dressed weight) The farmers cant just keep the extra birds until the plant opens if it's down more than a few days. It's already been 2 weeks. I tried that with 100 I had years ago. I figured I'd slaughter 25 or so a week. Well after 10 weeks they started dying so I had to kill 100 or so one day by myself. Lol. I learned my lesson. I'm not worried about any meat shortage but I hate it for the producers. They are giving away birds because they are dying anyway.

As far as beef or all those animals I cant imagine it would be the same. We slaughter one a year or so and take a handful to market but I have no firsthand knowledge on the commercial side of it. I imagine they will have to hold more and feed more for longer but so long as feed is available it's not the same as poultry where they will die off.

Couple points:

1. I think this is just another “float” in the long, deceitful parade of “what **** can we blame Trump for now”. Nothing seems to work when they try and pin stuff on him. I’m thinking they believe “shortages” of TP and cheap burgers should get the masses in an uproar...

2. My family and I rarely eat animal protein these days, so not an issue for us. I honestly believe most folks in the US eat way too much meat and way too few real vegetables, legumes, and whole grains. That said, I do NOT believe In any “Big Brother” inflicted situations to make folks act differently.

I think this crap will get worse before it gets better...all to ensure the dems get their voter base out to support their candidate.

Just my opinion...not worth much.

YMMV.

Meh, I eat stuff, i can find stuff, even if the stores dont have any.

Idk where there’s a shortage but it aint hit my area yet

Meat shortage, what! . You just have to be more innovative about your choice of protein! Look no further than your neighborhood for readily available sources.

I possess a blunderbuss, a musket and a vehicle capable of traversing most terrain. A rural American youth shall endure.

I tried to buy a small freezer, not because of the panic. Just needed a new one. Sold out almost every where. When I went on line to find one, I was like what the heck is going on. Took me a few seconds before I figured it out. The Hoarders and Panic buyers.

It may take several months before the shortage of beef and pork gets back to normal. The beef, pork and even milk is available to the processing plants but the virus problems in the plants have really slowed thing down. The beef prices to the farmers are depressed and some milk producers can't sell their raw milk. Texas County, Oklahoma is a good example, it is a very rural county with a population of about 20 thousand and has 274 cases of virus. Guymon, Oklahoma is the principal city, and about 70% of the beef cattle in the United States are fed out within a 150 mile circle around Guymon which includes the Panhandle of Texas and western Kansas. Even here in Oklahoma some of the food stores are limiting purchased to one item from each species such as beef and pork. I don't think it is hording I think the supply chain just can't keep up with the demand for beef and pork.

The wife and I are buying angus beef locally this year and the price is $8 a pound for a quarter of a beef which will come to about $1,000. That is about 125 pounds of packaged meat. Locally grown with no steroids or hormones, fed out, and processed locally. Very happy to get it.

I'm still working on 2 deer from this fall, bunch of squirrels, quail, roosters and a couple geese. But just in case I went out and picked the one on the left.....



Also told the boy we'd better start fishing:



Even though I wasn't thinking of a pandemic at the time, I think I might have picked a good place to build....

Arkansas Paul said:

I possess a blunderbuss, a musket and a vehicle capable of traversing most terrain. A rural American youth shall endure.

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Ok Hank jr! I get it!

So many people think if Walmart or Amazon doesnt have it, it's time to <<<panic>>>.


We had better support our local stores, or else get used to eating whatever Walmart has for us. We have (or had) a choice.

Armored farmer said:

I'm not too worried, but I do think meat will be in short supply at the grocery stores. By the sounds of it, farmers will have the meat, you may have to butcher it yourself. We are looking at serious financial issues for both 2019 and 2020 crops. By this time next year, I may be the Armored Trucker.

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As to trucking and not to farming. I don't think a lot of people in the large cities realize or even appreciate where food comes from and how it gets to their grocery stores. If it wasn't for the farmers, processing plants, truck and trains the large population centers would starve. If the trucks and trains were shut down for a month there would be panic! I'm talking about the 503 Counties carried by Clinton in 2016. The other 2,649 Counties probably aren't worried.

somethingbenign said:

Shortage or not is isn't going to stop me from buying a hog direct from a farmer trying to offload some. Got some room in the freezer and they are going cheap. Nice to have the fat on hand for next year's deer too. My friends keeping worrying they'd screw up the butchering. I keep telling them it is allreay dead, not much you can due to harm the hog more than that.

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Be sure you salt it down good. Back in the day, every smokehouse had a salt box. Any time you'd go out there and cut a helping, you'd re-salt the part you cut off of. I hear meat would keep a long time like that.

"You can't hurt ham." - Ricky Skaggs talking about Bill Monroe.

1976B.L.Johns. said:

What I worry about is the farmers well being, and the possible pestilence of that killer wasp that could wipe out the honey bees therefore destroying the food chain for most everyone!

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I saw an interesting video out of Japan. Over there, that "murder hornet" kills about 50 people a year. Japanese honey bees know how to deal with the hornet... so long long a time living in the same territory as the enemy... calm and patient... scout hornet gets lured into the hive... first honey bee gets grabbed and its on. Scout hornet's scent marker gets erased. Seems to me we could use more Japanese honey bees.

sage5907 said:

As to trucking and not to farming. I don't think a lot of people in the large cities realize or even appreciate where food comes from and how it gets to their grocery stores.

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Doesn't meat get dropped down from heaven in Saran Wrap and styrofoam wrapped packages, no killing involved?

I think some people I knew when I lived in NYC believed that.

I eat probably 85% game meat; however my freezer is looking pretty empty. Maybe 15 lbs of ground, 10 roast/steaks, and a handful of ducks and geese.

This summer will be catfish and squirrel heavy.

I don’t understand why people think they can “survive” an economic collapse with hunting. The reason we farm is because nature can’t endure harvest of massive amounts of game. Our oceans are dying and most large mammals inhabit a fraction of their natural range.

Agreed on the Americans eat too much meat. I have been rationing my remaining meat with veggie/rice/bean heavy dishes.

“I don't think a lot of people in the large cities realize or even appreciate where food comes from and how it gets to their grocery stores”

I agree but its not limited to “large” cities. Small towns are mostly people that work service industry jobs. I would wager that a higher pop of America is incarcerated than employed in farming or ranching.

Some people dont need as much meat as others and maybe some eat too much but Americans eat too much crap from a bag, box, or drive through window. And drink too many calories from a bottle or can. I believe most would benefit from cutting many other things before meat. Obesity and diabetes are huge problems.

Ernie Bass said:

I tried to buy a small freezer, not because of the panic. Just needed a new one. Sold out almost every where.

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I heard that this is the case.
I'm fortunate I killed a big buck this year and had no place to store it. I used that as an excuse to buy a chest freezer (because I'd been looking for a reason). Thankfully I got mine in November before the panic.

HB said:

I would wager that a higher pop of America is incarcerated than employed in farming or ranching.

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Lucky people on prison farms get to do both.

HB said:

“I don't think a lot of people in the large cities realize or even appreciate where food comes from and how it gets to their grocery stores”

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You would be surprised by the number of people that think all the corn grown in the corn belt is sweet corn for the table.
Its not.

Speedo66 said:

Doesn't meat get dropped down from heaven in Saran Wrap and styrofoam wrapped packages, no killing involved?

I think some people I knew when I lived in NYC believed that.

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That sounds more like the impossible burger.

Game in the freezer for me. Garden soon to be planted. Lots of ranchers I can talk to here if the first two run low.

Folks are gonna have to learn to eat recycled asphalt and and concrete someday. Everybody wants to live in the country.
Well that country is what produces what we eat.
Of course China is producing artificial meat.
Anybody that hungry yet?
How about boiled bat?

Somebody on here mentioned the idea that future realities may include eating skunk. While I haven't been aware of that happening, I've seen numerous references to consumption of groundhog among plenty of other seemingly less onerous options than skunk or bat. Americans ate animals during the 1930's that have since mostly taken a backseat to the game animals we all enjoy discussing here. Game wardens, in some jurisdictions, will tell you that's why we have smaller animal populations running out everybody's ears. When I took hunter education in 2003, it appeared nobody in that room considered it could happen again.