The average U.S. price for fresh beef rose in February to its highest level since 1987 — $5.28 a pound — as cattle ranchers reduced their herds amid dry conditions and demand for beef increased in China and Japan, among other export destinations, The Associated Press reports. Prices are expected to stay high for a few years, at least.
Some shoppers are sucking up the price hike — 25 cents a pound in a month — or switching to cheaper cuts, while others are simply looking elsewhere for their protein. Some ranchers are nervous that people will permanently change their eating habits if prices stay high, even as all cattle ranchers are thrilled about getting more money for their wares.
As for restaurants, they're either passing on the higher costs to customers or, as some higher-end restaurants are, serving smaller steaks. So, bad time to go on the paleo diet, and good time to own a hamburger stand. - - Peter Weber
Reading this makes me think about the process of raising cattle. I have always wondered how much of what we/I eat comes from feed lots versus how much comes from the rancher/farmer whose animals I see as a drive along the smaller roads in the US. This blurb talks about droughts which doesn't effect the feed lots, does it? I mean it's not as though the animals are grazing and enjoying a pristine stream as it passes through the meadow. Or do I just not understand the process? Do the animals start in that field I see from the road only to be shipped to a feed lot just before slaughter? I guess I have addressed this issue for myself by purchasing my meat from a rancher at the farmer's market. Now, have I visited his farm to confirm my assumptions? Not yet.... Perhaps I need to add that to my ever-growing to-do list.
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