1962
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wrote on 16 Mar 2023, 12:36 last edited by
When you look at cattle numbers vs. U.S. population, we're currently at the lowest level of cattle since 1962.
https://www.nass.usda.gov/Newsroom/2023/01-31-2023.php
I'm guessing that's due to a couple of factors...the Western drought and sell-off, coupled with the loss of the small rancher. Most of the guys I know down here that ran 50-100 head, are no longer in business, because they weren't making money.
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wrote on 16 Mar 2023, 12:40 last edited by
We're a net importer of beef. Not sure if that was true 50 years ago.
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wrote on 16 Mar 2023, 13:02 last edited by
I became involved in a local schoolboard election last fall (my candidate lost), primarily over a beef cattle issue. The local high school has a processing facility, where they cut up cattle, hogs and sheep for the locals. They do not have a kill facility.
The guy I was backing, is a small cattleman, who also does some bull-swapping and AI work. He and the president of the Louisiana Cattlemen's Association were advocating for a kill facility at the high school. The feds had money available to build a small, USDA certified, kill pen.
In terms of keeping small ranchers and homesteader types going, that was a big deal. With USDA cert of kill and process facility, the meat could be sold to the public as direct farm-to-table. That's about the only way these guys can stay in business, by value-added tactics.
Alas, my guy lost. Other issues, along with so few people now understanding what it takes to make a small farm or ranch profitable.
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wrote on 16 Mar 2023, 15:53 last edited by
We’re also eating 30% less beef per person in the US than we were in 1962…
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wrote on 16 Mar 2023, 16:10 last edited by
A lot more chicken, fish and even pork I’d imagine. I mean more than before.
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wrote on 16 Mar 2023, 16:32 last edited by
As a whole, probably. Regionally? I dunno.
This area has always been pork heavy. Probably the reason we tend to drop dead with heart attacks.
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I became involved in a local schoolboard election last fall (my candidate lost), primarily over a beef cattle issue. The local high school has a processing facility, where they cut up cattle, hogs and sheep for the locals. They do not have a kill facility.
The guy I was backing, is a small cattleman, who also does some bull-swapping and AI work. He and the president of the Louisiana Cattlemen's Association were advocating for a kill facility at the high school. The feds had money available to build a small, USDA certified, kill pen.
In terms of keeping small ranchers and homesteader types going, that was a big deal. With USDA cert of kill and process facility, the meat could be sold to the public as direct farm-to-table. That's about the only way these guys can stay in business, by value-added tactics.
Alas, my guy lost. Other issues, along with so few people now understanding what it takes to make a small farm or ranch profitable.
wrote on 16 Mar 2023, 16:36 last edited by@Jolly , interesting to hear that a “kill pen” is a school board issue where you are. Assuming the environment and the budget allow, I would support building a “kill pen” for the local school, it provides one more facility for the students to learn something real and useful.
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wrote on 16 Mar 2023, 16:55 last edited by
The kill pen would have cost nothing to build, as that would have been federal grant money. Even the additional required employee would have been initially funded with grant money.
Things do change, though. When I was a lad, it was still open range where I live. We had a long history of running stock in the swamp (my brand is GWJ, my ear notch is two slits and an underbit). In the spring, when we had high waters, families would cowboy up and gather the stock, which would then be flat boated out to higher ground.
My high school had cattle gaps at the entrances. It was a different time.