If people are willing to ignore a president that doesn't hesitate to break laws, why the hell would they pay attention to collusion between the four major meat producers?

I think i read somewhere(might of been here thf) that some ranchers are pulling together and building a packer plant. In Iowa or Nebraska.

It's Congress's job to police monopolies. The only problem is, the monopolies pad the politician's bank accounts through lobbyists.

When the big clean out comes, we need to make sure we end lobbies and institute term limits.

I'm in favor of giving them a pay raise. A good one too, commensurate with the responsibility of the position. Of course, that also means that every politician lives the same life as us regular people, and any illegal activity that you and I could get charged with today would equally apply to them. Jail time included.

Probably a rant and hard story to tell but here’s an attempt:

BEEF is what the Packing industry sells. CATTLE is what ranchers and feedyards sell.

So beef production is a monopoly run by 4 packers, two of which are Brazilian owned companies, who sometimes import Brazilian beef instead of using all American beef, yet they get to label it American beef due to current laws. Bills are headed to Congress to try to force negotiated cash trade for cattle coming out of feed yards bought buy the packers. Also proof in labeling laws regarding where beef came from, USA or imported. The Packers have basically no negotiations right now on price. They need cattle, they call feedyards, they get cattle cheap. Why? Cause the feedyards are full or close to it. Why? Cause it won’t rain so more cattle are in feedyards to due drought. Feedyards gets $1.35-1.38 a lb on a 1200 lb steer they have fed for 6 months to year. Packer buys steer, slaughters and sell to grocers for $700-1000 profit. They owned it week -10 days. Or packers import cheap beef, label it as USA grown, and mark it up tremendously.

So the rancher sold that steer at 400 lbs cause it’s dry and feed cost are high, like others have said. Rancher sells or moves our cattle to feedyards because we have no wheat or winter grass to grow them on. Feed and fertilizer keep going up. Feed yard costs are high. And consumers pay more for beef cause it’s a monopoly! And the rancher, like small business owners all across our country, gets screwed. It’s a vicious cycle.

Damn straight our government should stop it. Senators and Congressman get letters and emails daily about it. Sid Miller too. Hopefully Chuck Grassly and the Senator from Nebraska will get this negotiation bill passed. Even Biden “says” monopoly needs to be broken up. But again, it’s all talk till it passes.

Breaking this packer monopoly up should be a priority of Congress like was stated above. It just concerns me because it has been talked about since COVID began in early 2020, when the packers rose beef prices to all time high. And remember, BEEF prices are not CATTLE prices we get at the Sale Barn or the feedyards. BEEF prices are what the packers get selling packed beef.

Pray for rain.

We didn’t drain the swamp, the swamp is draining Us!!!

Amen. I am, several times a day. And I don't even have any livestock.

I watched a documentary following a cattle operation which used a large ship simular to a small cruise ship. It was a feed lot on the water. The documentary was about the mechanical operation of the ship.

There was no EPA regulations. They hosed with sea water, washing stall area into Pacic ocean. The ship left Brazil on a slow journey to to port in Canada. The cattle could then be imported as Canadian beef.

I just bought a 1350 lb fed steer from my neighbor. I paid futures price for it and had it processed. With cost of steer and processing I've got $3.33/lb in it. That's over 850 lbs of meat. Don't tell be the packer is not getting rich!!

Cattlemen have been screwed for years. Inflation and pricing of everything has continuously gone up, but live cattle pricing was always left behind.

I recently asked a friend what he's now paying for a bag of range cubes since that's the best indicator for someone like me who knows little to nothing about raising livestock. His answer told me all I needed to know about the pinch he and other ranchers are feeling right now. And on top of what he's now having to pay for feed, his wife is now battling lung cancer.

Have you noticed the meat department at the supermarket is usually not full? Poorly stocked.

Picked up my steer at the processor on Monday were good for the next couple of years.

We haven't bought beef in over 2 years, best decision we ever made was to buy a steer and have it custom processed for us.

We are beginning talks with our people to start reducing number off the property because of the draught.

Has anyone else heard about weed killer prices going through the roof this year?

Obviously a naïve question but how come there are not more than 4 Packers, is it that difficult to start new ones to compete?
This has been going on for a long time those 4 packers sticking it to the ranchers and consumers right?

Weed killer and fertilizer prices are going up.

Regulatory costs. JBS has essentially been able to buy regulations that pretty much shut down the little guys or impede expansion.

What it's going to take is some of the larger retailers finding a away to go direct to the rancher, completely cutting out major feedlots, packers and packer buyers. HEB does this to a degree.

Big problem to this is JBS controls not just the cattle market but poultry and pork. On top of that they own a huge chunk of the cattle feedlot capacity in the US

A year or two ago TFB reported on a new plant in Evant that was to serve the producer to consumer market. Anyone near there might look into it.

You received 850 lbs of cut and wrapped meat from a 1350 lb steer?

Brazilian cattle prolly won't get to Canada via the Pacific Ocean.

Seems like Everytime beef goes up, cattle goes down.

I wouldn't be surprised if they shipped via both sides (peru/ Pacific and Atlantic ). Canada largest populations centers are essentially (East and west )coastal. Shipping through BC would seem to be a pain.

Hint: Panama

Kind of like lumber...lots of trees but no place available to process the raw materials. Lots of cattle but not enough processors.