What is the beef?

[KiwiKev]

News item here. Beef prices going up by 20% because the Yanks, and Southerners too! Are buying up all our beef for their hamburgers. I read that you have had the lowest beef production since 1959. So you are probably eating Australian and New Zealand beef amongst other things.

So what are you paying for your beef right now?

Here prime mince sells for about $5.00 a lb on special and porterhouse about $10.00 per lb.

I may have to go hunting over summer. Get me some venison and pork.

[7.62 Precision]

Good, that means we are getting some beef without all the hormones, steroids, etc.

Kiwi beef tastes much better than American beef, and for good reason.

We have been buying only locally-produced beef, since it does not go through the feed lots. It's more expensive, but food is cheap today, and I reckon it is worth it for my kids.

[Pete44ru]

.

IDK what "prime mince" is - ground beef (hamburger) ?

I'm in Southern New England, and I buy my ground beef/hamburger for $1.99/lb USD @ one local wholesaler, usually around $3.25 USD (+/-) @ national chain markets.

Porterhouse runs about $10.99/lb USD to $12.99/lb USD @ various national chain markets.

For steaks, I get large hunks (10-15lbs ea) of either NY sirloin @ $4.99/lb USD or ribeye @ $5.99/lb USD, so I can cut/slice it up into the steak sizes we prefer. (I like 1-1/2" thick, wife likes 3/4" thick)

Ditto, for pork chops - I buy whole/entire pork tenderloins (10-12lbs ea) @ $1.79/lb USD @ local chain markets, and slice it into boneless pork chops.

IIRC, my venison costs (totally) me about $250.00/lb USD (+/-), including special clothing, weapon, licenses, butchering tool(s), & vacuum-packing equipment.

The five guys in my hunting party share all venison, regardless of who bags what (or gets skunked).

I don't EVEN wanna think what fresh fish costs me per lb, including gear, boat, etc.
.

[7.62 Precision]

.
IDK what "prime mince" is - ground beef (hamburger) ?

IIRC, my venison costs (totally) me about $250.00/lb USD (+/-), including special clothing, weapon, licenses, butchering tool(s), & vacuum-packing equipment.

Yes, ground.

Up here, we mostly hunt and fish because it costs less than importing meat from Outside. But I don't wear any special clothes, and use basic tools, and use freezer paper because vacuum packing does not preserve the meat as well.

Some people do the expensive hunting trips, of course, but I can't afford to. I just hunt where it is convenient. I need to shoot a bear or two before it gets too cold.

[92&94]

Argentina is also a big beef producer.

Locally, we're paying around $5-10/lb depending on cut. Tenderloin is about the only one that is going over that range. A lot depends on where you buy and how good it is.

I suspect that imported beef is going into hamburger for chain suppliers - hardly any beef is sold frozen in the stores here, which is what it would take for NZ beef. McDonalds can buy frozen patties about anywhere though.

As always, the solution is to grow more - before the EPA requires that we all eat low carbon footprint meal worm burgers.

[Pete44ru]

.

FWIW:

"Pink slime" is an epithet for a product the meat industry calls "lean finely textured beef" (LFTB), "finely textured beef", and "boneless lean beef trimmings" (BLBT).
It was also derided as "soylent pink".
In 2001, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) approved the product for limited human consumption, and it has been used as a food additive to ground beef and beef-based processed meats as a filler, at a ratio of usually no more than 25 percent of any product.
In the production process heat and centrifuges separate the fat from the meat in beef trimmings.
The resulting product is exposed to ammonia gas or citric acid to kill bacteria.

In March 2012, an ABC News series about "pink slime" included claims that approximately 70 percent of ground beef sold in U.S. supermarkets contained the additive at that time, after which some companies and organizations stopped offering ground beef with the product.
"Pink slime" was claimed by some originally to have been used as pet food and cooking oil and later approved for public consumption, but both the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) administrator responsible for approving the product and Beef Products, Inc., the largest U.S. producer, disputed this in April 2012.
The U.S. manufacturer Beef Products Inc. BPI said in September 2012, it filed a lawsuit against American Broadcasting Company for false claims.

.

[Mescalero]

Drought forced a lot of ranchers to divest themselves of cattle, lack of rain also forced a rise in feed, got too expensive to feed them.

[BigSky56]

wife said its 3.89 for a lb of regular burger 70/30 price goes up as the cut of meat increases and the fat decreases so about 5$ a lb for topgrade, about the same for steak 7.50-10$ depending on the cut. I raise my own so I cant give a $ to lb amount without alot of figuring cattle prices are 3$ lb for steers 550 to 750 lbs live weight heifers are 2.50-2.75 lb same weight. the price of fuel runs things. danny

[765x53]

[quote="Pete44ru"
FWIW:

"Pink slime" is an epithet for a product the meat industry calls "lean finely textured beef" (LFTB), "finely textured beef", and "boneless lean beef trimmings" (BLBT).
It was also derided as "soylent pink".
In 2001, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) approved the product for limited human consumption, and it has been used as a food additive to ground beef and beef-based processed meats as a filler, at a ratio of usually no more than 25 percent of any product.
In the production process heat and centrifuges separate the fat from the meat in beef trimmings.
The resulting product is exposed to ammonia gas or citric acid to kill bacteria.

In March 2012, an ABC News series about "pink slime" included claims that approximately 70 percent of ground beef sold in U.S. supermarkets contained the additive at that time, after which some companies and organizations stopped offering ground beef with the product.
"Pink slime" was claimed by some originally to have been used as pet food and cooking oil and later approved for public consumption, but both the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) administrator responsible for approving the product and Beef Products, Inc., the largest U.S. producer, disputed this in April 2012.
The U.S. manufacturer Beef Products Inc. BPI said in September 2012, it filed a lawsuit against American Broadcasting Company for false claims.

It sounds like bologna to me.

[KiwiKev]

Great discussion. Only 100% pure beef here. Prime mince would be 10% fat! sometimes called lean mince! which is burger meat from what I read. I think all NZ beef is free range, never heard of any factory farms with grain feeds, it could happen, I know pork can be produced this way. Well I guess you deserve our beef if they selling you poor quality local produce in some places.

Here is what you will be getting. Hope it is chilled and not frozen.




Pretty New Zealand Cowgirl.

[JerryB]

Fine looking cattle!!!!

[Larkbill]

Don't forget the early blizzard kill in the northern plains last fall. Took a lot of prime beeves off the market in one weekend. I had to go to a refinery west of Billings two weeks after and ranchers were still hauling carcasses in for disposal. Had to be heartbreaking for them.

[7.62 Precision]

hardly any beef is sold frozen in the stores here, which is what it would take for NZ beef. McDonalds can buy frozen patties about anywhere though.

There is almost no frozen meat sold anywhere. Almost all stores now get their meat frozen, and then thaw it before placing it out on display for sale. This is bad with beef, but is really bad when you are dealing with seafood. My wife will request unthawed seafood instead of what is on display and they will often go back and get it for her from the freezer, though we try to eat what we catch as much as possible.

[92&94]

hardly any beef is sold frozen in the stores here, which is what it would take for NZ beef. McDonalds can buy frozen patties about anywhere though.

There is almost no frozen meat sold anywhere. Almost all stores now get their meat frozen, and then thaw it before placing it out on display for sale. This is bad with beef, but is really bad when you are dealing with seafood. My wife will request unthawed seafood instead of what is on display and they will often go back and get it for her from the freezer, though we try to eat what we catch as much as possible.

Yeah, I hadn't thought of it that way, but of course it makes sense. Its all going to have been shipped as frozen sides then thawed and cut. Even going from Kansas to NM it will have been shipped frozen.

Best hamburger I've had was at a local ranch - rancher butchers his own beef.

[7.62 Precision]

Great discussion. Only 100% pure beef here. Prime mince would be 10% fat! sometimes called lean mince! which is burger meat from what I read. I think all NZ beef is free range, never heard of any factory farms with grain feeds, it could happen . . .

There is a strong lobby for opening NZ up to GMO foods, the more dangerous pesticides, the use of steroids and hormones in meat production, etc.

Don't let it happen.

A lot of the money and lobbying behind this push comes from outside NZ, especially from American corporations who want another market for their products.

The food in New Zealand is far cleaner and better than the food in the US. Even without the production methods used in the US, it is less expensive, too. American feed lot beef is given hormones and steroids, both proven to affect humans, medications to deal with the side effects of the large quantities of corn and soy they are fed, fed manure and antibiotics, and often treated poorly after being butchered. Garbage meat and fillers are often added in.

If you guys visit NZ, you will see what I am talking about with the food there - it is much better. Of course, most Americans just go eat at McDonalds when traveling in foreign countries.

[3leggedturtle]

In my little town the grocery store raised the price of butter by almost a $1 per pound.

[jkbrea]

For 20+ years we've eaten mostly elk for burgers, roast and steaks. We have beef if we go out but I can't remember the last time I bought beef at the market. I guess if you factor in the non-resident tag, gas, food, butchering, etc, it starts to add up......but its sure is fun.

[Tycer]

$5.50 for ground and $10-$12 steaks for local grass-fed beef at the tailgate markets. $15+ a pound for dry aged local at http://www.chopshopbutchery.com/beef/

[plowboy 45]

Fine looking cattle!!!!

Yes I agree
But a finer lookin heifer in front of them ol cows

[KiwiKev]

Brought 3lbs of topside roast. I think it is called round steak according to Wikipedia for about $11.35 on special. It will be fresh. I might slow roast it. We usually don't eat rare beef.

Yes that is a fine looking heifer. They breed them well down here.

Butter about $2.90 a lb.

[Tycer]

Raw grass fed local butter $10 a pound. Kerrygold grass fed butter $6.50. I try not to eat grain fed animals. I try not to eat grain which kind of sucks because I like beer.

[92&94]

I eat more or less everything

Been buying more beef since Rihmfire posted the sauerbraten recipe

[Mescalero]

Yeah, it is good.

[KiwiKev]

Our Butter is 100% free range. The cows only grass or year round. (Except when they are given hay and silage.) Can't say the butter is always 100% pure. The main producer, Fonterra had scare at its plant when they discovered a lazy maintenance system was not cleaning the pipes correctly resulting in a build up of "harmless bacteria". That did not impress our export markets.








A happy share milking couple ( You contract to the farmer to milk a herd you eventually buy)

A couple of young lasses from England who work on a dairy farm here now.

[7.62 Precision]

Good butter, good cheese, good beef, and the pies are incredible.

How come no one knows how to make a meat pie in the US?

[jnyork]

.

How come no one knows how to make a meat pie in the US?

We do, it's called Pizza.

[.45colt]

KiwiKev , the "prime mince" you describe would be a little leaner than ground round here in My town. this week we have Ground Round 85/15% on sale for $4.59 a pound. the gold standard in the U.S. is USDA Choice Beef. it wasn't always this way...if we look back 100 years at pictures of Butcher Shops they were proud to offer "Fat Type Beef"....the cattle grown in N.Z. an Australia that are grass fed is fine for folks that are used to it...but American consumers have been spoiled with USDA Choice type.
If I could choose I would only eat American Elk as it is the finest wild Game I have had, but not possible in my area. the amount of beef grown here in the U.S. as You noted has declined dramatically, when I started my job as a Butcher/Workman We sold more Beef in ...1...day as We now do in a week.... at the time it was 40 cattle a week.... 160 quarters of beef. Gone with the Wind now.... Jim.

[.45colt]

7.62 wrote.
"How come no one knows how to make a meat pie in the US" I think You need to go to the area around Mackinaw Michigan the have a local favorite of beef pie called "pasties", that the miners would take to work. some one correct me if I'm wrong.

[BrentD]

7.62 wrote.
"How come no one knows how to make a meat pie in the US" I think You need to go to the area around Mackinaw Michigan the have a local favorite of beef pie called "pasties", that the miners would take to work. some one correct me if I'm wrong.

Not wrong! darn good stuff.

[KiwiKev]

The New Zealand meat pie is truly a thing of wonder!



We have an annual competition to find the supreme meat pie throughout the land.

Here are some of our meat pies.......




Chunky Steak


A yummy steak and mushroom pie.


I am sure we can export you folk lots of pies!

[7.62 Precision]

....the cattle grown in N.Z. an Australia that are grass fed is fine for folks that are used to it...but American consumers have been spoiled with USDA Choice type.

It's much better beef than the feedlot beef in the US. You can taste the difference. I worked a ranch for a couple of years and the beef were grass-fed. It was very obviously better than anything you could buy at the grocery. The Kiwi beef is the same. Now if they would just ship us some lamb . . . but no one eats it here.

Most importantly, while you are shipping beef, would you please send us some Bundaberg Ginger Beer?

My wife orders me a few bottles every year, but at such a cost!

[7.62 Precision]

The New Zealand meat pie is truly a thing of wonder!

There is nothing like it in the US.

There is a shop in Rotorua that has several award-winning pies. And you can eat a good meal for cheaper than junk fast food here.

And the fish and chips . . .

[BigSky56]

My wife makes a cornish meat pie called a pastie thin sliced potatoes, onion, beef or elk, parsley teaspoon of butter salt & pepper wrapped in your favorite pie dough and baked. they look like a hostess fruit pie. a gravy or favorite sauce to dip in. danny

[BAGTIC]

Here in my area of the Missouri Ozarks where beef outnumber people at least 10:1 all the local beef is grass fed. No factory farms at all, all I have ever seen are family enterprises worked by families.. What happens to it after we sell it at the auction yard I don't know. We haven't purchased beef in the 10 years we have lived here. We have a small herd 35-40 animals and eat what we grow.

My experience is that 5-10% make good burgers and meat loaf. Leaner and they don't hold together.We butchered a very lean smallish bull, 1200 lbs, last year mostly for ground meat and jerky. It was as close to 0% as one can get. Great for spaghetti and real beef flavor for soups and stews. Super jerky. When we lived in town and bought city meat we had to add bullion cubes to tell what we were eating. um.

[Griff]

Ate good the last time I was down there... except for salads... iceberg lettuce seems scarce... mostly garden weeds! That cowgirl looks like a younger version of my cousin! And given the size of my extended family there... we could be related! Their farm grown venison is great also... if my cousin's heard is any example. The family's sheep are also good... but woe to anyone who wants lamb! Wool is far too valuable.

[Tactical Lever]

There is just enough of a conspirest streak in me to think that there will be a mad cow scare, or similar in New Zealand. It happened a couple times now here, and nearly destroyed the Albertan beef market over the years.

Under pretty questionable circumstance, to a by and large high quality product, I might add.

I do think that the responses were unwarranted, under investigated, and possibly perpetrated or orchestrated by a protectionist anti competitionist group.

[7.62 Precision]

There is just enough of a conspirest streak in me to think that there will be a mad cow scare, or similar in New Zealand. It happened a couple times now here, and nearly destroyed the Albertan beef market over the years.

Under pretty questionable circumstance, to a by and large high quality product, I might add.

I do think that the responses were unwarranted, under investigated, and possibly perpetrated or orchestrated by a protectionist anti competitionist group.

Mad cow disease is caused and spread by feeding animal protein to cows, which has been popular in Europe and has been done in Canada, but illegal in the US. It is now also illegal in Canada, as far as I know. It is not done in NZ.

And in the case of Canadian cattle, the scare was because there were animals from Canada identified with mad cow disease. The US stopped cattle and beef imports from canada at that point because of standing policy, put in place to protect American consumers from getting sick - no other reason.

It was not done with the intention of hurting the Canadian beef market (most of which was clean, anyway) or helping the US beef market - other import sources just picked up the slack.

However, Canada's retaliation against the US did hurt us in Alaska, and continues to do so.

[Tactical Lever]

There is just enough of a conspirest streak in me to think that there will be a mad cow scare, or similar in New Zealand. It happened a couple times now here, and nearly destroyed the Albertan beef market over the years.

Under pretty questionable circumstance, to a by and large high quality product, I might add.

I do think that the responses were unwarranted, under investigated, and possibly perpetrated or orchestrated by a protectionist anti competitionist group.

Mad cow disease is caused and spread by feeding animal protein to cows, which has been popular in Europe and has been done in Canada, but illegal in the US. It is now also illegal in Canada, as far as I know. It is not done in NZ.

And in the case of Canadian cattle, the scare was because there were animals from Canada identified with mad cow disease. The US stopped cattle and beef imports from canada at that point because of standing policy, put in place to protect American consumers from getting sick - no other reason.

It was not done with the intention of hurting the Canadian beef market (most of which was clean, anyway) or helping the US beef market - other import sources just picked up the slack.

However, Canada's retaliation against the US did hurt us in Alaska, and continues to do so.

Not sure, but I thought it was spread through ingesting animal waste, like chronic wasting in deer. I am not aware that animal protein was ever fed to beef, although it was to pigs in Canada quite a few years ago IIRC. That deals more with trichnosis, and why its safer in Canada to eat rare pork. This is not the case in many countries.

No offence to anyone, but the way I heard it was that the stock originally came from the US. There was mad cow identified in the US at the time, but I don't recall anyone pulling US beef off the shelves. At least not in the States...

I think at the time we had 3 head that were identified. But arguably the best or among the best beef worldwide overall. You bet it was clean! Meanwhile, Albertans snorted derisively, and enjoyed (slightly) cheaper beef at the store. At least those of us who did not have cattle.

7.62, you are a gentleman, and I'm sure that if it was your call it would not have went down as such. But I cannot speak for the others that made the decision that kept Canadian beef out of the States for so long. I am not convinced that it was not a ripe opportunity to close the market.

[Tactical Lever]

Did some more reading on it, and you were right about the feed contamination. We still use animal proteins, however we both (as nations) developed more stringent controls for feeds being allowed.

The first case in Canada, was inconclusive in its origin. Although they do make reference to the animal having possibly had an older feed, and the case was atypical of the disease.

[RIHMFIRE]

The ag and cattle businesses here if florida are doing very well.....
Its been raining just about every day....
But we still have not recovered from the past years drought


The price of beef is outrageous!....
wanted to get a T-bone the other day..........nope...

[ndcowboy]

Live cattle prices are at all time highs. I spend a fair amount of time at the sale barn, and it is no uncommon to see yearlings bringing close to $2000 a head - and they still need a few months of feeding before slaughter. Cattle prices keep going up and corn prices keep going down. I think you are going to see higher meat prices before you see cheaper.

[BigSky56]

If you feed animal protein to a ungulate you will end up with diseases, I saw a old empty mineral lick with a sticker on the on the side that listed animal proteins in the ingredients that was 20 years ago. MCD hammered Canada and the US, if I remember correctly it was dairy cattle that had it. danny

[7.62 Precision]

7.62, you are a gentleman, and I'm sure that if it was your call it would not have went down as such. But I cannot speak for the others that made the decision that kept Canadian beef out of the States for so long. I am not convinced that it was not a ripe opportunity to close the market.

There were a couple instances but the scare that stopped the import of Canadian beef was due to some live cattle that were purchased from Canada and shipped to the US. They were tested and some were found to have the disease. Pretty sure they were milk cattle, not beef, but milk cows go to beef eventually.

If I were making the decision, I would also have blocked the import of Canadian beef, or beef from any country that feeds animal proteins to the cattle. It is a poor practice proven to be dangerous. If it were up to me, I would also block much of what is done in the US cattle and farming industry, so nothing against Canada. In some ways, things are better there.

If brain matter and marrow, etc. are not consumed, there is little chance of humans contracting the disease, but we all know that in any industry there will be someone willing to do anything for an extra buck, like slipping some brains into hamburger meat.

As far as I know, no human has contracted the disease in the US or Canada.

Unfortunately, the US beef industry, as well as most of the farming industry, is as bad or worse than anywhere else in the world. We may not feed animal protein to cows, but we do a lot of other really bad stuff with chemicals and pesticides and GMOs, etc.

The move from the family farm/ranch to the factory farm/feed lot was a bad move for society and for our food supply.

The fruit we are getting in Alaska has deteriorated to the point that my wife and I have been discussing in the last few days whether there are any options for getting good fruit here now. We throw away easy half of what we buy now as it is unfit to eat - handled poorly and rotting internally by the time we get it.

There was a time that the fruit you could get in AK if you were on the road system was some of the best you could get in the country. Since we had to import it anyway, it came from all over the world. Now that the big chain stores have taken over, they just ship up junk from their supply in the Lower 48.

If you visit NZ you will be amazed how much better the food is. From beef to fruit, it tastes better, is fresher, is better cared for, and you feel better when you eat it than when you eat American food. We could learn a lot . . .

Oh, and YOU CAN'T GROW BRAEBURNS IN CALIFORNIA, OR KIWIS EITHER! You just get stuff.

[BigSky56]

One of the things that helped the American small stock producers was the COOL law "country of origin label". about 10 years ago I was hauling long yearling bulls to a ranch on the Blackfeet Rez and was fueling up a Canadian trucker pulled in the trk stop and asked for directions to the Kalispell auction I asked him what he was hauling he said Canadian beef but really he said they were south american beef that had just finished a 30 day quarantine and were now considered Canadian beef. Its a game the govs play and big corps to. South american beef become Canadian becomes US beef. Try wearing a R-Calf hat or jacket at a auction with a bunch of packer buyers they hate the rule. danny

[BAGTIC]

Fine looking cattle!!!!

Especially the one with the whip!

[BAGTIC]

A hundred years ago grain fattened beef was almost unknown. Before mechanization of the grain production it was simply too expensive to feed to cattle. Also, a hundred years ago beeves were normally killed at about 3 years of age so they would naturally have been more flavorful. Likewise grilling beef over a hot fast fire was uncommon. Most beef would have been cooked slowly with moisture so tenderness was not as critical. That was one reason for the emphasis at the time on extended aging that I, for one, decry. On line copies of old cookbooks are readily available for comparison.

However bad people may think modern beef production methods may b e they have made beef available to more people at reasonable costs than ever before. The industry is a business and it supplies customers with what the customers want. If the consumers place price above quality that is their choice.

[piller]

Did anyone watch the TV program "Leverage"? It had a New Zealand born actress named Gina Bellman in it. If I were younger and single, New Zealand would sound like a place to visit.

[winchester1886]

So what you are saying Piller is you wouldn't mind a bit of New Zealand rump steak.

[2571]

:IIRC, my venison costs (totally) me about $250.00/lb USD (+/-), including special clothing, weapon, licenses, butchering tool(s), & vacuum-packing equipment."

Same for turkey season. Come April, everybody want to get outside after snow melt. New SG, new knife, new boots, etc. That's about when stores begin offering turkeys for Easter dinner -- 59¢ per pound.

[KiwiKev]

Here is a tip for naturally tenderising beef. Thinly slice some kiwi fruit and place it top and bottom your steak. Put it back in the fridge for a good long time. Your steak should be perfectly tender with a slight kiwi fruit flavour.