Can we blame Biden? What next cost of milk taking Cheese Curds off the market? Texas barbecue has a math problem. Specifically, with the cost of brisket. Both in how much a pitmaster pays to acquire and cook the raw product and in what the customer pays to consume the finished product. This has resulted in the unthinkable: some barbecue joint pitmasters have considered removing brisket from their menus, if only temporarily. No one is willing to go on the record yet, though. The days of brisket as a Texas barbecue joint staple may be numbered
We've had several smaller scale butchers open up in my area lately. They butcher and offer local cattle and will do yours as well if you bring it in. I wonder if this might put a small dent in the big packing plants if it continues to grow?
For what it’s worth the cattle inventory has been shrinking for various reasons for some time. With the pricing now at incredible high margins everyone with a bovine is bringing everything they have to the market, reducing cattle inventories even more. I talk about this once a week with rancher friends. Our guess is in 9-12 months beef will easily double in price. Mexican and Australian beef may slow the price increase down but the quality is not as good.
I have several cattle ranches near my house now. I can tell you there are a million calves roaming the pastures right now, so I'm guessing they are going to try make some of that money Ralph is talking about.