Beef shortage? How about beef from Craigslist?

"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn) 05/07/2020 at 09:39 • Filed to: beeflopnik

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Gotta admit, I never thought of this until my BIL mentioned that he is going in with another guy on some beef from Craigslist. Being in TX, I thought that might actually make some sense. A quick search turned up this offer, which actually looks pretty darned good. I just don’t have the freezer space. Lampasas is about an hour drive from me.

Having difficulty getting fresh beef because of Supply Chain Problems? Bypass all if it and buy direct from ranch in Williamson County. I have reserved slots to have two animals butchered in Lampasas.

grass fed beef.

Most people do not need all the meat from a whole calf which will be about 250 to 300# so I am selling 1/4 interest in live animal. It will be delivered to the butcher and you can pickup your share at the butcher in Lampasas.

1 /4 interest sells for $320. Prices include butcher charges.

Here is what you will get with 1/4 interest in the .

** 16 packages of Steaks (ribeye, round, T-bone, sirloin)

** 3 packages of Roasts

** 1 package of Brisket

** 2 packages of Short Ribs

** 17 packages of Ground beef (1 # packages)

Total Estimated weight = 60 - 65 #

This figures to be about $5.12 per lb which compares to HEB price for grass fed ground beef of $5.15 to $6.17 per pound and much more for the steaks.

Meat will be cut, wrapped, and frozen by a Lampasas bu tcher business.

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OPPOsaurus WRX > ttyymmnn 05/07/2020 at 09:47

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holy shit, i’d be all over that

MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s > ttyymmnn 05/07/2020 at 09:47

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I know a few people who have done this around here too. If you have a deep freezer it’s definitely worth it.

ttyymmnn > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s 05/07/2020 at 09:50

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I would  need a bigger freezer. 

CalzoneGolem > ttyymmnn 05/07/2020 at 09:51

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Half a cow is a lot of meat. Our neighbors raise cows and pigs been thinking about getting meat from them for awhile. COVID might make me get a big deep freezer and half a pig.

MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s > ttyymmnn 05/07/2020 at 09:52

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That’s the only reason I haven’t done it my self. 

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > ttyymmnn 05/07/2020 at 09:57

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Honestly, it would be pretty great if, through this supply crisis, more relationships between farmers/ranchers and individual buyers are made that actually continue after this crazy time. Consider how much better the animals’ lives would be, how much less transportation/emissions, and how much healthier the meat itself is. It’s less convenient of course (money up front, freezer space to store it), but some serious upsides.

ttyymmnn > CalzoneGolem 05/07/2020 at 09:58

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This is only 1/4 of a cow. I remember when I bought 1/4 cord of wood for my condo fireplace. Holy crap, that was still a lot of wood. 

TheRealBicycleBuck > ttyymmnn 05/07/2020 at 09:59

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That’s a great idea. I might have room to put a freezer in the garage sometime later this year.

ttyymmnn > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 05/07/2020 at 09:59

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Agreed. It’s just that most people don’t have the time (or wouldn’t take the time) to make a 2.5 hour drive to get a couple month’s worth of food. If I had the freezer space, I’d do it in a heartbeat. 

SBA Thanks You For All The Fish > ttyymmnn 05/07/2020 at 10:00

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Up north, ie Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, there are recurrent stories that the independent processor/butchers are inundated with these requests... and backlogged for many, many months. It’s a huge problem, given the numbers of livestock that WERE contracted to larger processors... who can’t take them. One buddy was commenting (hogs) that he needed Jenny Craig for livestock because he was already at the “upper limit” on weight. A 400 pound feeder hog is just a bad joke with no place to tell it.

This is definitely one of those “unanticipated problems”.

Manny05x > ttyymmnn 05/07/2020 at 10:02

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Good luck finding a deep freezer, i had the same idea but around here is easier to find toilet paper than a deep freezer.

Phyrxes once again has a wagon! > ttyymmnn 05/07/2020 at 10:09

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1/4 Cow is a lot of meat, but yeah if you have a full size or chest freezer in a garage/basement its totally worth it.  I do a buyers club and buy meats at about 6 months worth at a time but we have also done a 1/4 cow purchase this way.  I think I drove about an hour to go pick it up from the butcher and it was competitively priced for grass fed.  The big gamble you are going with is what cuts are you going to get in what quantities as it is so animal specific.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > ttyymmnn 05/07/2020 at 10:11

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Seller may be willing to meet in the middle to make a sale.

Looks like $300 buys a good 7 cubic foot freezer. So, you’ve got to factor that cost (and the cost of running it) into the equation as well.

We have a normal refrigerator, and a garage fridge, and a chest freezer...

Mrs. addiction came from a family who always had a well-stocked pantry and freezer. Ours sure c ame in handy at the beginning of our quarantine!

TheRealBicycleBuck > ttyymmnn 05/07/2020 at 10:11

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My buddy with the farm tried raising a few cows. His farm is a farm , and didn’t have the right fencing to deal with cows. So, he thought he could cobble something together and make do. He learned that cows are smarter than he realized and his preparations weren’t nearly enough to keep his cows at home.

Did you know that cows’ horns are effective insulators and they can use them to break the wires on an electric fence? That’s the trick that sent the cows to the butcher earlier than planned.

He ’s sworn off raising any more cows.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > CalzoneGolem 05/07/2020 at 10:12

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It’s time. 

ttyymmnn > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 05/07/2020 at 10:16

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We’ve got a kitchen fridge, a garage fridge, and an upright garage freezer. I’ve got a fair bit of covid stocks in the freezer now, so there’s no way I could put 65# of beef in there now.

As for meeting half way, I’d just make the drive. It would be good to get out and on the road. It’s a nice drive anyway.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > SBA Thanks You For All The Fish 05/07/2020 at 10:16

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It was bad enough to see farmers plowing under crops and draining milk trucks... The government really needs to step in to purchase food and find a way to get in into the hands of people who are waiting in long lines at food pantries. 

ttyymmnn > TheRealBicycleBuck 05/07/2020 at 10:17

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You sure they escaped on their own?

https://www.theonion.com/animal-rights-activists-release-71-000-cows-into-wild-1819564990

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > ttyymmnn 05/07/2020 at 10:22

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Ah, gotcha. I starting getting wind of the meat shortages before it started hitting the major news outlets, so we stocked up some just prior.

Pretty crazy hearing that big chains like Wendy’s aren’t able to keep their supply chain flowing.

Off-topic: did you year about the McDonalds employees getting shot in OKC because they told a woman it was drive-thru only (similar to the man killed in Michigan)? Our country is broken/breaking...

TheRealBicycleBuck > ttyymmnn 05/07/2020 at 10:25

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Hah!

Yeah, he couldn’t figure out how they were knocking down the fence, so he got them corralled, reset the fence, then watched them escape 10 minutes later.

ttyymmnn > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 05/07/2020 at 10:26

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Had not heard of the OKC story. Had heard of the other one. I’m keeping my head down and staying indoors as much as possible. I’m not sure if the country as a whole is breaking, but people who were always kind of close to the edge are stepping off. 

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > ttyymmnn 05/07/2020 at 10:27

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This is a great deal. Typically the non-lot raised beef is tastier too. Like others said you have to make the investment in a big ass freezer. There is no way I could put 60 lbs of meat in my kitchen freezer. If I intent to get another deer or elk this fall I will have to invest in a chest freezer tho...

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > ttyymmnn 05/07/2020 at 10:35

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https://oklahoman.com/article/5661827/okc-police-two-south-side-mcdonalds-employees-shot

SBA Thanks You For All The Fish > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 05/07/2020 at 10:46

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The milk thing is just weird— we can hardly keep it on the shelf in CA, yet they are dumping it in the midwest.

When we get through this knothole?  Somebody needs to step back and look at the big picture here, since so much of this makes no sense.

Thisismydisplayname > ttyymmnn 05/07/2020 at 11:08

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That sounds like the deal I have with my co-worker who raises beef.  The problem is getting the butcher slots.  He said his guy is booked up till November right now.  But he can get a couple animals in for him when he needs them.  Those prices aren’t too bad from that ad either.  

Thisismydisplayname > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 05/07/2020 at 11:11

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My wife and I were the same way. We’ve always had two fridges and a freezer, then the freezer started acting up and we bought a new one. We were going to turn  in the old one, but ended up defrosting it and keeping it.  Glad we had when all this started.  We’ve been keeping pretty stocked up, but with 4 little ones, we burn through a lot of food.  

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > SBA Thanks You For All The Fish 05/07/2020 at 11:11

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It’s all the two supply chains issue: same reason there’s plenty of “industrial” toilet paper, but the consumer-grade is hard to find. I’m sure getting milk in a 5 gallon plastic bag is no issue, but there’s only so much production capacity for cartons and gallon jugs.

It does make me wonder just how much food waste there is in schools, other big organizational settings and restaurants, though...

It’s just tragic seeing waste as people go hungry. 

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > Thisismydisplayname 05/07/2020 at 11:13

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Yup - we’ve got 3, and they’ll only ever eat more as long as they’re under our care! 

Stapleface-Now Hyphenated! > ttyymmnn 05/07/2020 at 11:15

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The idea of going in and buying a steer is certainly intriguing to me.  My biggest problem is the cost.  I understand that steaks and chops aren’t cheap.  My problem is that I was never a fan of most beef.  I’d like to buy like 60lbs of ground beef.  That’s really the only beef I want.  I doubt I can work that kind of deal. 

dogisbadob > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 05/07/2020 at 11:21

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and of course, Wendy’s social media gets spammed with “where’s the beef” posts lol

ttyymmnn > Stapleface-Now Hyphenated! 05/07/2020 at 11:22

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60# of GB would be all the GB from that one cow. You might find three other people who would be willing to go in on the whole cow and just take the other cuts. 

dogisbadob > ttyymmnn 05/07/2020 at 11:22

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If you know someone else nearby, maybe you guys could split the 1/4 cow. Divide it between 3-4 people, and you each have a lot of meet, yet it will fit in your freezer

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > dogisbadob 05/07/2020 at 11:25

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Some jokes write themselves. 

ttyymmnn > dogisbadob 05/07/2020 at 11:34

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I have thought of this. Need to check with a friend. 

CalzoneGolem > ttyymmnn 05/07/2020 at 11:36

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1/4 of a cow is still a lot of meat.

Mid Engine > ttyymmnn 05/07/2020 at 11:56

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The 4H club in Oregon has an annual auction, the kids raise the animals then get to make a profit when the auction comes around. I bought a cow and sp lit the meat with three friends, if memory serves it wasn’t a screaming deal but at the time, it was more about supporting the 4H. There’s some cuts of meat I don’t really care for b ut the butcher was amenable to turning it into groun d beef. I’d do it again but I’d probably get pork next time around.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > SBA Thanks You For All The Fish 05/07/2020 at 12:23

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“ one billion pounds of potatoes... ”

“ At least $5 billion of fresh fruits and vegetables have already been wasted, according to estimates from the Produce Marketing Association”

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/02/coronavirus-devastates-agriculture-dumped-milk-euthanized-livestock.html

ZHP Sparky, the 5th > ttyymmnn 05/07/2020 at 12:30

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This is not uncommon out here in Oregon - quite a few people I know do this. We were considering going in on a cow or a lamb before the world stopped spinning, and lost track of it - actually would’ve been the perfect time.

As others said, if you can find someone to share it with if a quarter cow is too much for you go for it - it’ll be awesome to have and not worry at all if/when shortages become more acute. 

DipodomysDeserti > davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com 05/07/2020 at 12:49

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I’ve been buying meat from ranchers at my local farmers market going on a decade now. I don’t eat a lot of meat, though. For a while my bro and I would buy a lamb shoulder every Sunday and crock pot it.

davesaddiction @ opposite-lock.com > DipodomysDeserti 05/07/2020 at 13:20

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That sounds fantastic. 

Shour, Aloof and Obnoxious > ttyymmnn 05/07/2020 at 14:03

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I solved the freezer issue by shrinking my beef supply. I started stocking up last week in anticipation of a possible meat shortage. I also new that I couldn’t keep 25 lbs of beef just sitting in the fridge indefinitely, either.

So I bought some pre-made jerky cures from Cabela's, as well as my own various recipes (I make an absolutely dynamite Thai heavenly beef jerky) plus curing salt. My oven has been running at 170° F for the last week. 

gmporschenut also a fan of hondas > ttyymmnn 05/07/2020 at 21:42

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This was 15 years ago, a  friend of my dads exchanged grazing on his land for the meat from one of the cows. He told my dad in advance to swing by one day when the meat would be dropped off. My dad at the last minute switched from his lunch cooler to one of the big picnic ones. His friend had no idea how much was getting dropped off. my dad went home with 10lbs of hamburg and and 15 of steaks. The next year he had the farmer pay him in cash.