I am a farmer, rancher and one of the many of less than 2% of the population that produces food for your city slicker mouths. This is in response to you complaining about how we who produce food are destroying the world and making ‘all that money’. If you have half a clue as to what you were saying, you would zip your lip. Allow me to explain some of what it takes to get one package of hamburger to your house.
5 years prior to the birth of the animal that made your package of hamburger, a rancher either purchased a heifer (Young cow that hasn’t had a calf before.) or raised one. It is actually more profitable (If $395 is a big profit) to raise your own, which requires understanding good genetics and selecting the right semen or bull to raise said heifer. Then you spend around $2300 per heifer to get them up to breeding age.
When the heifer calves out (has a calf), the cost to raise that calf to slaughter weight at around1300 pounds is $1700. So to get that animal to the slaughter house, the rancher has $4000 invested in that animal that he sells to the packing house at maybe $1790. Yeah, he profited around $90 (whoopti doo!) for that calf but he is still in the hole around $3900 for his investment. That cow may or may not go on to have 5 to 6 other calves or if she is of good stock and longevity, let’s say 8 more calves. He may have gotten his money back on his investment of that cow, maybe not.
That steer the rancher sold for around $1790 goes into the packing plant and in less than 3 days is in the store or on your plate. The meat packer makes a profit of around $2000 off that $1790 steer. You see, as the steps to the consumer got up, so does the profit of the handlers of that product after it leaves the ranch. If you bought directly from the producer, your food would be a LOT cheaper.
Let’s address the issue of destroying the world. Did you know, that the land cattle graze is unfit for farming (growing a crop)? Cattle utilize the grass and turn it into protein in a most efficient manner. You aren’t getting a product that has chemicals in it like the ‘plant based’ chemicals you are purchasing as meat replacer. Beef is 100% organic versus chemical fake meat. Did you also know that ranchers practice special grazing techniques to ensure the land continues to produce grass yearly? I bet not, you don’t care, you just believe that the global environmentalists say. But yeah, in the Flint Hills, cattle are usually allowed to graze for short periods of time on the prairie. This allows them to get the nutrients needed to grow and then when removed, the prairie can continue to grow and maintain itself from year-to-year. Oh and the early spring burn,, that allows for the old growth to burn to leave potash, which is needed for plant growth. The black ashes also absorb the sun’s heat and warms the earth so the grass can grow back sooner so when the spring rains come in April, the grass is there to prevent much soil erosion. By burning, it also allows for more grass to grow where the old grass would kill out areas of grass.
Did you know that a lot of people in agriculture are using goats to graze areas of land that are overgrown with weeds instead of using chemical? Probably not. You don’t care. All you care about is the price of your food and what someone on television says. You refuse to think that anyone in agriculture that ‘rapes’ the land by putting cattle on it are incapable of doing any good. When in fact we are preserving the land in the best way possible since the great federal government killed off all the bison in the 1800’s.
Did you know that the rancher that raised that package of hamburger probably was up every two hours every night for at least a month, checking on that heifer that had that calf you are now eating? Do you know that most ranchers may gross hundreds of thousands of dollars every year but when they take out their costs of medicines, machinery to produce feed and hay for that steer, the fuel, maintenance and other costs, like shipping, income tax, property tax, vehicle taxes and fuel tax; they are lucky to maybe make $30,000/ year? Some ranchers and farmers even have to have a town job so they can continue to produce that package of hamburger you are cooking in that skillet right now.
When I worked in the feed yards, I sat down and figured out what I was making per hour and it was WAY below minimum wage. Some days I was making a whole $4/hour, on longer days I was down to around $2.50 per hour and that was in the early 2000’s. It hasn’t changed much since then. If you add in a rancher paying me, paying for the fuel used to transport me and my horse to check outside cattle, run the feed truck, the payloader to fill the truck with feed, the tractor to cut hay or plant crops, there isn’t much left. Do you really think $90/head of profit goes very far?
You may ask why the ranchers, farmers and us cowboys continue to do what we do if it doesn’t pay that well. You would have to understand the lifestyle behind it and your city slicker head would never be able to fathom this life. In fact, you are so used to going to an easy job, your bodies couldn’t handle the hard work we farmers and ranchers put our bodies through to provide that package of hamburger to you. Until you can walk a week in our shoes, you will have no clue but still, we do it to provide food for you.
Educated Cowpuncher 