Beef costs increased 12.2% last year alone! - Global BC news

[Seeker]

This is even more of a reason to be angry with new allocation policy presented recently.

I consider myself quite fortunate in regards to being able to provide food and shelter to my family, but just last week I turned away from a single steak that was listed at $22(it was a big steak, but not a premium cut - some steaks were even more pricey) . My 3.5 year old boy asked me if we could have steak for dinner. I simply couldn't justify paying that type of money. Again, I consider myself fortunate, I can only image what less fortunate families feel like. They most likely would completely skip the meat isle in the grocery store and find some sort of less healthy processed substitute.

The new allocation policy is taking very healthy food off our tables. Not only that, but if we were to purchase comparable foods in the grocery store, we would be paying thousands more. If you look in the produce area where organic vegetables cost a lot more, then transfer that concept to meat, the price would be even less affordable. If you take a 200 lb average for a wild animal and a butchering cost of .85 cents a pound(just picked up a deer last week) it would cost 170$ and tax. The same cost of 5.5 steaks at the grocery store! Damn! If we wanted, we could de bone our animals, and our butchering costs would be reduced further by approximately 40%.

I can guarantee more people are going to be hunting as beef costs continue to escalate. We need to protect our wildlife resources and stop the newly proposed wildlife allocation policy from being implemented.

To the younger guys out there, take your phones and create group texts and spread the word, for those more 'seasoned' hunters :wink:, get onto email and lets not forget about phone calls and letters to our MLA's. Let's continue with this pressure.

[Hanrahan]

It skyrocketed at the farm level. Higher fuel/feed prices are mostly to blame. I have a friend in Alberta with a small "farm". He has maybe 30 head of cattle at most. Last winter he sold his bull to curb inbreeding. They need to be changed every few years I guess in a small herd. Anyway, he didn't replace the bull right away. He waited till spring. Sold his bull in the fall for $800 or so and had to spend almost 2k to replace it in the spring.

In the states there are different issues. Low cattle numbers, caused by poor feed management, subsidies and drought have lead to higher demand. Remember the big drought and corn/wheat emergency in the states a couple years ago? Crops were dying. Farmers couldn't feed their cattle. The government put a big push on corn based ethynol to use the corn before it died. That all drove up the cost of feed once the reserves had been used up. Farmers reduced herd size in order to be able to feed them. Feed prices have come back down and reserves have been built up again, but it hasn't trickled down the food chain yet. Cattle are just about the least efficient food source out there. The amount of space and feed they need per pound of meat is astronomical.

[steel_ram]

I will only eat a "good" steak so I don't eat beef very often. Interesting that some reports state that giving up beef would be better for the environment than giving up your car. Maybe everyone would be better off eating a little less of it.

[broncoo]

No beef in my house a good cut of beef is like a shitty cut of game or home grown animal

[steel_ram]

Cattle is not only a major source of methane, but gives me the farts. Not that I don't enjoy having a good fart on call, but the rest of the family isn't so keen.

[russm]

We were buying grocery store ground beef in a 2 or 3 pound log from save on for $12, part way through the year it went up to $22 for the same amount, I've started driving to Abby to go to a little butcher to get better quality fresh beef for cheaper, and I fill up with cheap gas on the way back home!

[Seeker]

I've started driving to Abby to go to a little butcher to get better quality fresh beef for cheaper, and I fill up with cheap gas on the way back home!

Why don't you drive another 19 hours north and get your moose, that's what the GOABC thinks you should do so they can hunt locally! :-P

[russm]

Why don't you drive another 19 hours north and get your moose, that's what the GOABC thinks you should do so they can hunt locally! :-P

Dont get me started in in a pretty good mood today...

[todbartell]

I eat a lot of beef, as family own a small farm. A side will run $800-900 and easily feed 2 people for a year.

[Iron Glove]

I eat a lot of beef, as family own a small farm. A side will run $800-900 and easily feed 2 people for a year.

We are presently looking into that type of an option, i.e. buying a side from local ranchers.
We love beef but have been cutting back on portions which we probably should be doing anyways.
Also eating more chicken and pork.
Will be fully retired by next hunting season too so hope to get a lot more serious hunting in.

[Cookie1965]

We get 1/6 of a cow every year, really nice organic beef but it's gone up in price 42% since 2012

[Trophyslayer]

I eat a lot of beef, as family own a small farm. A side will run $800-900 and easily feed 2 people for a year. I don't know anywhere else where you could get beef that cheap. We raise cattle and I was buying 500lb feeder calves for 2.75lb for the feedlot. It's not going to get cheaper any time soon

[Cookie1965]

My 1/6 cost me $425 cut and wrapped.

[markomoose]

One large deep freezer is full of game.Moose/deer and bear.Just picked up my deer today.Gonna try the Maple smokies for dinner tonight.When I rarely buy beef its just a few steaks covered in fungus.BTW I feel Costco has some of the better steaks out there. Cheers Mark

[Blainer]

Why don't you drive another 19 hours north and get your moose, that's what the GOABC thinks you should do so they can hunt locally! :-P$300 in fuel each way.
$200- $300 in fuel to hunt
tags, lic, shells , accomodations, week off work, wear and tear on vehicle, butcher fee's, equipment
Needless to say, Game meat is by far the most expensive meat that I eat.
Unless you can hunt out your back door, hunting is not about saving money on meat.

[russm]

$300 in fuel each way.
$200- $300 in fuel to hunt
tags, lic, shells , accomodations, week off work, wear and tear on vehicle, butcher fee's, equipment
Needless to say, Game meat is by far the most expensive meat that I eat.
Unless you can hunt out your back door, hunting is not about saving money on meat.

People don't seem to realize how expensive it can be, as soon as someone heard I'm going I get the old " oh I'll take a roast and some steaks if you get somehing, it's free meat after all".

[Moose63]

$300 in fuel each way.
$200- $300 in fuel to hunt
tags, lic, shells , accomodations, week off work, wear and tear on vehicle, butcher fee's, equipment
Needless to say, Game meat is by far the most expensive meat that I eat.
Unless you can hunt out your back door, hunting is not about saving money on meat.

I totally agree, if I wanted to save money I'd quit hunting and buy beef......

[Seeker]

$300 in fuel each way.$200- $300 in fuel to hunt
tags, lic, shells , accomodations, week off work, wear and tear on vehicle, butcher fee's, equipment
Needless to say, Game meat is by far the most expensive meat that I eat.

Unless you can hunt out your back door, hunting is not about saving money on meat.

A very good point that further strengths our argument against giving away allocated tags to outfitters.

I took out a hunter this year that drifted away from hunting years ago. He inherited his rifle from his late father, does not own a truck, and rents his house because he can't afford to buy. This guy had only put in a few hundred dollars to hunt for an entire year. So yes it can be expensive if we choose to make it so, but it can be very inexpensive also. Travel and accommodation are not necessary if a local LEH is drawn. Time off work is not needed if hunts are local. Hunts can be done in the evenings and on the weekends. It is this type of hunter that does not have the ability to travel far distances or afford such trips, that are losing the most when our local tags are taken and given away!

[Farmer]

It skyrocketed at the farm level. Higher fuel/feed prices are mostly to blame. I have a friend in Alberta with a small "farm". He has maybe 30 head of cattle at most. Last winter he sold his bull to curb inbreeding. They need to be changed every few years I guess in a small herd. Anyway, he didn't replace the bull right away. He waited till spring. Sold his bull in the fall for $800 or so and had to spend almost 2k to replace it in the spring.

In the states there are different issues. Low cattle numbers, caused by poor feed management, subsidies and drought have lead to higher demand. Remember the big drought and corn/wheat emergency in the states a couple years ago? Crops were dying. Farmers couldn't feed their cattle. The government put a big push on corn based ethynol to use the corn before it died. That all drove up the cost of feed once the reserves had been used up. Farmers reduced herd size in order to be able to feed them. Feed prices have come back down and reserves have been built up again, but it hasn't trickled down the food chain yet. Cattle are just about the least efficient food source out there. The amount of space and feed they need per pound of meat is astronomical.

A lot of misinformation in this post. The Farmer has little to do with the price of his beef. The buyers at the market decide the price. Higher fuel/feed prices just reduce the farmer's margin in his beef production. The drought in the states did reduce the cattle numbers significantly. It was not caused by "poor feed management" The increasing milk price in the US resulted in more dairy cows staying in production rather than being sent to market. As a result, there was less beef for sale and the price goes up with demand. The ranchers that are still in the industry are in rebuild mode so that extra cattle are being kept for breeding stock and not marketed. This will keep the price up for probably another year or even two.

[r106]

My buddy was selling a side of beef for about 1200-1300$ includes taxes, slaughter, hanging, cut and wrap. Good thing I went in on a side because if I didn't I would be eating nothing but tag soup this winter

[Gilmore]

I eat a lot of beef, as family own a small farm. A side will run $800-900 and easily feed 2 people for a year.

Slaughtered, cut and wrapped? If so whoever you're getting your beef from is selling it at a loss right now.

[Gun Dog]

Last September at auction beef was $2.20/lb pound on the hoof. The yield is about 40% so that's $5.50/lb for a mix of ground, roasts and steaks. There's slaughtering and butchering costs too.

If you have some acreage and some farm income ($2,500 for 5ac) you get a huge discount (around 80%) on your taxes. If I raised (and sold) 3-4 cattle my taxes would go from $5K to $1K. Even if I made no money on the cattle I'm still ahead.

The current price for beef at auction is $1.10/lb. On craigslist you can buy a side locally for $5/lb. The yield is 65% so $7.70/lb plus cut & wrap.