Also, as someone who's raised chicken and beef for farmgate and farmers' market sales... it really pizzes me off to see the boutique prices being charged by folks in those sales avenues now.

You can't claim that your meats COST MORE, when you're NOT PAYING FOR for boosted meds & boosted feeds.

If you're just selling grass fed beef, and free range chickens it is just predatory pricing, taking advantage of yuppie idiots to be charging nearly double that of moderate store pricing.

Sorry, end rant. lol

Also, as someone who's raised chicken and beef for farmgate and farmers' market sales… it really pizzes me off to see the boutique prices being charged by folks in those sales avenues now.

You can't claim that your meats COST MORE, when you're NOT PAYING FOR for boosted meds & boosted feeds.

If you're just selling grass fed beef, and free range chickens it is just predatory pricing, taking advantage of yuppie idiots to be charging nearly double that of moderate store pricing.

Sorry, end rant. lol

I agree that some places are charging a lot. However, meat in the past has mostly been sold for less than the cost to raise it. People still expect the same low prices but costs have gone up and small farms are going out of business faster than they can start up. You need to be a millionaire to get started and have a hope these days.

I may not be paying for boosted meds and feeds (not allowed in Canada by the way) but I am paying more for diesel, equipment/repairs, grass seed (read pasture maintenance) hay fields need to be renewed every 3-4 years, extra hay and fertilizer, fencing, salt and minerals, hydro, heating, building maintenance, property tax and land. Most farms have a mortgage to pay as well. You may read about the increase in farm incomes, but what they fail to mention is that they are including off farm income in the figures and mostly counting grain farmers. Most small farmers (the ones who raise most of the grassfed animals) cannot afford to run a farm without an additional day job.

Processing costs have jumped by $200 per steer for a average total cost of around $600.00, this past year and it costs close to $5.00/chicken to have them processed at an inspected abattoir as well. Add in foxes and coyotes poaching your grass fed anything and price per pound lost needs to be covered as well. With the cost of home grown GMO free feed that chicken costs me close to $20.00 to produce and I haven't paid myself a dime. Are you willing to work 24/7 for free? I am not, so either people pay or I don't bother raising meat chickens for the general public any more. By regulation I can only raise 300 birds/year so not much chance of a profit doing it the healthy humane way. That is why most people get to eat factory birds. Now, even the factory birds are costing more to produce and as there becomes fewer chicken processors, they can raise the prices due to less competition.

With steers finally fetching a decent price at auction for the first time in 20 years, I cannot see a reason to sell at a major loss to "yuppie idiots" or any one else. Hamburger at my local store is fetching $5.79 lb. Buy half a steer from a farmer at $5.00 a pound, steaks, roasts, and hamburger and complain its too high. I sold every thing at auction this year and gave up the hassle of farmgate sales.

There is a shortage of cows and it will be a long while before that situation gets corrected. Many small farmers are older and are selling out now while the selling is good. A good deal of the cows being sold are shipped overseas to other markets. Welcome to the new world order.

Sorry, rant off.

Oddduck,
Along with the fuel and feed subsidies small raisers don't always qualify for here, and the sliding tax platforms that help more the bigger you are, you missed the purchase price of non-hormone chicks or the incubation or raising out of home-bred chicks, which sometimes have restriction on sale or require paying for certification checks here in the U.S. Most of them are also under the limits where insurance for lost animals comes into play, because otherwise they can't keep up without hiring out, and hiring out costs direct pay + insurance against injury and liability + health coverage now.

We do have some gate stands and farmer's markets where instead of a low-cost option, it's turned into expensive food because of the "yuppy" interest in 100-mile diets. But when it comes to livestock, comparing grass-fed, chem-free meats from small raisers to large operations, it's either penny-to-penny or within touching distance. We just buy the fruits and veggies from the ones who are still at the low-rent sites and from super-small growers at trade day who are basically just selling their surplus. Works for us.