The meat has never been more expensive, due to supply shortages, but there's a big squeeze on profits.

With US beef prices soaring to record highs, you might think that South Dakota cattle rancher Eric Gropper would be celebrating.

Yet while the cost of the meat in US supermarkets is now 12% higher than it was a year ago, a rise more than three times the rate of general inflation, Gropper says that he and all the other beef farmers aren’t making any more profit than usual.

  • commie@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    1·
    2 months ago
    thousands_of_head_of_cows = 9448.0
actual_cows = 1000 * thousands_of_head_of_cows
annual_male_calves = .5 * actual_cows
veal_weight_of_calves_in_pounds = 260
annual_veal_production_in_millions_of_pounds = 58
annual_percentage_of_bobby_calves_that_become_veal = ((annual_veal_production_in_millions_of_pounds * 1000000) / (veal_weight_of_calves_in_pounds * annual_male_calves))*100
print(annual_percentage_of_bobby_calves_that_become_veal)

    4.722204129486094%

    • ElcaineVolta@kbin.melroy.org
      1·
      2 months ago

      imagine shrugging those numbers off, assuming they’re even close to the reality. that’s a lot of babies to separate from their mothers, and a ton of throats to slash, are you chipping in or what?

      • commie@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        1·
        2 months ago

        they’re not babies, they’re calves. if you can get me some other figures I’d be happy to look at them. but the numbers I found support exactly what I said: hardly any calves end up as veal at all.