For those of you who also buy meat at the grocery store- we need not remind you that meat prices are WAY UP across the board! RECORD prices in fact. The recession has taken the wind out of domestic consumption and with droughts in the south and west, cattle supplies have dried up. Simple supply and demand. Also, commodity prices for common feed-stocks for livestock feed have been volatile and trending higher still. Developing countries are developing a taste for beef, while they don't have the infrastructure to supply it- hello export market demand!
We're a local producer, but nevertheless not insulated from the price swings in the market as we buy select feeder stock that is becoming pretty near and dear in the marketplace. We buy locally, but those prices are pegged to what the wider market is bearing- and why not? Farmers have had to munch on dry stale toast for years and what a chance to pay down debt, why not?! For the last 30+ years I've seen feeder prices hovering in the $0.50- $0.80/lb range for feeder cattle...that is until recently. Can you say ouch to a doubling to tripling of these prices!!! Our new prices have to reflect this reality.
How can we help you keep clean, local meat in your menus? Our imminently due price list update includes a modest adjustment to our lower end cuts while putting a premium on our higher end steaks- in keeping with our philosophy of acknowledging the reality of supply and demand (a mere 10-12% of the animal is premium steak), but we should be casting our imagination and menus toward the cornucopia of great tasting, lower end cuts. Those lower cuts have been relegated to the back burner for years during the booming years of only a few years ago. But alas- a new reality! Plus, we produce whole animals and we must market the whole animal. By pricing the higher end cuts appropriately, we all can eat great clean beef during this time of high prices.
We will be working hard to help you make the most of our lower end cuts- from recipes, special sales and promotions and tastings at markets! We really know how to make the most of all our cuts and we're happy to share our ideas and love of those great under-appreciated cuts!!!!
We'll marinade a great chuck steak for dinner!!
Peace and great eating!
Hope to see you at the markets starting 6/16 in Waltham!
Dave
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Friday, March 16, 2012
Ground Beef and The Lean Trimmings Debate
No treated lean beef trimmings in our ground beef!
Talk about a firestorm of news around "pink slime"! The City of Boston is immediately pulling over 60,000 pounds of ground beef containing pink slime from their schools' cafeterias! But, they cannot find a replacement for it as only 30% of our country's ground beef is certified to be free of pink slime..... and the pink slime may even be in grocery stores! There is no requirement to state treated lean trimmings content on the label, too! Whoa!The USDA strenuously states that ammonium hydroxide treated lean beef trimmings are safe- maybe they are somewhat right- maybe. How many umpteen-thousands of tons of beef has been consumed with apparent little ill-effect? Ok...point taken..however precariously.
But, what about the issue of not telling consumers what they are eating? Was it really tested for safety? Is there any residual ammonium hydroxide in the meat? What is a safe level? What else will be learned tomorrow?
What is pink slime? Well, when beef is processed into familiar retail cuts, there is a lot of trimming.....a lot! In the name of efficiency, this trim loss does contain protein- a very important and expensive commodity, so it is an opportunity to increase efficiency. But when you include trimmings from the outer layers of the animal into ground beef- this layer is often contaminated. Fat is then separated out from the lean and a gooey protein rich product remains and pathogens are killed with gaseous ammonium hydroxide. Then add this protein back into the ground beef and stretch it out. And decrease the waste stream. Efficiency taken to an exponential level! There is an excellent story on this from NPR here: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/03/16/148740168/chances-are-pink-slime-is-in-grocery-store-beef-too
What happens when our farm's beef is processed? There is a lot trim loss and the outer layers are discarded and sold to renderers (pet food, cosmetics, other fillers). Trim pieces that are too small for cubed stew, kabob meat and other small cuts goes into ground beef and sausage. We take a lower carcass yield due to the trim that goes to the renderer. And pink slime is thankfully not an option in small-scale processing houses anyway. Along with us, our processor is committed to producing clean, safe, minimally processed and wholesome food!
So.....if you buy your food from a store it can be a puzzle to find out exactly what's in it and how it was produced. But there are moves toward greater transparency... a very good thing indeed!
AND, you should get to know your producer- whatever the product- meat, dairy, fruit, vegetables- as they'd be happy to tell you all the details of how your food was produced! And we all need to work toward consuming a lot less processed foods, too. Priceless information for a properly informed decision!!
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Eat our ground beef!
For those who follow our blog, the following plea is not new. We need to have you buy our ground beef! Sure our steaks are quite the treat; but one cannot live on steak alone! We cannot process more beef until we move our low-end cuts that is overwhelmingly our ground beef.
Ok, ok you say. You've talked about this already in previous posts- what's different this time?
Well, LOTS of things are different. Previously, our sales and promotions worked pretty well. But not now. Its not news that we are in extraordinary times! Not only are we in a persistently soft economy, but the collateral damage from this translates into a change in demographics and buying habits. There are lots of people who simply cannot afford our products. We know that. Then there are those who will only buy steak- as a result of only having enough money to buy that occasional "treat" of a steak or those who simply have more money these days. The widening class divide promotes a lot of steak eating for those who have more money now while at the same time we see a weakening of purchasing power for those who are falling down the economic ladder- no doubt these folks won't be able to buy even our value priced ground beef. We see this a LOT now. These two factors collude to keep ground beef in our inventory. A ground beef mountain has always been a problem for us, but more so now. So.........
If you buy our steaks, we thank you for your business and support! When you buy a steak, buy ground beef for your everyday eating! While it seems counter-intuitive, we'll sink out of sight if we can't sell our ground. We cannot process animals only to store ground. We cannot sell more steaks unless we process more animals. We cannot stay in business by sitting on inventory. Solution= buy ground beef (or patties or sausages). We have recipes and ideas at the ready to help!
Questions? Comments? Let us know!
Bon appetit!
Dave
Ok, ok you say. You've talked about this already in previous posts- what's different this time?
Well, LOTS of things are different. Previously, our sales and promotions worked pretty well. But not now. Its not news that we are in extraordinary times! Not only are we in a persistently soft economy, but the collateral damage from this translates into a change in demographics and buying habits. There are lots of people who simply cannot afford our products. We know that. Then there are those who will only buy steak- as a result of only having enough money to buy that occasional "treat" of a steak or those who simply have more money these days. The widening class divide promotes a lot of steak eating for those who have more money now while at the same time we see a weakening of purchasing power for those who are falling down the economic ladder- no doubt these folks won't be able to buy even our value priced ground beef. We see this a LOT now. These two factors collude to keep ground beef in our inventory. A ground beef mountain has always been a problem for us, but more so now. So.........
If you buy our steaks, we thank you for your business and support! When you buy a steak, buy ground beef for your everyday eating! While it seems counter-intuitive, we'll sink out of sight if we can't sell our ground. We cannot process animals only to store ground. We cannot sell more steaks unless we process more animals. We cannot stay in business by sitting on inventory. Solution= buy ground beef (or patties or sausages). We have recipes and ideas at the ready to help!
Questions? Comments? Let us know!
Bon appetit!
Dave
Monday, June 6, 2011
News On Pricing And New Markets
We have lots of news to talk about- from our new price list to our presence on Facebook (many thanks to my family and marketing team at Scanlon Web Design and Sound the Bugle Studio!), new farmers' markets and a recall on my latest rant on credit cards......we now take them!
First, as we previously warned on an earlier post, we have a new price list. Yes, unfortunately many prices had to go up. From spiking fuel prices for operating our machinery and to the pervasive effect this has on many things! From replacement calves priced historic highs (we've watched with great wonder how prices could have remained steady for over 30 years, but they did NOT until late 2010!). And when we speak of fueling machinery, it must be said...OLD machinery. These need care, time, expensive parts and eventually need to be traded in.
An important note on our new price structure is that it reflects a unique logistics problem here. It appears that our high end cuts are moving at a brisk pace that is leaving our lower priced items to sit in inventory for too long. Not only is a small mountain forming, but if it doesn't sell, cash doesn't flow to cover costs. If some of our costs are not fully covered, then we have to re-price those items that do sell so we can cover our costs. You'll see our steaks have a higher per pound price to reflect this issue. How can you help? Bring our low cost "everyday" cuts more into your meal planning routine. Not only are they a healthy and clean food for your family, your purchases can help us stabilize prices across our whole product range. If more ground beef and lower cost cuts move more quickly, then we'd be happy to LOWER the prices on our legendary steaks!
Due to the urging and help from my marketing guru and sister, we're now on Facebook! Check us out at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Caledonia-Farm/217381011617402
We hope to use this very popular social media outlet to stay in better touch with you- and since a quarter of the civilized world is using social media, we should use it, too. Many of customers say they religiously use Facebook......and that probably includes you!
We ranted earlier about the rampant mis-deeds of our banks and bankers to include a rant against credit cards. Well, it appears that there is still some common sense, low cost ways to beat the "common wisdom" of high fees and catches in merchant banking. We found one through our local bank- WITH personal service, WITH much lower fees, WITH great support! So, if you re shy on cash at the markets, pull out your plastic- we'll take it!
Join us at the Waltham Market starting June 11 and now at Wayland on June 22!
Thank you for your support!
Dave
First, as we previously warned on an earlier post, we have a new price list. Yes, unfortunately many prices had to go up. From spiking fuel prices for operating our machinery and to the pervasive effect this has on many things! From replacement calves priced historic highs (we've watched with great wonder how prices could have remained steady for over 30 years, but they did NOT until late 2010!). And when we speak of fueling machinery, it must be said...OLD machinery. These need care, time, expensive parts and eventually need to be traded in.
An important note on our new price structure is that it reflects a unique logistics problem here. It appears that our high end cuts are moving at a brisk pace that is leaving our lower priced items to sit in inventory for too long. Not only is a small mountain forming, but if it doesn't sell, cash doesn't flow to cover costs. If some of our costs are not fully covered, then we have to re-price those items that do sell so we can cover our costs. You'll see our steaks have a higher per pound price to reflect this issue. How can you help? Bring our low cost "everyday" cuts more into your meal planning routine. Not only are they a healthy and clean food for your family, your purchases can help us stabilize prices across our whole product range. If more ground beef and lower cost cuts move more quickly, then we'd be happy to LOWER the prices on our legendary steaks!
Due to the urging and help from my marketing guru and sister, we're now on Facebook! Check us out at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Caledonia-Farm/217381011617402
We hope to use this very popular social media outlet to stay in better touch with you- and since a quarter of the civilized world is using social media, we should use it, too. Many of customers say they religiously use Facebook......and that probably includes you!
We ranted earlier about the rampant mis-deeds of our banks and bankers to include a rant against credit cards. Well, it appears that there is still some common sense, low cost ways to beat the "common wisdom" of high fees and catches in merchant banking. We found one through our local bank- WITH personal service, WITH much lower fees, WITH great support! So, if you re shy on cash at the markets, pull out your plastic- we'll take it!
Join us at the Waltham Market starting June 11 and now at Wayland on June 22!
Thank you for your support!
Dave
Sunday, April 24, 2011
UNCLE!!!!!
Oh, boy here it comes AGAIN! Another energy price surge like we saw back in 2008! We just bought $4+/gal. fuel for the farm, machinery spare parts, oils and other supplies and chicken feed. Our fuel bill just increased by THOU$AND$ overnight. Can you say OUCH?
We maintain a pretty steady pulse on our financials to make sure we are pricing our products fairly and such that we can keep afloat. Price volatility on our supplies really reverberates through the whole farm!
We have to raise our prices on many of our products this May- but by how much is still being tweaked now. We are giving all of our customers as much notice as we can.....and we'll be back with a newsletter soon detailing our new price list. We will do this by May 15.
While grazing animals are cheaper to keep in the grass season, our fleet of iron swings into high gear putting up nearly half a year's worth of forage. And, we need to move last winter's barnyard gold onto the fields, too. The serene look of grazing animals belies the flurry of activity going on everywhere else on the farm!
Thank you for your understanding and patience!
Dave
We maintain a pretty steady pulse on our financials to make sure we are pricing our products fairly and such that we can keep afloat. Price volatility on our supplies really reverberates through the whole farm!
We have to raise our prices on many of our products this May- but by how much is still being tweaked now. We are giving all of our customers as much notice as we can.....and we'll be back with a newsletter soon detailing our new price list. We will do this by May 15.
While grazing animals are cheaper to keep in the grass season, our fleet of iron swings into high gear putting up nearly half a year's worth of forage. And, we need to move last winter's barnyard gold onto the fields, too. The serene look of grazing animals belies the flurry of activity going on everywhere else on the farm!
Thank you for your understanding and patience!
Dave
Friday, March 11, 2011
Just When Things Look Up.......
Well, that didn't take long for the unrest in the middle east for oil to shoot over the $100/bbl mark! And then it almost overnight translated into price increases across the board! Our vendors won't quote on future orders for our supplies and fuel, but one thing is for sure....we're paying more for things we need now. So unless things calm down soon, we're going to have to raise our prices. We'll do our best to hold costs in check and we'll announce our price increase in enough time should you wish to avail yourselves to product at a lower price. But.....being forewarned means being prepared.
Also, we're about to get our broiler program rolling for the year. We don't need reservations and deposits, but if you think you'll be looking to load up and want to make sure we have you covered, give us a "heads-up" as soon as possible. While the old program of reservations was hard to manage for us, it did give us a powerful management tool- how many birds do we need to raise?
Why does energy cost impact a grass based farm so hard? Our beef animals eat grass, grown right there, right? Yes, they eat grass and not energy intensive corn, but our long winters pushes us to put up their forage for nearly half a year. Supplies such as plastic wrap for silage bales to anything related to the machinery needed to make this all work is hit by high steel prices, shipping and we do use fuel- both biodiesel and petroleum diesel. The prices on all those supplies are way up NOW and we have to buy them now to be ready for harvest that comes as early as May/June.
For chicken, they are not ruminants and we must buy feed for them. This item is up over 10% already. Lots of transport/machinery/energy goes into making this feed. We have even less control over this item!
There appears to be little elasticity in many of the major markets that affect us. This fact makes us think that we are "skating on thinner ice" with regard to price volatility on everything we use. Are we are peeking into a new era? A goal here is to use less energy and iron for what we do.....and to use what we do use with utmost care and efficiency.
Also, we're about to get our broiler program rolling for the year. We don't need reservations and deposits, but if you think you'll be looking to load up and want to make sure we have you covered, give us a "heads-up" as soon as possible. While the old program of reservations was hard to manage for us, it did give us a powerful management tool- how many birds do we need to raise?
Why does energy cost impact a grass based farm so hard? Our beef animals eat grass, grown right there, right? Yes, they eat grass and not energy intensive corn, but our long winters pushes us to put up their forage for nearly half a year. Supplies such as plastic wrap for silage bales to anything related to the machinery needed to make this all work is hit by high steel prices, shipping and we do use fuel- both biodiesel and petroleum diesel. The prices on all those supplies are way up NOW and we have to buy them now to be ready for harvest that comes as early as May/June.
For chicken, they are not ruminants and we must buy feed for them. This item is up over 10% already. Lots of transport/machinery/energy goes into making this feed. We have even less control over this item!
There appears to be little elasticity in many of the major markets that affect us. This fact makes us think that we are "skating on thinner ice" with regard to price volatility on everything we use. Are we are peeking into a new era? A goal here is to use less energy and iron for what we do.....and to use what we do use with utmost care and efficiency.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Some Important Inventory News!
Hopefully you all are feeling an "uptick" in the overall economy, as we've felt just that in our winter's worth of sales! We've gone through expansion after expansion and optimizations to make sure we have enough beef to supply our ever expanding customer base. Well, an interesting thing has taken us by surprise........we have noted that sales of all our lower end cuts such as ground beef and our roasts are lagging historical trends. It seems our clientele would rather order our top end steaks and pass over our value priced products. As a result, we are out of most of our steaks and are sitting atop a sizable stash of ground beef, suasages and roasts. Maybe people bought our steaks for gifts this past season or they are seeking to spoil themselves with some pretty fine grilling steaks after the 2+ year recession? Suffices to say, we are in momentous times! Historical trends cannot help us plan from this point forward........
We will be processing more beef in April, so hang on if you are looking for our ever popular steaks. And we do have a good supply of ground beef, sausage, stew beef and roasts and they are priced competitively with comparable beef. Have you spied conventional beef prices in the store lately? We do, as a curiosity. Wow! For a welcome change, we aren't too far off what the supermarket will charge for beef and ours is so much better to boot! Consider us more for everyday value priced beef for you and your family!
We are out of stock on SIRLOIN, PORTERHOUSE, T-BONE AND RIB-EYES/DELMONICO. However we do have Strip steaks if you desire a loin steak suitable for grilling!
Most sorry to deliver this news, please accept our apologies for the stock outage!
Peace and good eating to you!
Dave
We will be processing more beef in April, so hang on if you are looking for our ever popular steaks. And we do have a good supply of ground beef, sausage, stew beef and roasts and they are priced competitively with comparable beef. Have you spied conventional beef prices in the store lately? We do, as a curiosity. Wow! For a welcome change, we aren't too far off what the supermarket will charge for beef and ours is so much better to boot! Consider us more for everyday value priced beef for you and your family!
We are out of stock on SIRLOIN, PORTERHOUSE, T-BONE AND RIB-EYES/DELMONICO. However we do have Strip steaks if you desire a loin steak suitable for grilling!
Most sorry to deliver this news, please accept our apologies for the stock outage!
Peace and good eating to you!
Dave
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