Submitted by Hardscrabble Farmer
Limit on meat purchases in supermarkets causing consumers to head to farms, butchers
(WKBN) – Meat processing plants have been affected by COVID-19. Now, some major grocery store chains are limiting how much meat you can buy because they are receiving fewer meat products.
So, when you head out to get your groceries this week, you might not be able to get everything you need.
“Tons of customers, new customers coming through just because a lot of the grocery stores have got a pause in their chain because we don’t use the same suppliers as them,” said butcher Will Lightner.
Giant Eagle is limiting ground beef products and on-scale meat items to two per customer, but those limits may not be necessary for local butchers and farmers.
Lightner’s Fresh & Smoked Meats in Struthers said people have been coming in because they typically have what the big stores don’t.
“Chicken breast and ground beef, like the 80/20 and all of that,” Lightner said.
Most of Lightner’s’ orders have been filled and they think that having two different suppliers has helped.
“In the past, when I call to order something, it’s there and ready to go the next day I need it. Now, we’ve kind of had to play the game of, is it going to be here tomorrow or later on in the week?” Lightner said.
At one point, Lamppost Farm in Columbiana had to limit how much chicken customers could buy, but the biggest problem right now is getting their cattle processed.
“We have cows that can be butchered but the earliest date we can get them to the processing plant is June 24,” said Melanie Montgomery, director of organizational life at Lamppost Farm.
Montgomery said she and her husband are even looking to get more land and raise more cattle, but that wouldn’t make any sense right now if they can’t get what they currently have out to the customers.
“Certain processing plants that are now inundated because the major processing plants are shut down,” she said.
The Montgomerys are prepared to adjust their available products, but in the meantime, they are working to get another USDA-approved processing plant that can get their cattle processed and ready for customers.
It is my sincere desire to provide readers of this site with the best unbiased information available, and a forum where it can be discussed openly, as our Founders intended. But it is not easy nor inexpensive to do so, especially when those who wish to prevent us from making the truth known, attack us without mercy on all fronts on a daily basis. So each time you visit the site, I would ask that you consider the value that you receive and have received from The Burning Platform and the community of which you are a vital part. I can't do it all alone, and I need your help and support to keep it alive. Please consider contributing an amount commensurate to the value that you receive from this site and community, or even by becoming a sustaining supporter through periodic contributions. [Burning Platform LLC - PO Box 1520 Kulpsville, PA 19443] or Paypal
-----------------------------------------------------
To donate via Stripe, click here.
-----------------------------------------------------
Use promo code ILMF2, and save up to 66% on all MyPillow purchases. (The Burning Platform benefits when you use this promo code.)
What you are describing is all true. I live in a small town in the former industrial state of michigan. It is farm country as far as a person can see. The local slaughter houses are over whelmed with requests to hang beef, hogs and chickens. The one fellow that my wife and I buy from use to slaughter on Mondays. Now he and his crew of 2 are slaughtering on M,T & W. Not only that but, he was telling me about a fellow that he had not sold to before, come in and request 400lbs of ground beef. He said, I could not help myself, I ask what in heavens name are you going to do with 400lbs of ground beef. The man replied that there is a shortage and he would not be able to get it anymore. The butchers reply was there will be lots in the future, it will simply take time to process. I asked if he ever came back and he said, no.
Panic and fear folks are running our lives at the moment. I think it is time we all sat down, took a few deep breaths and checked our pulses. This is not time for panic. It is time for honest to God sole searching using common sense and a clear head. Chaos created by fear and panic will only produce more of the same. This present panic and fear mongering that is taking place at the moment is a perfect example of a system out of control, IMO.
” This is not time for panic.”
Correct.The time to panic was about 12 years ago. As my grandmother used to say ” you made you bed, now lie in it.” And this is where we are . Lying in a bed of our own making.
Once commenting on the alarming number of dead possums on the highway to a much older friend, who grew up during the depression, I was informed that this was a sign of very good times. He went on to explain that when he was a boy, his family had possum dogs and it was not uncommon to hunt for days without any sign of a possum. The family often went hungry because of the possum shortage.
Old folks used to wryly stump us kids with the question of what was the difference between what we would and wouldn’t eat. The answer was, about three days.
Yup, and it was about as plain as a person could make it. The amazing part was it all tasted good!
It amazes me how many people will eat something and tell you it is good and then cry about how terrible it was after you tell them what they ate. Mountain Oysters come to mind.
If it tastes good, eat it. If it doesn’t, you are not hungry enough.
I used that one on my children when they were growing up. It served a number of purposes in my opinion. They learned to cook for themselves, wanted to leave home when it was time, learned to appreciate their mothers cooking and the list goes on. Bottom line, they learned to appreciate life and what goes into it and weren’t harmed in the process.
Mountain oysters and chicken gizzards are the same thing, I don’t care what anybody sez, they are the same! Chicken gizzards are only good for catfish bait.
Liver is the catfish bait and gizzards are for the table. We used to clean the quail gizzards and eat them too, along with the legs and breast.
Bull fries are the best, ?
I have to agree. My Dad fed them to me before he told me what they were and I was pissed he only brought a couple for me to try.
Armadillo, swamp turtles, and most snakes are off my list.
Owls, buzzards would be added to mine.
You can add to that list of things you really need to be hungry to eat, Porcupines. Been there and tried that and I found out I wasn’t that hungry.
Squirrels and Groundhog on my list. Also most snakes are quite tasty.
Overwhelmed with Whitetail Deer in my present location. Many will be featured on the side of a milk carton, and hanging from the rafters in the garage.
A friend just purchased 1/4 of a steer.
As for myself, I have New Zealand canned corned beef stacked to the ceiling.
Liberal Urbanites will pay dearly for letting the USDA and Health Depts shut down local farm sales, farmer’s markets, and for making life regulatory and inspection hell for local butchers. We used to be a free country but TPTB are bit by bit turning us into a centrally controlled socialist economy (next step Communism, forced vaccines, the Mark of the Beast and e-money, slavery).
Instead of going to school/ college, I worked in a slaughter house for near a decade. If I could go back in time, would I change that? Hmmm… I’ll take the full belly over the fool head .
We just set up an arrangement with 2 neighbors. One of them is going to go in with us on an older steer and 2 calves. The other neighbor is letting us use his 10 acres to graze them. Our hay can help feed them. There are a couple of local butchers we can work with. We have too much planted in lavender and berries to graze them on whats left of our pasture.
It is hard to beat a strong sense of community. I hope more folks entertain such an approach MC.
The beef at the local store has been crazy expensive for a long time. I don’t think it sells very well since it all looks old. My family decided to stop eating pork. chicken is priced ok. This all plays into the hands of the agenda 21 people and their desire for everyone to be vegetarians. So far the food situation has been ok and I didn’t really use any food I have stocked up. I think this will all change going into the future.
Removing middlemen from the market is beneficial.
Every Father’s Day weekend the wife and I travel from the Jersey Shore to Washington Township and pick cherries straight off the tree. If we were to go to a local store to purchase a pound of the same seasonal cherries it would be almost double to triple the orchard’s price. We buy vegetables in season from a local farm in Plumstead Township and the vegetables, depending on the weather, are usually superior in price and quality.
Becoming friends with a Rancher or Farmer is a great idea. Nothing beats grass fed beef that hasn’t been pumped full of crap at a feedlot.
I trade/sell/give honey and eggs to a friend that has relatives that raise beef cattle. He has 2 freezers full and always insists on me taking some grassfed steaks even if I am just giving him eggs because our fridge is full.
Community, where it still exists, will pull us through just fine.
Small butchering operations and locker plants cant possibly keep up. The most modern beef slaughter and break plants process over 400 head per hour. I notice that no closures of beef plants in Kansas,Nebraska and Texas. From my past experience in the business there are about 8 or 9 plants killing a total of about 40,000 head every day. That is a hell of a lot of meat.
Looks like we’ll be returning to ways of yore. A sports car will be a horse. If you want an SUV, hook a wagon to it.
Let all CAFO produced meat go to hell. That will be the best thing to happen to American’s Health. I for one would rather go in on a HSF CSA.