BEEF Farmers SOLD Their Future: No COWS, No BEEF!

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Where's the beef? [00:00:01] Speaker B: I remember that old lady, right? I think it was during a Super bowl commercial, is when we all first heard that question, where's the beef? [00:00:14] Speaker A: Yeah. The 1980s iconic Wendy's slogan. [00:00:18] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:00:19] Speaker A: I think the answer was between Wendy's buns. [00:00:21] Speaker B: You can't say that. [00:00:22] Speaker A: Whoops. I I didn't say that. [00:00:26] Speaker B: Good grief. [00:00:27] Speaker A: I know. Welcome to the Duster Mud podcast. [00:00:34] Speaker B: Man. Today we're going to talk about beef, and it's in the news right now, like, what's going on in the cattle industry? What's going on with beef prices? What about us as producers and consumers? What about those of you who are just consumers? There's environmental lawsuits going on. The state of New York is suing the largest producer in the world. There's just a lot going on in beef right now. [00:01:05] Speaker A: Yeah, there really is, and it's really concerning. And we just want to talk about what's on our minds and what's on our hearts about what's happening out there with our food supply in the beef industry. [00:01:19] Speaker B: I think we have to start the conversation by saying we are not experts in the beef industry. [00:01:26] Speaker A: We are not experts in the beef industry. [00:01:29] Speaker B: Good. There you go. Thank you. We do like to eat beef. [00:01:34] Speaker A: We do. Before we get into that, if you're new here, I'm Shelley. [00:01:39] Speaker B: Oh, that's right. I'm rich. [00:01:42] Speaker A: And we founded air to ground farms in 2021 after 25 years of rich being in the United States Air Force, serving as a fighter pilot and a strategist. And we gave up the department of Defense life, retired, and built a farm. We built a first generation regenerative farm, and we farm beef, pork, lamb, chicken, eggs, and we have a couple of Jersey dairy cows. And that's what we do with our life these days. And on top of that, we started a podcast because we think about things and we like to talk about them. [00:02:20] Speaker B: Cool. Yeah, that's true. All true. [00:02:23] Speaker A: Now continue. [00:02:24] Speaker B: Now back to. We do like to eat beef. [00:02:26] Speaker A: We love to eat beef. [00:02:28] Speaker B: So I would say that we're expert connoisseurs. Expert beef eater. [00:02:34] Speaker A: Oh, 100% expert beef eater. Yes. [00:02:38] Speaker B: But not the gin. [00:02:40] Speaker A: Not the gin. [00:02:41] Speaker B: No, not the gin. The actual beef. [00:02:43] Speaker A: Right? Yes, for sure. So, yeah, we're big into the nutrition value of beef. No matter what the news people say, we believe that beef is an important part of the human diet and that nutrition is. And that beef is super nutritious. [00:03:04] Speaker B: Yeah. And we're also pretty good at raising it. [00:03:08] Speaker A: Yeah, we have been raising our own beef for the past three years. We have a herd of red Devon beef, along with some various breeds of bottle calves that we stuck in the middle there to raise up to produce beef for consumers in our local area. [00:03:29] Speaker B: We might get to why we did that. I don't know. We'll see where the conversation goes. [00:03:34] Speaker A: Sure. [00:03:34] Speaker B: It's a small herd, though. I believe that there are 26 out there right now in our beef herd. That's mamas, the bull, the yearlings, the calves. That's everybody. [00:03:47] Speaker A: Right. [00:03:48] Speaker B: So we are a small beef producer. We use regenerative practices. We will get into what that means, and we're doing a pretty good job. [00:04:00] Speaker A: At it, making beef. We are an entirely grass fed beef operation. They get hay, mineral and grass. And grass. And water. [00:04:12] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. Good. [00:04:13] Speaker A: Water is good. Anyway, so we have our small beef herd, and we have noticed some things as beef producers. We've been watching the markets, we've been watching what the beef industry is doing, along with the cost of raising beef and what it's costing on the shelves. So let's go. [00:04:35] Speaker B: Okay, so we just looking at the beef reports, cattle reports. At the end of the year, at the end of 2023, the United States has the lowest amount of cattle on the hoof right now. Lower than we have had in over 70 years. [00:04:58] Speaker A: 70 years? [00:05:00] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:05:00] Speaker A: Less cattle. [00:05:02] Speaker B: That's right. [00:05:03] Speaker A: Wow. [00:05:04] Speaker B: Less cattle than what we've had in 70 years. [00:05:07] Speaker A: Okay. What's that going to mean for us? [00:05:11] Speaker B: Right. We got to talk about that. Why? [00:05:14] Speaker A: I guess so. Yeah. [00:05:15] Speaker B: Why do we have less cattle than we've had in 70 years? The beef prices, though, I'm sure all of you can attest to, beef prices have gone up. [00:05:27] Speaker A: Yeah. Like a skyrocket. [00:05:29] Speaker B: Yeah. The number of cattle in the feedlots. So standing in confinement in the feed lots at the end of 2023 increased from 2020. [00:05:44] Speaker A: So if you have less cattle on the hoof, but you have more cattle in the feed lot, something is off there. [00:05:53] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:05:54] Speaker A: So what are they doing? [00:05:56] Speaker B: So what's happened is it's basically a perfect storm. So with all of. Let's talk about different inputs to this. Fertilizer prices have increased significantly. Grain prices have increased, both of those largely due to war in the Ukraine. We have droughts happening. The increase in fertilizer prices and the droughts have meant that the cost of hay has gone up. So overall, it is just more expensive. On the very front end of the raising the beef operations, the farmer is. [00:06:37] Speaker A: Paying more to raise the animal to get it even to the feed lot. [00:06:44] Speaker B: Right. So most beef in this country is cow calf operations, farmers, be they small or large, they have a cow, that cow has a calf. They then take that calf up until it weighs 400 pounds, depending on their specific methods, and then that calf yearling then gets sold out of market, shipped off to a feedlot. It stands in the feedlot and eats then for the next year or so of its life and is processed. So that's the normal way that beef. [00:07:17] Speaker A: General way they do things that is. [00:07:19] Speaker B: Made in our country, at least. So the cost to that initial farmer, that cow calf operation, it costs more to make those calves, to get those calves to yearling size, to get them to the market, is costing more. [00:07:38] Speaker A: However, if I can just interrupt, I can tell you the more that it's costing. One normal size, four x five round bale of decent quality hay in our state that we don't have to haul very far, maybe 20 minutes. It's just grown right up the road. [00:07:56] Speaker B: So local hay, and Missouri is the number two hay producer in the country. [00:08:00] Speaker A: Number two hay producer in the country. So it's not hard to come by for us $85 a round bale of hay. [00:08:08] Speaker B: That's right. [00:08:09] Speaker A: $85 a round bale of hay is going to get you about eight to 900 pounds of hay. [00:08:16] Speaker B: And for our herd of 25, 26 cattle, we are additionally feeding 70 sheep, which is comparable to another ten cows. So what you're looking at is one bale per day. And with the sheep included, that's about 35 cows worth of Hay. [00:08:37] Speaker A: So 35 cows, $85 per day during the winter. So as you're buying your hamburger and you wish that it was still $3.99 a pound or a dollar, that just can't happen. There's no possible way that the farmers can continue to sustain their business at the prices that they're having to pay for their inputs. The price has to go up. [00:09:04] Speaker B: So what's happening at the market then? The livestock market, the livestock market is prices per 100 weighed is how these animals are sold are also going up. Now, there has been some fluctuation, but for the most part, prices have been going up. [00:09:24] Speaker A: Right. [00:09:25] Speaker B: And with all of the negatives that we talked about to begin with and the prices going up at the market, that means that people are eager to sell their yearlinks. [00:09:38] Speaker A: And we all know why prices go up. [00:09:41] Speaker B: Why is that? Well, there are less supply and demand definitely has a play in this, right? [00:09:51] Speaker A: The supply, being low, is raising those prices on those feeders, and as the prices are going up on those feeders, people are really. You're right. It's really enticing to say, man, I got a 500 pound steer and I can get 1500 to 1800 or more dollars for one. I'm taking it because my hay bill from last year, it didn't even paid for yet. So I've got to sell some of these calves. [00:10:24] Speaker B: Right. That's the decision that a lot of people are facing right now. [00:10:29] Speaker A: The problem is they didn't just sell the steers. [00:10:32] Speaker B: That's right. So with the increased prices that you're getting from that livestock market, a lot of ranchers, farmers, however you want to refer to them, decided to sell their heifer calves as well. So, like the steers, they're 400 pound cows that are fed out for beef just like anything else. But the problem with that is the heifers are what you have to have to replace the cows as the cows age out. Right now we're in a heifer shortage. [00:11:11] Speaker A: Right. [00:11:11] Speaker B: So that's the reason why there are less cows standing on the hoof in the pastures and more cows standing in the feedlots is the replacement heifers have been being sold. So that low number, the lowest in 70 years, is also going to be hard to build back up because the heifers that are required to build it back up have been sold for beef. [00:11:42] Speaker A: So let's go back and just recall how long does it take to grow a calf? So you have a heifer. The heifer has to grow to. It's not going to calve till it's about two years old to have its first. So now it's two years old. You have a calf nine months after that. Nine months after that. It takes years, bottom line, to grow these things. And we're way low on our numbers. And guys, it's not going to get any better anytime soon. [00:12:12] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:12:12] Speaker A: Because it takes a long time to grow a cow. [00:12:15] Speaker B: That heifer's calf has to be two before it produces its first calf. Right. [00:12:20] Speaker A: The reproduction model on beef, it's slow. It's like humans. [00:12:27] Speaker B: It's very slow. [00:12:28] Speaker A: It's very slow. And it takes time to get the heifer to maturity before it can even be bred. And so the beef industry is in a world of hurt. [00:12:42] Speaker B: Yeah, ma'am. Okay. Seems to me, yeah, it's not good, that's for sure. [00:12:51] Speaker A: Or maybe it's not in a world of hurt. Maybe the supply is just going to be low and it's the consumer that's in a world of hurt. [00:13:00] Speaker B: That could be. I believe that prices will continue to go up. For sure. [00:13:06] Speaker A: They will. Yeah. [00:13:10] Speaker B: I think that's probably where a lot of people want it to be. Not us types. [00:13:16] Speaker A: Okay. [00:13:18] Speaker B: Some. Some others. I think they want beef prices going up. And I think this is. [00:13:24] Speaker A: It's a deterrent. The high prices are a deterrent. It slows people's consumption. Yeah. [00:13:32] Speaker B: And there's definitely a drive right now from environmentalists especially, to reduce the amount of beef being eaten. [00:13:43] Speaker A: Okay. So the environmentalists. There was a news article. Now's a good time to bring that into it. There was a news article just today. [00:13:53] Speaker B: That state of New York, the state. [00:13:55] Speaker A: Of New York, the attorney general that has been in the news a lot, is back in the news again, is going after one of the largest beef producers in this country. [00:14:07] Speaker B: The largest, I believe, in the world. [00:14:09] Speaker A: Okay, fine. The largest in the world. Because they are not holding to their net zero pledges. Pledges? [00:14:20] Speaker B: Yeah. The assertion is that they've been making these statements about being net zero by certain times. Different statements have said different times, but that they're going to be net zero. They've been making these statements, and the assertion is that they've been profiting because of these statements, but yet they have no intention of actually making them come true. [00:14:46] Speaker A: And net zero means that their emissions are offset by their practices. [00:14:54] Speaker B: That's right. [00:14:54] Speaker A: Right. And they're saying that they're doing it, but yet they're not. [00:14:59] Speaker B: Right. And it looks like, from what I can tell, this one company alone has a carbon footprint greater than the country of Italy. [00:15:10] Speaker A: So they do have a lot of impact on, I guess, the environment. [00:15:18] Speaker B: Say what you will. The point being that there are certainly people out there that are very interested in the environment, and they're willing to attack the food industries. And this particular one happens to be beef. [00:15:43] Speaker A: Okay. [00:15:44] Speaker B: They produce a lot of other things as well. Jbs does. But this, I believe, is really focusing on beef. [00:15:51] Speaker A: Okay. [00:15:52] Speaker B: Now, there are ways to get around that from an environmental perspective. And that leads us to what we said at the beginning. We raise beef in a regenerative farming style. [00:16:06] Speaker A: Yeah. So our practices are such that, yes, we do have beef cattle, but the way that we rotate them, the way that we allow, the way we treat our ground with them. [00:16:26] Speaker B: That's right. [00:16:27] Speaker A: Is actually a benefit to the environment, not taking from it. [00:16:33] Speaker B: Right. There was a study done by the Rodeo Institute. If you're interested in the regenerative style of farming, you can look at that study. And what the study shows is that the regenerative style of farming, you actually sequester more carbon into the ground than what you're producing. So that means that a farm like ours has a net negative impact, carbon impact. Right. So, like, we're sequestering more carbon than we're producing with our livestock. [00:17:08] Speaker A: Right. [00:17:09] Speaker B: So although cows, ruminants, let's just say ruminant animals, do produce greenhouse gases, this farming style actually puts more carbon back into the ground than it releases into the air. [00:17:26] Speaker A: Right. [00:17:26] Speaker B: So there are ways, for those who are concerned about the environment and the impact that farming has on the environment, the impact that ruminant animals have on the environment, there are ways to mitigate that. And one of the best is regenerative farming. [00:17:46] Speaker A: Right. [00:17:48] Speaker B: The best, in my mind, at least, I suppose the actual best would be get rid of all of the ruminant animals. Right. Which I think is ludicrous. [00:17:58] Speaker A: Right. [00:17:59] Speaker B: But there are people that feel that way. [00:18:02] Speaker A: Sure. [00:18:03] Speaker B: So without getting rid of all of the ruminant animals, transitioning to a more regenerative farming approach to those animals is a way to better what's going on. [00:18:20] Speaker A: With the environment, along with the regenerative practices on the land, the way that our animals are raised, the way that we treat them and their life, from the day that they're born on this farm to the day that they leave this farm to go for their one bad day to the processor, is super humane. They get to walk around out in the pastures their whole life and just eat grass. [00:18:47] Speaker B: They're just cows. [00:18:48] Speaker A: They're just cows. [00:18:49] Speaker B: Every day of their cow life, they get to be a cow and they wander around grazing. [00:18:54] Speaker A: Right. And they see their farmers every single day. They know who we are. When we come out to give them their breakfast or move them to a new patch of pasture, they are eager for us to get there. They like seeing us. We're a team with them. We have a 1400 pound or more bull, and we aren't scared of him. We respect him, get me? Wrong, but he's super docile. We can walk around and amongst them, and they're an intricate, very important part of our farm. [00:19:31] Speaker B: Yeah, for sure. Absolutely. [00:19:33] Speaker A: And they are treated as such. [00:19:36] Speaker B: Yes. [00:19:37] Speaker A: And that's important. Again, we're not animal welfare nuts either. No, but we want our food. We believe that the better our food, the animals are treated during their life, that the better the food is going to be. [00:19:51] Speaker B: Yeah, for sure. [00:19:53] Speaker A: Because they're not under stress, right? [00:19:55] Speaker B: Absolutely. Ever. [00:19:56] Speaker A: Really? Ever. Okay, so we just talked about the typical model of beef. It goes from cow calf operation to a steers grow them out into a feed lot. We don't do that. We grow it on farm, we grow the calf, we hold that calf for a long time, feed it, and then that animal is then taken to a processor, processed, cut into cuts, and put into a freezer and sold directly to our customers, to the consumers, primarily in our local area. [00:20:32] Speaker B: And we do and can ship. And I still think that the footprint of that model is less than shipping a cow from the east coast to the west coast as a 400 pound steer and then shipping it off to a processing facility and then shipping it off to a grocery store and then bringing it to a home. I think even if you consider the product that we ship, I think it's still less of an impact as far as, like, miles traveled. [00:21:08] Speaker A: Right. But as a whole, though, the question becomes, can people our size, can the amount of small farmers? And this model, is it sustainable and does it provide enough? [00:21:27] Speaker B: I think that it is sustainable. I hope that it is sustainable. I can tell you, like, from a genetics perspective, yes, we have a bull and we have cows. We will continue to sustain our herd. So there we go. As far as that's concerned, yeah, sustainable. Is it sustainable from an economic perspective, this particular style of doing business, if we can partner with our local community, then I say, yes, it is sustainable. But those that we're partnering with have to understand the prices involved with sustaining it, because it's expensive. We're not feeding subsidized corn to our cattle. [00:22:20] Speaker A: Right. [00:22:20] Speaker B: We're feeding hay that grown down the road. Grown down the road from. [00:22:25] Speaker A: That's another subsidized either. Right. [00:22:27] Speaker B: From another local farmer. [00:22:28] Speaker A: Right. [00:22:30] Speaker B: And he's putting poultry litter from another local farmer is fertilizing his hay. But we all get the economics of the local. [00:22:45] Speaker A: Right. [00:22:46] Speaker B: The point being, I think it's sustainable. I think we'll see. So far, our beef operation is not currently paying for itself. [00:22:57] Speaker A: No. But we knew that going in that it was going to take several years for us to get to that point. Just because beef is such a long game at this, doing it this way. [00:23:07] Speaker B: Yeah. That leads us to the bottle babies. We bought four steers and one heifer. We bought them as bottle babies, as young calves that we would just drop into our herd so that those four steers, now, as our herd is growing and we're starting to have our own calves, those guys will supplement the amount of beef that we have available for sale. [00:23:31] Speaker A: Right. [00:23:32] Speaker B: So that not part of our sustainable model. But we did drop those guys in there just as a bit of an ad. Now, sustainable. [00:23:45] Speaker A: Here's my thought. Whether or not this particular system and style provides enough beef for the entire country? I don't know, but I'm sort of to the point that with the fact that so many the powers that be are going after the beef industry the way that they are, I feel like we don't have a choice. [00:24:10] Speaker B: Right. That's where I was going when I said sustainable was that. I don't think so. As far as providing enough food for the nation or for the world, however you want to look at what we produce here in the United States, I don't think that the 25 cattle herd operation is like we can't provide enough now. We can provide enough for our local folks. [00:24:45] Speaker A: We can contribute. We can contribute an amount. [00:24:51] Speaker B: Our farm, I think our farm, we could support ten local families, right? Maybe 15. [00:25:01] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:25:01] Speaker B: Right. And there are a lot of 20 to 25 cow small operations out there that could support ten to 15 local families. So I think as far as a small local communities go, we could come close. I think that there's a lot there. Could we shipping to the millions of people living in the cities? No, we can't ever get there, I don't think. [00:25:34] Speaker A: Right. [00:25:35] Speaker B: So I don't think unless beef consumption goes down markedly, there will continue to be a need for the large scale producers. [00:25:47] Speaker A: Right. Well, they want the beef consumption to go down marketably. You're right. It's just a perfect storm right now. And the powers that be that are wanting this, they may get what they want. They might very well get what they want. A lot of outside forces all coming together into that perfect storm you were talking about, and they get what they want. [00:26:17] Speaker B: But there are those of us out there, right, wearing our insteadter shirts. Yes. You are saying we're going to do something instead of what they say we should be doing. We're going to continue to raise our cows, right? And we're going to have beef. [00:26:35] Speaker A: Right. And that brings us to the food security point. And that's a very important part of this entire picture for us as a farm is the food security factor. We live through 2020. We were in city, we saw what happened during all of that with meat shelves kind of bare. And we don't want to be a part of that. [00:27:05] Speaker B: The meat shelves were bare. And you said as a farm. I don't know from a farm business perspective, we're still new to this. Right? I'm a fighter pilot, not an entrepreneur. I'm very new as an entrepreneur. So from a business perspective, I don't know about beef. What I do know is from our personal perspective, food security is a big deal to us. [00:27:37] Speaker A: Right. [00:27:38] Speaker B: And when we talked about this past summer, when we were looking at those 5600 pound steers that we could sell to pay for this year's head, we. [00:27:47] Speaker A: Thought about it, y'all. We did. We thought about it hard. [00:27:49] Speaker B: We thought hard about it. And from a business perspective, like entrepreneurial mindset, from a business perspective, we should have sold them. Maybe we might should have sold them. Everybody else was selling. And there's a lot of business mentors out there that say when everybody else is doing something, you should do the opposite. So we did the opposite, but we did the opposite. Not from a business decision perspective. When we were talking through it, it was, I feel like we need to keep the cows, right. [00:28:28] Speaker A: We need to keep those. [00:28:29] Speaker B: We need to keep them from a food security perspective. [00:28:33] Speaker A: Right. And sometimes we do things, guys, that we don't really necessarily always know why we make the decisions that we do, but we go with the spidey senses and the gut feeling sometimes. And so we did. We held on to everything because we just feel like our local community needs it along with us. That's right. [00:28:57] Speaker B: And maybe we can get enough selling the meat by the cut to make up for what we didn't get, 100%. [00:29:09] Speaker A: Yeah, it does work like that. [00:29:12] Speaker B: It's our hope at least, right? [00:29:14] Speaker A: Yeah. But at the end of the day, that part doesn't really matter. The cows eat hay. I can't eat hay. You can't eat hay. [00:29:24] Speaker B: Right. That's absolutely correct. [00:29:26] Speaker A: And with that in mind, I need something to eat, and I'm not eating bugs. No, not doing it. So we're going to grow beef. We're going to do the best that we can to mitigate the fact that across the United States, the beef industry, the cattle herd is low, the beef prices are raising, the supply is down, but we're going to keep the supply up. You got to know when to hold them and know when to fold them and just hold. [00:30:00] Speaker B: Right now. We're holding. [00:30:01] Speaker A: We're going to hold. Just hold right now and see what's happening and watch the industry. And honestly, I just said that and I don't even think that that's true. Watching the industry. No. We're going to grow food for our family and for you. If you're watching and you want us to ship you some, fine. And our local community, we sell our food at the local farmers market, which has become quite a passion of ours, actually. And we will sell that food. We're going to grow food. And maybe I don't even give a rip what the beef industry is really actually doing to make sure that we do our prices right. [00:30:43] Speaker B: Yeah. We watch the industry just to see what it's doing. [00:30:46] Speaker A: Right. We're not a charity. [00:30:48] Speaker B: So far, at least, we have not made any decisions based on what the industry is doing. [00:30:54] Speaker A: No. [00:30:55] Speaker B: So we watch it. [00:30:56] Speaker A: Right. [00:30:57] Speaker B: We like to be informed. [00:30:58] Speaker A: Yes. [00:30:59] Speaker B: It does not impact so far the decisions that we've made. [00:31:03] Speaker A: Right. [00:31:04] Speaker B: We have made decisions based on what we feel is best for us, our local community, our family, for sure. And maybe not for our business. [00:31:17] Speaker A: No, maybe not. As you all know, farms don't make money. [00:31:21] Speaker B: I do. I do now. [00:31:23] Speaker A: Right. [00:31:25] Speaker B: But it's worth it to us to, especially with the beef. It's worth it to us to supplement from our personal air force retirement check. It's worth it to supplement from our personal retirement check, the beef, because it's that important. [00:31:44] Speaker A: That's our investment into our food. [00:31:46] Speaker B: It's our investment. Eventually, one day. We know beef is a long game, and we believe that eventually, one day, beef will be good for the business. [00:31:57] Speaker A: Yes, it will. [00:31:58] Speaker B: And right now, we believe also that you've already said beef is nutritious, it's healthful. [00:32:04] Speaker A: I was going to say, at the end of the day, it is good for us. [00:32:07] Speaker B: We want that. [00:32:09] Speaker A: Right? Yes, we do. [00:32:13] Speaker B: So where's the beef? [00:32:16] Speaker A: In my freezer on our pasture and on our pasture. And that's where it's going to stay at air to ground farms? [00:32:24] Speaker B: Yeah. Until it's time to process them and put them into your freezer. [00:32:27] Speaker A: That's right. So that's what we're doing here at air to ground farms. I know we have quite a few viewers that are farmers also. If you're out there raising beef, let us know in the comments how this is affecting you, what decisions you're making, what you're seeing in your particular area, as far as the market and beef prices and such, especially those of you. [00:32:48] Speaker B: That have been doing it for years and years and years. You have a way better feel for what's going on than we do. We're new, and as Shelly said, we're making decisions not based on the industry, but based on our gut. Are we making good ones? Are you making different decisions? We'd love to hear from you always about learning. [00:33:10] Speaker A: Yeah, for sure. Help us out. Educate us. Always. This has been a fun conversation, and this is just coming from our hearts and where we are with, with what's going on in the beef industry. If you enjoyed this, hit the like button. If you know somebody that it might help them out. Share it with them. And until next time, bye.