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Good morning from your Farmer(s),
Contents:
- 1. Beef Pricing
- 2. Egg Pricing
- 3. Product Availability Update
Beef Pricing – I wanted to take a moment to highlight my research on what the beef market is doing and what 2025 pricing could look like.
First, Live Cattle Futures have been trading in a very tight horizontal range for at least the past two months with the upper limit in the $191.50 per pound area. December 31st price broke out ABOVE the prior top, came down and retested the breakout level, and then by January 3rd hit a new high just over $196 per pound live weight. Technical analysis considers this a bullish price move and strongly favors higher prices to come.
Here are some comments from beef market commentators:
1) Feeder Cattle Market is on fire right now due to lack of imports from Mexico
2) US Producers continue to sell replacement heifers (due to high prices) vs. rebuilding their herds.
3) Global Outlook- beef supply globally continues to tighten with production declining in Brazill, US, and China. Increase to steady from Austrilia
4) USDA recently posted higher retail beef prices
5) US now 5+ year herd contraction
6) 2024 had the highest annual beef demand since 1986 (could this be driven by the carnivore diet?)
NC Choices Center for Environmental Farming Systems does a great job of promoting small farmers and consumers. Their website is filled with valuable information. Thus, NC has vibrant and growing small family farms that serve their communities - I'm told over 200 farms that raise and direct market chicken. Anyway, they also collect farmer prices every month and provide the data in a report.
Here are the latest Pasture Raised
reports: Chicken & Eggs, Pork, and Beef.
I have heard comments that "Farmers are making a killing". Well, let me share how some of our costs of production have increased. In 2010 I purchased 10 registered bred Red Angus heifers for $1,000 each delivered. The 23 bred cows I bought April 2024 averaged $2800 each plus about $7800 for delivery.
The freezer trailer I use for deliveries purchased July 2016 has now more than doubled in price to $36,000. Our main farm tractor has doubled in price since 2008 (for slightly less horsepower). Feed for the hens, broilers, and pigs is about 40% higher over the past 8 years or so. Each of these make it tough and risky for new folks to start farming!
I expect our beef prices to increase soon!
Egg Pricing - Egg pricing is very confusing!
Have you noticed the price of eggs in the grocery stores lately? Beth delivered some of our eggs to the local Corner Market stores Dec 23rd and came back surprised that their white store brand eggs were $7.69 per dozen. That is $2.19 higher than what they sell our eggs for. Frankly, it disturbs us that our eggs are so much less than these cheap industrial- raised eggs because most of the folks who will buy ours are doing so because of price and NOT their quality.
And, when the cheap store brand egg prices drop (6-8 weeks ago their price was under $3), folks will buy them and not ours again because of price.
I know that for the last 4-6 months our costs have not had any major changes. Goes to reason the industrial egg farms costs have not changed much either. So, why are they now selling for at least $4.50 (150% more) than some two months ago? Are they taking advantage of seasonal holiday demand?
We recently had a local restaurant with several locations in Hattiesburg contact us about eggs for their breakfast menu because of high egg prices. The same folks had contacted me prior to first opening about our eggs as they wanted a quality product. I met with them, shared samples of our eggs and looked forward to growing our business. They opted for the cheap white eggs instead. Now that ours eggs are less, they came back knocking (they did this during Covid when the cheap eggs were not available). Not interested! For a small farm to be successful we need consistent business month in and month out. Not buyers who are not committed because of our healthy and quality products, but who only chase the lowest price.
We are considering a new pricing strategy with Corner Market to help ensure our eggs are for customers who value their quality and health benefits.
At Nature's Gourmet Farm, our intent is to create a community that evolves around one of the most intrinsically important things of the ages, and that’s the provision of sustenance. That's our passion - to raise healthy food to nourish families and strengthen immune systems.
If you are new to our farm then maybe you have been looking for premium ALL NATURAL GOODNESS of beef, pork, chicken, and eggs raised on pasture as God intended - with emphasis on Regenerative Principles and NOT conventionally raised animals (with growth hormones, drugs, chemicals, and antibiotics) - and where animals are treated humanely - then you have come to the right farm. Our delivery schedule and product availability are listed below along with order buttons that will take you to our website where you can browse over 90 product choices and place your order from the convenience of your home. It's that simple!
** Product Availability Update **
NOTE: Restocks are made about 6 PM on the dates indicated below!
Chicken -Restocked December 31st. Next Restock will be January 15th
Turkey - Restocked Ground Turkey, Wings, Legs, and Thighs November 22nd. It will be mid 2025 before the next restock.
Eggs - Restock each (NOW) TUESDAY PRIOR to YOUR delivery date.
Beef - Next Restock will be January 24th. Let me know if you want your name on the list for a half beef – I’m thinking our next offering will be February 2025. We already have 8 beef sold and room for only one more.
Pork – Next Restock FRESH items January 15th. Smoked items follow 12-14 days later
Lamb - Restocked October 8th
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