Restock Dates: Please see our Farm Blog where we post our weekly newsletter for the latest updates

Market Report News

written by

Ben Simmons

posted on

November 5, 2023

Good Morning from your farmer,

First, an update on our Whole Turkeys. Last Saturday we offered 60 turkeys for sale via Pre-Order. More than 40 were spoken for by close of business Sunday afternoon. Today, there are only 7 left. The turkeys shipped Monday and arrived from MI at 8:30 Tuesday morning. I unloaded them with my pallet forks through the slaughter plant 12' roll up door and then used the floor jack to move the pallet straight into our freezer, less than 10 minutes from the time they arrived until they were tucked away in our freezer. Each turkey is individually boxed in a neat white box. Price is $8/ Lb. for 12 Lb. average.

You may have noticed that our beef went up $0.20 to $0.25/lb. effective Nov 1st. These days we have a lot in our beef and the cost of replacements is increasing.

News from our local stockyard is there is 1 to 3 herd sell-outs every week. This is farmers who are taking advantage of record high prices and cashing out. Remember, the average farmer is in his mid to upper sixties. And, with the drought, hay shortage, equipment cost, input cost, etc. this looks like the perfect opportunity to "retire".

A buddy in Arkansas told me this week that herd sell-outs are so high in LA that the stockyards are limiting the number selling per week. And, that the cows being sold are very good cows. Boy, if only we could get some rain!

In NC they send out a monthly report for beef, pork, chicken, etc. Each report is compiled from farms that sell direct and wholesale and are similar to our farm. This week the AVERAGE price on a Half Cow was $9.02/lb. A sampling of cuts per lb.: NYS $21.00, Ribeye $24.21, Brisket $16.49, and Ground Beef $9.98 (about $1.50 higher than NGF).

The Pork Report samples per pound are: Half Pork $7.95, Bacon $13.90, Pork Chops $11.61, and Patty Sausage $9.73

Chicken samples per pound: Whole $9.75, Leg Qtrs $9.11, Wings $8.57

Beth & I often ask each other how can families afford this?

So, have you ever wondered what meat consumption was like in the rest of the world? Recently, the editor of Meatingplace magazine shared these points:

  • The U.S. is similar to 69 other countries in the world
  • Like the U.S., the most popular animal protein is poultry
  • Argentina is the world leader in beef consumption at 103 pounds per year per citizen
  • Hong Kong is #1 in pork at 121.7 pounds
  • St. Vincent & The Grenadines lead in poultry with 164.7 pounds.
  • In total consumption, the U.S. comes in fifth at 333.8 pounds with Hong Kong taking the top prize at 445.5 pounds per person per year

A few farm project updates:

  • Early October our new pond was completed in about 2.5 days. It also gave us a pile of top soil to fix issues caused by loggers. All we need now is some rain to fill it up
  • We are about 70% complete on planting our winter grass. Surprisingly, most of it has germinated and looks to be a really good stand. Moisture would be a big help
  • We managed to secure about 10 weeks of hay for our cows. Now we trust the Lord for our grass to grow and/or provide additional hay sources
  • After we completed the new fence, I had a local logger cut about 15 acres of pine trees on the same property. They had not been cut since 1991. The quality & yield was horrible. The income probably will not pay for the clean up. Good News is it will open up 15 acres of pasture for our cows
Pond-2023-10-Complete.jpg

From the edge of the grass area to the lowest point is 8 feet deep.

Business continues to be very strong. We appreciate your support of our farm.

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 October 18th. Next restock will be November 8th. We currently have about 850 broilers on our farm. Processing will continue for twice per month for the balance of the year.

Turkey - Will have a limited supply of 12 lb. average turkeys. As of Nov 3rd there are only 7 left!

Eggs - Restock each Wednesday.

Beef - Restocked October 27th. Next Restock Nov 17th.

Pork -Restocked October 18th for fresh cuts. Smoked cuts restocked Oct 28th. Next Restock Nov 9th. Smoked cuts 2 weeks later

Lamb - Restocked September 13th. Scheduled to process lamb in November, but this has been delayed.

More from the blog

Update: Raw Milk | Wintering Our Chickens

Raw Milk – So, work has been done that will help our efforts be successful when trying to influence politicians to support Food Freedom, i.e. where small farms can raise and sell into commerce and consumers have the freedom to choose who they buy from. Last week I had an hour conversation with the Director of the TX based Farm & Ranch Freedom Alliance. They were helpful in Louisiana changing their laws to support raw milk. It was very clear that it requires knowing the current law(s) and what the end game needs to be. And, sometimes change comes by winning a battle at a time to accomplish the final solution.

Beef & Egg Pricing Updates

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.

NEW Ocean Springs Pickup Location | Bacon, Bacon, Bacon

"NEW" Ocean Springs Pickup Location – During our December delivery a representative of the property owner stopped to say we could no longer use their location to meet customers. I queried our December customers and received several suggestions. The recommendation we decided on was the Park & Ride lot located in the SW intersection of I-10 and Hwy 609 (Washington Ave.). This is next door to Denny's. Here is a link to the updated details including a map showing where to meet us beginning January 4th. In many ways this location is much better than the Ace parking lot. I know for us it will be nice not to have the traffic on Hwy 90 especially when there are events scheduled in downtown OS.