Shortages

[farmerjan]

Talking about shortages... awhile back I started buying extra butter to stick in the freezer... just because. It was something like 2.98 /lb or a 2 pack for 4.98 or something. I just read somewhere that butter is up to 4.98 for a 1 lb package??!!!! I would pick up a 2 pk out of the dairy dept ....am I ever glad that I did. Cannot imagine it is nearly twice what it was ... but then the price paid to farmers for their milk is up... for the last 6 months or so....

 

[Baymule]

A square bale of bermuda is $11 at the feed store. I paid $80 each for 10 round bales of unfertilized bahia. Fertilized would have been $120. The sheep hit that hay after coming in for the evening and getting their pellets. So I guess even unfertilized it has some nutrients they aren't getting or else they need the roughage. Either way, it's good.

 

[CLSranch]

When I looked at prairie grass square hay here it was $8 a bale, $7 a bale if you bought 50 or more, according to the flyer. When I called it was $10 a bale for 50 bales. I'm trying to sell a horse to help lower cost. It might be better to put her in the freezer. $65 a bale for the small 4x5 1/2 bales. That guy hasn't called me back. Last year (maybe year before) $50 for a 6x6 heavy bale.

I lucked out on 160 small square in July that was 20 years old but still good. They just wanted to tear the barn down and I got to get the hay first. It won't last long though.

 

[farmerjan]

I stopped at the grocery store on the way home from testing... and yep... saw where butter was 4.98 for 1 lb pkg and 8.98 for the 2 pack. WOW. Farmers did not get a raise of double on their milk prices 6 months ago....

Talking to DS last night when I was picking him up with the truck to bring the baler back up to the barn to store while we go through this rain spell... He said he called about diesel for the farm... last time he got it about 2 months ago(?) it was up to 3.49 delivered for off-road diesel. It is 4.59 delivered right now and 4.25 at the pump at the co-op.... Another place was 4.99 delivered to the farm. The guy at the first place, co-op to the south of us, said it will be going up again as they are hearing that it will be going up at least another $1 a gallon or so. Based on the mess with Russia and the whole mess with the OPEC nations cutting the production.

I realize that those of you out west are paying those prices already. But if it goes up that much here, it will also go up out there and it will be so expensive that you are going to see more and continued reduction in farming practices. If prices keep going up, and there are continued decreases in acres planted and farmed, there is going to be increased costs of food and increased SHORTAGES of food.

I know that most on here do "get it"... but folks, this is getting more serious. Get some stuff stockpiled if you don't already have it because there might come a time that barter of food and basic staples may be what will save you.
Hunting season is upon us and if you can possibly do it, freeze or can any and all you can. Vacuum packed meat will keep for several years if not compromised with freezer burn for tiny holes in the bag from rough handling. It will lose a little nutritional value but it does not go bad if kept at 0* freezer temps.
INVEST in a bigger freezer if you have a smaller one... pay it on time.. it will be worth having the extra space. And things are not going to get cheaper overall. We may see a crash in prices if the recession goes into a more "depression" state... and that is very possible with the way things are going. But there will be few that will be able to take advantage of those prices falling unless they are better situated now going into it.
Most everyone on here cans and believes in trying to have enough put by for 6 months or more. Make sure of it. Grow a garden next year or buy at farmers markets or offer to WORK at a friends garden in exchange for food. In SS, our sister site, there is a member @farmerjamie that got into a community garden with the church offering land to people... seems most did not take advantage of it, corn was planted in much and although I think he did his part, much went to waste because there was so much to be harvested. That is a sad situation. We have to do better... and I am as guilty as anyone of not using all that I have planted and tried to put up. But, it might be the difference down the road in eating or not eating.
I hope it never gets to that place. I would hope that I would get to the place where if I have surplus, I can have a small roadside market or consign to a food co-op like I used to do. Or to give to friends and share with those less fortunate. But in that line of thinking, I also am tired of giving to those that are not even willing to TRY to help themselves. Maybe God will judge me for that, but I am not going to be a doormat for those that think they are entitled, to just take and take with no sense of "paying for" their food in some manner... money, shared work, barter, something. If you have issues, health problems, whatever, then I can be very generous. But I am not handing things to able bodied lazy people.

I am getting the rest of my financial situation in order. Hopefully before the SHTF.... and maybe we will be lucky and it won't happen. I am hoping the government has some major changes so we can start to crawl our way back to a financial and moral balance in this country. But, even if we do a swing and go to the super conservative direction.... it will take YEARS to back up and FIX what has been allowed to go so crazy.... it will take twice as long to just go back to where we were 2 or 4 years ago... In the meantime, we still need to eat and provide for ourselves and our families.

I don't have the answers for much, but I do know we are going so far away from what this country was started for and the principles that the we were founded on.
We are not perfect. There were wrongs done here and the black population was not the only ones that were "done wrong".... everyone here can agree on that. BUT we cannot go back and change history... it is GONE... but we had da#@ well better learn from it and go FORWARD... and we had better learn from the history of what happened to VENEZUELA and what they have finally started to see and come back around..... read articles on how socialism failed and how it destroyed their whole financial standing.
We are on the cusp of going down that same road.

 

[Ridgetop]

I have cut down on the amount of meat I prepare for meals for the 5 adults in the house. I bought boneless rib steaks at $7.99 lb., brought them home and cut them in half to freeze. My sons were shocked to get a small steak 3"x4" for dinner instead of a whole one. I told them that at the prices of meat they were going to be getting half as much meat for meals as usual. Same goes for breakfast eggs. We can't grow a garden - my last 2 gardens were eaten by the ground squirrels - however, I have tried to stock up on cases of canned vegetables. The store brands when they are on sale. I also stocked up in coffee. The bottom shelves of my large hall closet are where I keep the canned goods and the top shelves that are not reachable except on a ladder are for the coffee. I still have some TP and try to replace stuff when we use it. Unfortunately, my family does not see the need to stock up and complains when I try to do it. I guess I will eat my stockpiled food behind locked doors while they complain and go hungry! I am just afraid that we will not get to Texas in time to plant a garden and fruit trees before everything goes wrong.

I am really worried about war coming to us because of Biden and his stand with China and Russia.

 

[Mini Horses]

Those boys will get used to smaller portions -- or they can buy the meats....share the bill.

 

[murphysranch]

Preach it Sister. I'm sooooo with you, we must be twins.

I have hoarded a bunch and still check out the damaged cans and the clearance stuff. Now that Kroger is prob going to buy Safeway and Albertsons, I'm gonna be dog on mad cus Safeway has the best digital coupons. I go there every week for the digital coupons for the things we use. Free cheese this week, 29 cent ice cream one week, 13 cent pumpkins, mangos for 49 cents. You know - loss leaders to bring us in.

Kroger is much more expensive when you compare the same ad from Safeway to Kroger for the same brand/item of food. This week: Progresso soups 96 cents at Safeway, $1.29 at Kroger. I could go on and on.

I have a ton of tomatoes down in the garden that I just don't "feel" like harvesting. But GET WITH IT, Girl! Pick the da$% things and throw them in the freezer.

RT: we are supposed to only eat a piece of solid muscle meat the size of a deck of cards. Tell them all that is what they are getting. Hubs and I have done that over the last two years and we're used to it now. Would I rather eat a thigh and a leg? YES!!! Would I love to have an entire steak? OMGOSH yes.

My chickens eat everything now. They are only 4 months old, but I've been training them to enjoy a large bowl of anything I chop up/mince, smoosh, soak, etc. Today they had crackers, 2017 corn flake crumbs, a rice cake, and 1/2 of a cooked yellow squash that was all seedy. Tomorrow they are getting the rest of the squash, a tin of chicken salad mix from 2015 (I got a bunch of free food from an estate sale that was going to be thrown away), some very old oatmeal, and a lettuce leaf that is brown. Don't worry - they have good food and they get a handful of scratch and a handful of milo, which is slightly cheaper per lb than the scratch.

Oh, and I'm always ready to share.

 

[Mini Horses]

My chickens love it when I let extra goat milk clabber for them to have. Cats often get fresh, warm milk. No "scrap" food here. Trimmings when I can, freeze, cook go to an animal. Big meal leftovers become heat & eat meals, soup or casserole ... If a lot...planovers.

I think we all do this to some extent. I'm pretty strong on it. If I feed one animal who can feed me and others, I'm happy. . Saves $. My chickens free range and feed from any dropped food my goats might share...plus eat bugs, flies, grasshoppers, etc....which amazing become eggs. less chicken feed to buy.

 

[SageHill]

I stopped at the grocery store on the way home from testing... and yep... saw where butter was 4.98 for 1 lb pkg and 8.98 for the 2 pack. WOW. Farmers did not get a raise of double on their milk prices 6 months ago....

Talking to DS last night when I was picking him up with the truck to bring the baler back up to the barn to store while we go through this rain spell... He said he called about diesel for the farm... last time he got it about 2 months ago(?) it was up to 3.49 delivered for off-road diesel. It is 4.59 delivered right now and 4.25 at the pump at the co-op.... Another place was 4.99 delivered to the farm. The guy at the first place, co-op to the south of us, said it will be going up again as they are hearing that it will be going up at least another $1 a gallon or so. Based on the mess with Russia and the whole mess with the OPEC nations cutting the production.

I realize that those of you out west are paying those prices already. But if it goes up that much here, it will also go up out there and it will be so expensive that you are going to see more and continued reduction in farming practices. If prices keep going up, and there are continued decreases in acres planted and farmed, there is going to be increased costs of food and increased SHORTAGES of food.

I know that most on here do "get it"... but folks, this is getting more serious. Get some stuff stockpiled if you don't already have it because there might come a time that barter of food and basic staples may be what will save you.
Hunting season is upon us and if you can possibly do it, freeze or can any and all you can. Vacuum packed meat will keep for several years if not compromised with freezer burn for tiny holes in the bag from rough handling. It will lose a little nutritional value but it does not go bad if kept at 0* freezer temps.
INVEST in a bigger freezer if you have a smaller one... pay it on time.. it will be worth having the extra space. And things are not going to get cheaper overall. We may see a crash in prices if the recession goes into a more "depression" state... and that is very possible with the way things are going. But there will be few that will be able to take advantage of those prices falling unless they are better situated now going into it.
Most everyone on here cans and believes in trying to have enough put by for 6 months or more. Make sure of it. Grow a garden next year or buy at farmers markets or offer to WORK at a friends garden in exchange for food. In SS, our sister site, there is a member @farmerjamie that got into a community garden with the church offering land to people... seems most did not take advantage of it, corn was planted in much and although I think he did his part, much went to waste because there was so much to be harvested. That is a sad situation. We have to do better... and I am as guilty as anyone of not using all that I have planted and tried to put up. But, it might be the difference down the road in eating or not eating.
I hope it never gets to that place. I would hope that I would get to the place where if I have surplus, I can have a small roadside market or consign to a food co-op like I used to do. Or to give to friends and share with those less fortunate. But in that line of thinking, I also am tired of giving to those that are not even willing to TRY to help themselves. Maybe God will judge me for that, but I am not going to be a doormat for those that think they are entitled, to just take and take with no sense of "paying for" their food in some manner... money, shared work, barter, something. If you have issues, health problems, whatever, then I can be very generous. But I am not handing things to able bodied lazy people.

I am getting the rest of my financial situation in order. Hopefully before the SHTF.... and maybe we will be lucky and it won't happen. I am hoping the government has some major changes so we can start to crawl our way back to a financial and moral balance in this country. But, even if we do a swing and go to the super conservative direction.... it will take YEARS to back up and FIX what has been allowed to go so crazy.... it will take twice as long to just go back to where we were 2 or 4 years ago... In the meantime, we still need to eat and provide for ourselves and our families.

I don't have the answers for much, but I do know we are going so far away from what this country was started for and the principles that the we were founded on.
We are not perfect. There were wrongs done here and the black population was not the only ones that were "done wrong".... everyone here can agree on that. BUT we cannot go back and change history... it is GONE... but we had da#@ well better learn from it and go FORWARD... and we had better learn from the history of what happened to VENEZUELA and what they have finally started to see and come back around..... read articles on how socialism failed and how it destroyed their whole financial standing.
We are on the cusp of going down that same road.

I love the way you think - I could not have said it better.

 

[Mini Horses]

In Walmart today I checked dairy prices. Had to blink and do math again for this one...

1# pkg of WM butter. 4.48.....but a double pkg was 11.79. cleaned my glasses and looked again!! Yep, double way more than 2 singles

Guess the singles will be more next shipment

Gave my hens a kibble treat tonight. WM eggs at 6 a dzn for brown free range.....