# Ground Beef Prices Skyrocket



## LincTex

http://www.keloland.com/newsdetail.cfm/ground-beef-prices-skyrocket/?id=159715

Ground Beef Prices Skyrocket
February 4, 2014, 10:10 PM by Angela Kennecke

SIOUX FALLS, SD -
You may have noticed your meals are costing more these days. Ground beef, a Midwestern staple, has risen by as much as $2 a pound.

And as in the case with most price hikes, it all has to do with supply and demand of hamburger. 
Starr Fedders isn't buying beef today, but after checking out today's prices on hamburger, she's glad her family purchased part of a cow and has plenty of meat the freezer.

"I want to say when we did it in October, maybe $3 a pound at the most--definitely compared to the prices now," Fedders said.

While the average price per pound of ground beef is now about $5, Hy-Vee is still advertising specials for 80 percent lean for $2.99.

"Fortunately you're going to see most retailers still have some contracted prices out there that they can take advantage of in their advertising," Bob Trader of Hy-Vee said.

"I usually buy a couple extra pounds here and there. We have a freezer; might as well buy it while it's on sale and save while you can. Customer Larry Bergjord said.

Still the price of ground beef has been going up between 25 and 75 cents a week for more than a month. You can blame drought in the south and ice storms in our area for a six percent decrease in U.S. beef output.

"The beef market over the last two or three years has really been a break even at best proposition for ranchers; so they were kind of holding back on growing their herds to begin with. You throw those two events on top of it where you've lost a good chunk of your herd and you have the lowest level of cattle out there since 1951," Trader said.

With the regular price of ground beef hovering at about $5 per pound, stores are seeing an increase in alternatives, such as ground pork for $3.49 a pound and ground turkey at $3.69 a pound.

While you may be able to buy a steak for about the same price these days as ground beef, prices are expected to level off come grilling season.

Area prices (SIOUX FALLS) of 80 percent lean ground beef:

Hy-Vee $2.99 (sale price)
Walmart $3.38
Fareway $2.99 (sale price)
Sunshine $2.49 (sale ends today) regularly $3.99
Franklin Foods $3.67 
Target $3.99


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## Sentry18

Didn't South Dakota have a freak winter storm around Thanksgiving that killed off hundreds or thousands of head of cattle? I would definitely think that that would affect the supply and demand. Plus I'm sure the drought last summer had a lot to do with the feed availability for beef. So many things affect the price of any given product.

Ironically my local meat market predicted in early January that beef would become more expensive and harder to obtain, so I purchased 30 lbs of ground beef for the freezer that was already fairly well stocked with roasts and steaks. That article made me feel a lot better about my purchase.


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## rawhide2971

Beef has been going up faster than a cat can lick its butt, and thats fast.
I have a Buddie in Tenn that raises Stud Bulls, and sells them, they are very pampered and on grass and are happy critters, unless they fail the sperm test, then I am happy. He puts them on grain for a few weeks and off to the slaughter house, All I have to help with is the butcher and packing bill and then half a bull hits my freezer. Just picked up the latest "failure" 325 pounds of some of the finest beef you ever tasted, RIB EYES 1 1/2 inches thick as well as the sirloins and T bones. The roasts and even the ribs are nice and meaty...And then I ended up with 146 pounds of hamburger, 80/20 by order so it makes great hamburgers......don't mean to lord it over anyone but I am a firm meat eater and this is prime beef....by the way my payout was $202.98 not to shabby...of course it cost me $90 bucks to drive the truck up there.....I have 2 freezers and two extra refrigerators and they are all full of BULL lol


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## biobacon

Well I just got 5Lb at $2.60 a pound for 80/20. Wasn't too long ago it would have been $10 for 5lbs. 10 years ago I could get a pound by itself for about $2. Its all about the corn. I had to put new prices on our menu boards this week because of higher beef prices. About 30 cents more for a burger.


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## goshengirl

I keep a little calendar in my purse. Whenever I'm in a store I jot down expiration dates of beef or bison that I want, then come back the day before expiration (when the meat will be marked down - Krogers refers to it as 'manager's special'). I wouldn't make a trip for a pound or two, but if I see that a lot will be marked down, it's worth my time (and gas money), especially if I can combine trips.

92% beef runs $6/lb around here (it's really climbed over the past two years), but I'll get it on special for $3.60/lb. 
Bison (ground) runs $8.49/lb, but is usually $4.29/lb on manager's special. Last night I got it for $3/lb - I was happy.


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## Woody

I shop Harris Teeter here, they have yellow and blue stickers for that. First thing I scan for is the stickers, THEN look to see what packages they are on. It's what's for dinner!


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## weedygarden

Sentry18 said:


> Didn't South Dakota have a freak winter storm around Thanksgiving that killed off hundreds or thousands of head of cattle? I would definitely think that that would affect the supply and demand. Plus I'm sure the drought last summer had a lot to do with the feed availability for beef. So many things affect the price of any given product.
> 
> Ironically my local meat market predicted in early January that beef would become more expensive and harder to obtain, so I purchased 30 lbs of ground beef for the freezer that was already fairly well stocked with roasts and steaks. That article made me feel a lot better about my purchase.


Yes, South Dakota lost up to 100,000 head of cattle in a freak storm, but it was in early October. I have a cousin who raises cattle in the southern part of the state. I talked to his mother and she said they were not affected. This storm's damage was worse West River (west of the Missouri River) and more so N.W. South Dakota. Certainly, there were many cattle that were not affected, but this was a huge amount of beef to be lost in a single storm.

http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/10/13/entombed-snow-100000-cattle-perished-where-they-stood-rogue-south-dakota-blizzard-151733

This is probably just one factor, and my thought for others in the Dakotas was that it freed up some hay for them to use for feed this winter. With this winter, the survivors are probably using it.

Does South Dakota's cattle provide that much of our nation's beef? The price of everything is going up. I saw a post on facebook by someone in North Dakota, talking about a gallon of milk costing more than a gallon of gas.


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## ContinualHarvest

Good thing I have a freezer full of venison, rabbit, and other wild game. 
We don't eat beef very often anymore.


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## goshengirl

Woody said:


> I shop Harris Teeter here, they have yellow and blue stickers for that. First thing I scan for is the stickers, THEN look to see what packages they are on. It's what's for dinner!


LOL, I've done that, too.  The kids'll ask "what's for dinner?" and I'll say "Don't know, depends on what I find on sale." But the calendar system has helped me with stocking up on specific items - right now it's definitely beef, due to the high prices (and bison is a constant because it cans so well).

ContinualHarvest, I hope to be like that some day.


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## Wellrounded

We have bought beef a few times in the last 3 months. Rump for the BBQ and a little bit of corned. Last beef we killed was aug 2012 and I do still have maybe 30 quarts left, it's all hamburger. Next beef is still 6 months off of slaughter. 

Down here (Australia) we are shooting beef in the thousands because of the live export block. The cheapest beef is $5.00 AU a pound, that's for rump or hamburger. That is the rubbish, decent stuff is $12.00 AU a pound and up. Makes no sense at all. The public and farmers get ripped off no matter what happens to the market.


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## cowboyhermit

Corn and other grains are down, corn is half what it was just a while back, so that's not the reason for the price increase. Like Sentry and others mentioned, it is about the numbers, U.S herd size is way down.

Pork is also suffering from PEDV so that has led to less meat in general, typically pig numbers can be increased much more rapidly than beef to fill demand but not at the moment.

With the prices that are being paid for feeder cattle right now it is hard to see retail dropping much in the near future. Last couple years have been very rewarding for those producing their own protein, and especially those of us who are producing for others as well. For those of us farmers who don't participate in government programs, getting $1000 or more for calves "off the cow" (not weaned) and no work done on them is a nice reward for the tough times.


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## Wellrounded

cowboyhermit said:


> Corn and other grains are down, corn is half what it was just a while back, so that's not the reason for the price increase. Like Sentry and others mentioned, it is about the numbers, U.S herd size is way down.
> 
> Pork is also suffering from PEDV so that has led to less meat in general, typically pig numbers can be increased much more rapidly than beef to fill demand but not at the moment.
> 
> With the prices that are being paid for feeder cattle right now it is hard to see retail dropping much in the near future. Last couple years have been very rewarding for those producing their own protein, and especially those of us who are producing for others as well. For those of us farmers who don't participate in government programs, getting $1000 or more for calves "off the cow" (not weaned) and no work done on them is a nice reward for the tough times.


Glad to hear you're getting good prices.

One of the things I hear a lot from the general public about farming here is anger about 'drought relief'. We give taxpayers money to farmers to help them buy in feed etc when things get bad, so many people get damn angry about it here. I agree we shouldn't have to give farmers $$$$ for drought relief and we wouldn't have to IF they got a fair $$$$ at the gate. 
We need to start paying the REAL cost of food production to the people that produce the food.
I've heard so many people locally grumbling about the price of pork at the local butcher, I've offered these same people a 120 lb pig for $100AU, no takers. We can't GIVE them away, we feed them to our dogs. If they want it neatly wrapped then they should pay the $$$$ and shut up. They want the service NOT the product.


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## cowboyhermit

I can't fault other farmers for taking part in government programs, in reality by not doing so they would be putting themselves at a huge disadvantage. In reality the amount available to farmers in Canada is a pittance compared to other places like the U.S and Europe :ignore:. I have heard that Australia also has lower subsidies in general except for "disaster relief" type stuff.

I have to admit I sometimes find it hard to believe what people are willing to pay in groceries stores for things we produce. I know the realities and the margins but even I get sticker shock when looking at a package of steaks. You can certainly get much better deals at times by buying direct and in bulk, now if you take your share of the organs and soup bones that's another story and likely farther than most people these days would ever consider.


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## boomer

It truly is a matter of service rather than product. Try selling a live chicken even if organically pastured. No one wants to butcher and prep for the oven. Yet, even if raised organic, commercial mass kill and process will ruin the quality of the meat.


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## LincTex

weedygarden said:


> I saw a post on facebook by someone in North Dakota, talking about a gallon of milk costing more than a gallon of gas.


It's been that way for a long time now, maybe as long as I can remember?


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## JayJay

I just ordered 50 (1 lb) packages of ground beef from the slaughter house we use. It was 2.30 3 years ago, 2.70 2 years ago, I didn't buy last year and today it is 3.30.
Chicken breasts, 1.39 lb.

I have a Piggly-Wiggly that sells me a box of out of date frozen meats for $20--NY strip, roasts, pork cutlets, stew meat, sirloin, etc...always 13 pieces for $20.
I cooked a $14 dollar roast last month. It was marked down twice and of course with my 13 pieces, I paid about $1.50 for it!


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## JayJay

**We need to start paying the REAL cost of food production to the people that produce the food**

I can't find the link, but I just read a Texas rancher say, the beef wasn't selling well, so the market was in Russia now, and oh, yes, she did say that.


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## hiwall

Here the 93/7 we buy is $2.99 lb. It has been that for about a year now.


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## Woody

hiwall said:


> Here the 93/7 we buy is $2.99 lb. It has been that for about a year now.


Damn, I need to move to Arizona!!! When I do, I'll come with a tanker load of our local 'precipitation' and trade for meat.


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## dixiemama

We pay $2.29 a pound. 

Sent from my MB886 using Survival Forum mobile app


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## AdmiralD7S

90% was around 4.80/#, no sale this evening in Ohio.


Sent from my iPhone usi


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## catdog6949

*Beef and Bread, Lamb, Veal..*

Me and mine live on less that a$1,000.00 a month, so I coupon, and watch sales, last week, we got $1.99 Veal and Lamb, it was their Prime stuff, Marked down bought 20 lbs right into Our Refrigerator's Freezer!

We would not be able too have meat much, if we didn't watch these sale's! Also noticed the grocery near me raised their Bread from $1.00 too $1.39 and they put it on sale for $1.20 Geez! So now I ride the bus and make multiple trip's too the Grocery Outlet for almost all of my staple's Now.

I make my first trip too their just too go Aisle by Aisle too look for markdown's, doing this We also have enough to buy a few prepp's monthly?

Cat and Turtle


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## Genevieve

store brand fresh ground beef 90/10 is on sale( with their rewards card) for $4.59 a pound. Fine print says you save $1.10 a pound
I buy the 80/20 and just drain the meat. I give my dogs the drained fat. it keeps their coats shiney lol


Pork is cheapest of meats anymore. The above store this week has fresh country style pork ribs on sale for $1.99 a pound. and they make really good pulled pork. I give the fat from those to the dogs also.

The same store has fresh pork tenderloin on a BOGO ( $7.29 for 2)
They also have oven stuffer roaster chickens( 6-8lbs) on BOGO( buy one get one. like paying half price)



When I buy the 80/20 I use it to make not only meatloaf, but meatballs and some hamburgers. I make it stretch as far as I can by adding other stuff to it lol
We eat more pork and chicken than anything. And even those I serve less meat and more veggies and bread to piece it out. ( hubby is a bread freak. LUVs it)


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## talob

I have been talking to a farmer friend about buying one of his old milk cows when one is done milking for grinding and canning but with the price of beef going up like it is even that is going to be very high, I was in the store yesterday bought ground chuck 80/20 for 4.39 a pound, then went and looked at turkey,(1.29$) mentiond to wife about buying or raising our own turkey to grind when I finally decide on a meat grinder we allready cann turkey, anyone have any experience with ground turkey?


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## LincTex

hiwall said:


> Here the 93/7 we buy is $2.99 lb. It has been that for about a year now.


93/7 in central Texas runs $3.98
90/10 is $3.39 last I checked.


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## goshengirl

talob said:


> anyone have any experience with ground turkey?


Haven't raised/butchered turkeys, if that's what you're asking. But I do regularly get ground turkey on sale - add a little Italian seasonings and they make great meatballs. Frozen is best - my picky boys love them - but they can fine, too.


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## talob

goshengirl said:


> Haven't raised/butchered turkeys, if that's what you're asking. But I do regularly get ground turkey on sale - add a little Italian seasonings and they make great meatballs. Frozen is best - my picky boys love them - but they can fine, too.


Yep, thats what I'm looking for, thinking about substituting turkey for ground beef as much as we can, would be canned. Thanks


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## hiwall

We often use ground turkey in many different dishes.


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## Dakine

hiwall said:


> Here the 93/7 we buy is $2.99 lb. It has been that for about a year now.


the 2 lb chubs have been $4.75'ish lb for as long as I can remember in SoCal. Thats at the local grocer which uses beef that is labeled as imported from Mexico, Canada, among others...

on a side note I just re-joined costco so I'm going to be checking their prices, I'll probably buy some there and can it very soon!


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## jeff47041

talob said:


> I have been talking to a farmer friend about buying one of his old milk cows when one is done milking for grinding and canning but with the price of beef going up like it is even that is going to be very high, I was in the store yesterday bought ground chuck 80/20 for 4.39 a pound, then went and looked at turkey,(1.29$) mentiond to wife about buying or raising our own turkey to grind when I finally decide on a meat grinder we allready cann turkey, anyone have any experience with ground turkey?


You should be able to get a much better price than market price for an old cow for grinding up.

I like ground turkey, just not as much as beef and pork. Not far from here, there is a turkey farm that normally has about 5,000 turkeys. Sometimes some get too big for market, and you can get them cheaper/lb.

Anyway, yesterday, my neighbor bought, skinned, deboned and ground up two 55 lb turkeys. He brought me a few pounds of turkey sausage that he made. He used the same seasonings that we use when we make pork sausage. It's not bad, but it's not awesome either. I could get used to it if I had to. I did fry it in lard though.

The lovey one tried it and started talking about could we do that and be healthier by not eating so much pork and beef. I asked her if she has to get used to something new, how about you just get used to deer, so it can be free. She said that she would be willing to try again. (She doesn't hate deer meat but she can't stand the smell of it if she has to cook it, and loses her appetite from the smell) If someone else has it in their lasagna or chili or something, she doesn't mind eating it.


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## cowboyhermit

jeff47041 said:


> You should be able to get a much better price than market price for an old cow for grinding up.


Definitely better but by how much:dunno: 
Up here in Canada an old cow that is in decent shape is bringing somewhere around $0.65-$0.90/lb at auction. An old cow will not dress out very well percentage-wise, especially a dairy breed so @ 50/50 that price is already up to $1.30-$1.80/lb. Then by the time you take away the bones you lose another say 50% for the sake of even numbers, somewhere in that range anyways. That gives you a ballpark of $2.60-$3.60 for the meat alone, cutting and wrapping is not cheap these days and doing it yourself is a lot of work, especially grinding, so pretty much anyway you look at it beef isn't cheap these days (barring sales and particular circumstances). Sure there are favours (we have "sold" some meat at a loss in the past) and if you use the heart, liver, etc not to mention the couple hundred pounds of bones for stock the numbers look a lot better.

Now the people I know who have been raising a couple feeders on grass that was going to waste for years, they are really smiling. Pretty much whatever they do at this point (auction/butcher at home/take to butcher) they are going to come out WAY ahead.


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## talob

cowboyhermit said:


> Definitely better but by how much:dunno:
> Up here in Canada an old cow that is in decent shape is bringing somewhere around $0.65-$0.90/lb at auction. An old cow will not dress out very well percentage-wise, especially a dairy breed so @ 50/50 that price is already up to $1.30-$1.80/lb. Then by the time you take away the bones you lose another say 50% for the sake of even numbers, somewhere in that range anyways. That gives you a ballpark of $2.60-$3.60 for the meat alone, cutting and wrapping is not cheap these days and doing it yourself is a lot of work, especially grinding, so pretty much anyway you look at it beef isn't cheap these days (barring sales and particular circumstances). Sure there are favours (we have "sold" some meat at a loss in the past) and if you use the heart, liver, etc not to mention the couple hundred pounds of bones for stock the numbers look a lot better.
> 
> Now the people I know who have been raising a couple feeders on grass that was going to waste for years, they are really smiling. Pretty much whatever they do at this point (auction/butcher at home/take to butcher) they are going to come out WAY ahead.


That pretty much puts in perspective an old milker would have to be at a really good price to make it worthwhile, makes turkey look even better, then theres the option of a couple feeder calfs, if I'm gonna do that better do it soon I guess.


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## cowboyhermit

talob said:


> That pretty much puts in perspective an old milker would have to be at a really good price to make it worthwhile, makes turkey look even better, then theres the option of a couple feeder calfs, if I'm gonna do that better do it soon I guess.


Pretty much anything other than beef will be less cost up front, it is generally a bit easier to sell a calf or two to recoup your costs than with other animals though. Anyone who bought calves last spring, barring disasters, should have made money but of course no one knows for certain what the price will be 6 months from now. Right now around here a guy might be able to pick up a 350lb heifer for $650 whereas a heifer fed up to 1000lb for instance is bringing around $1400. @ $750/hd-costs nobody is going to get rich without big numbers but there are some people who decided to raise a few on grass that was wasted and for them a couple grand made a big difference (especially those retired or otherwise on a fixed income).


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## Tirediron

old cows milk cows aren't really a good meat source money wise, as Cowboyhermit said, An older beef breed can be a not bad investment, especially if you can find a middle aged cow that lost her calf early or didn't catch, these animals will usually fatten well on good grass, and make pretty good meat, if you butcher one and keep the very best cuts and just put the poorer cuts into ground or stew meat you get pretty good value for your money, and of course if you want to marble the meat you can always feed them chopped or ground grain and induce the allergic reaction and convert the fats to "bad cholesterol" if you like the mainstream do what the rest do approach.


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## Jimthewagontraveler

Did I not say something about this 2 summers ago?
Was anybody listening?
Did I have any effect?


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## LincTex

Jimthewagontraveler said:


> Did I not say something about this 2 summers ago?
> Was anybody listening?
> Did I have any effect?


Yes, but things are always changing......................


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## Wellrounded

Read an article a couple of days ago, farmer sold a few head of beef (steers), got 41 cents per kg live weight (about 20 cents / lb). He said the lowest that day at the sales was 6 cents per kg. Prices at the butcher/supermarket are still stable. Had a look yesterday and ground was about $12.00 per kg ($6.00 lb) and good cuts started at $18.00 per kg ($9.00 lb).


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## cowboyhermit

Wellrounded said:


> Read an article a couple of days ago, farmer sold a few head of beef (steers), got 41 cents per kg live weight (about 20 cents / lb). He said the lowest that day at the sales was 6 cents per kg. Prices at the butcher/supermarket are still stable. Had a look yesterday and ground was about $12.00 per kg ($6.00 lb) and good cuts started at $18.00 per kg ($9.00 lb).


Wow on both counts
Beef prices here have always been cyclical but there are times when things really go off the chart. In the thirties my family ended up basically not selling cattle for several years, actually buying quite a few for next to nothing. By the end they were scrounging every ditch and slough for feed but when the prices turned around they did very well.
Typically prices are high for a few years and the numbers go up (takes a while with cows) then price drops again, often like a rock. This time around circumstances in North America just seem to be keeping the numbers down and demand hasn't dropped much despite the price :dunno:


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## Dakine

Wellrounded said:


> Read an article a couple of days ago, farmer sold a few head of beef (steers), got 41 cents per kg live weight (about 20 cents / lb). He said the lowest that day at the sales was 6 cents per kg. Prices at the butcher/supermarket are still stable. Had a look yesterday and ground was about $12.00 per kg ($6.00 lb) and good cuts started at $18.00 per kg ($9.00 lb).


is that in $USD?


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## cowboyhermit

Dakine said:


> is that in $USD?


Not to butt in but for the last few years there hasn't been much difference. Australian and Canadian dollar have been hovering around parity with U.S. until the last few months but even now they are only 10% less. Our gov has been fighting tooth and nail to avoid going above par with the U.S because it hurts exports.


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## LincTex

Dakine said:


> is that in $USD?


Also remember that besides being in $AUS, that 1 Kg = 2.2 pounds


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## Wellrounded

Dakine said:


> is that in $USD?


No Aussie dollars, cowboy is right we sit at or around parity most of the time, at the moment we're down a bit though.


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## cowboyhermit

Just noticed at the local grocer lean ground beef was 2.50/lb (2.28/lb USD)  They have the best local meat, the only complaint I have ever heard about them is price. Meanwhile at the giant stores that sell meat of dubious quality/origin and burger that cooks down to nothing the price is $3.50-$5:scratch 
At $2.50 it even looked tempting to me, considering what we can get for our live beef. Now the steaks and roasts, that's another story.


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