(no subject)

[jianantonic]

I know someone here knows the answer to this.

On the way to OC the other week, Fingers, Ahren, and I stopped at a Burger King. I got a veggie burger, which cost me twice as much as their real-meat burgers, which were twice as large as mine. I thought for a moment.

I don't know how much you can get for one cow, but I know that livestock in general fetches surprisingly high prices per animal. I guess it can vary a lot based on a lot of factors, but how much can you get for one good cow? It's several hundred bucks, right?

And it goes through at least one more channel before it's on your tray at Mickey D's, so what I don't understand is how cows can be profitable when burgers sell so cheap.

Ahren says it's "because they milk it for all it's worth. No pun intended." :) And I'm sure they do, but seriously...how much can you get from one cow? Or pig? Or anything...? I just don't get it.

Anyone care to explain to the curious vegetarian? Thanks.

Comments

[stillbigonbnl.livejournal.com]

Actually a good beef (steer) will fetch closer to $1000. Depending on the market. People who purchased our beef direct from the farm paid $1.75/pound, hanging weight, meaning just the meat and bones. On average, a good steer weighs 900-1000 lbs. Granted, when you're looking at Burger King, you're looking at someone with a lot of wholesale buying power and I would think they paid a good bit less.

IMO, they charge more for veggie burgers because you'll pay it. I don't mean that in a bad way, but it's the truth. It chaps my ass that I have to pay more for organic food. Sure, I'd like to have less chemicals in my food - why does it cost MORE to pay for LESS chemicals?? That's why I have a garden and grow my own beef. I know what's in it. :)

[jianantonic.livejournal.com]

Yeah I'm with you on the veggie prices. I know I'm getting jacked - others have told me that to cut costs, BK and other fast food joints actually mix soy into their beef - and yet an all soy burger is more expensive. Bastards.

[flamingophoenix.livejournal.com]

I doubt it's the same grade of soy. Anyone know more than me?

(On second thought, don't answer that question directly.) ;-)

[oobermeister.livejournal.com]

the chemicals (antibiotics, pesticides, hormones, etc) allow them to grow huuugge quantities. therefore growing without chemicals costs more, so they have to charge more.

[flamingophoenix.livejournal.com]

Using gross chemicals/etc allows them to grow in bulk. Economies of scale and such.

It's worth paying more! (Usually!)

Veggie burgers are probably more expensive than cow burgers for the same reason--many fewer people buy them, so you can't have the huge economies of scale in this case.

[quandary87.livejournal.com]

Also, the beef that goes into burgers is very low quality. If someone sells a cow with about 500 lbs of meat on it for $1000, the filet mignons, prime rib, t-bone, tenderloin, etc. cuts of meat are super expensive. They run something like 10-30$ a pound depending on quality at the butchers or whatever. So those slices get you a lot of your money back for a small amount of your meat. And then the regular cuts (like what I'm cooking tonight) run like $5 a lb. The stuff that goes to burger king and the like is probably low end ground beef, which is just filler at the end. So, let's say your cow goes like 50lbs into choice cuts, for like $800, 300lbs into normal cuts for like $1500 and like 150 lbs into junky cuts, for like $200. $2500 back for a $1000 cow.

[oobermeister.livejournal.com]

maybe they're trying to get you to associate nutrition with cost...the more it costs, the more nutritious it is. Usually dishes without meat cost less, so i'm surprised. somethins fishy. or in this case.....beefy.

[flamingophoenix.livejournal.com]

Economies of scale!

(At this point I just like repeating those words. Economies of scale economies of scale economies of scale!)

[flamingophoenix.livejournal.com]

Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cow) doesn't tell me how much an adult cow weighs, but I'm guessing on the order of 500-1000 pounds. Not all of that is meat, but a lot is.

Consider also that hamburger is made from the not-so-good parts of the cow. I imagine that after some company or other has used the tasty bits to make steaks, they sell the remainders to McDo for a good discount. This is part of why you'll almost never catch BSE from eating a steak, but you can very easily from a hamburger--hamburgers often have non-muscle matter (nerve matter) ground up into them by accident.

Anyway, in sum: Cows are expensive, but bad cuts of beef are not.

[oobermeister.livejournal.com]

mmmmm....nerves