I don’t think we have ever written about the price of beef on our website. It is something I rather not do for a couple of reasons:
- We don’t want to sound like we are trying to justify our prices.
- We do not want to sound like we are whining about costs.
- The price of beef changes just like everything else based on supply and demand.
- So what we write today will be out of date soon.
The current price of beef is high?
We are currently in a run up of cattle prices. There have been run ups in the cattle market before and they are always followed by a decline. Will this cycle be any different, probably not. The current rally is based on unprecedented demand. Why? I believe it is because of the failing health of our society. We were told for years that saturated fat was bad, red meat was causing cancer, etc. For the most part, we are a compliant society and trusted the folks telling us these things. I even bought into the low fat mantra years ago. But guess what? Our health declined as we followed these messages, eventually we found Traditional Food would heal us. Traditional diets with fats, especially healthy animal fats are not only healing, they are essential to our health. Demand for health is here, beef and other animal protein & fats are the solution.
2026 Direct To Consumer Beef = $12 – $14 per lb.
This article in “Hay & Forage Grower” explains why direct to consumer beef is priced at it’s current (2026) level. The title of the article is “So, you want to sell grass-fed beef“. In our opinion, this article could be titled “Direct To Consumer Beef Pricing Explained”. Please read the article to understand why in 2026, for a beef producer, “a realistic breakeven is closer to $12 to $14 per pound“, when selling direct to a consumer.
At $12 per pound Ground Beef, that is $3 for a quarter lb. burger (without the 20 cents bun). Sounds like a bargain to me!
Is Beef High Priced or Snickers Candy Bar?
In the image above, we list the nutrients for 93/7 ground beef per the Walmart website (when this post was created). The locally raised beef we offer here at DS Family Farm will have a slightly different nutrient profile. Hopefully this helps you re-evaluate your food choice options when it comes to pricing. When we convert the Snickers bar to match 1 lb. size comparison, note the Snickers is 50% sugar (240 grams = one-half pound). You can feed a “HANGRY” with a Snickers, you can feed a “FAMILY” with the beef.
Is Grocery Store Beef Really Cheaper?
The “Hay and Forage” article above explains the true costs of a locally raised beef sold direct to a consumer. Why is grocery store beef priced cheaper? There are a number of reasons:
- Scale: Grocery store beef comes from large feed yards and is processed in a plant where thousands of beef are slaughtered per day. That one pound of ground beef at the grocer store will contain parts of up to 1000 different animals mixed together.
- Buy local direct to consumer, and all of your ground beef comes from just one animal.
- Lead Loss: Beef is used to get you into the store. They know beef demand is currently hot! They want to get you in the store to buy the beef and then make their money on the condiments you pick up to grill and serve that beef. The margins in a grocery store a very thin.
- Hidden Costs: When you buy commodity beef at a store, it was raised on subsidized (your tax dollars, hidden) corn, soy, and distiller grains (waste from ethanol plants). If you were to add in the cost of your tax dollars that goes to farm subsidies, the price you pay for grocery store beef goes up.
- Farm Policy: The U.S. now imports about half of it’s beef from other countries. At DS Family Farm, we think this is ridiculous. But this is the farm policy we have currently chosen as a society. Everything is driven by Corn and Soybeans. I guess this policy is ok if we want cheaper beef now, and fewer U.S. ranchers/farmers raising beef. From a food security position, this may not be a good long term policy.
Our Customers Know… Health = Wealth
The saying holds true, at least it was for Doug when he started this journey: “Most of us spend our health trying to gain wealth, and then end up spending whatever wealth we have, trying to regain our health.” Many of us have learned that eating clean = true wealth. Consuming clean beef and other animal proteins, leads to health.
Thank you for supporting our farm.