According to a recent report, the use of leather in the European auto market is set to significantly increase in the next five years - placing higher demand on hides and, subsequently, raising its cost worldwide.
Check it out: http://tinyurl.com/7p3m8qf
I take the hide increases is due to oil prices. That is what all companies blame their price increases on. :)
I know beef consumption is down. I used to have a farm and ran cattle on it. I used to keep track of commodity prices and beef prices but have lost touch with it. I know when feed costs go up, beef prices go up and cattle numbers go down as many ranchers do not want to feed out cattle with high grain prices.
I haven't a clue as to where the market is now. I know we are importing a whole heckuva lot of beef.
Chris
Off topic- but Chris started it.
Here's the cool thing about living in the sticks. We buy our eggs from a friend who has free range chickens (I eat two a day). When she does feed them grain it is hormone free. She also has grass fed beef and goat meat. Her goat sausage is to die for. And in the fall she lets us gather all the pecans we want.
Another Amish couple supply us with butter and three kinds of cheese. And its the best you have ever tasted. They also have 100% organic whole chickens. $20 a pop but oh so good.
For whole milk and drinkable yogurt Kerts Dairy is the largest supplier with grass fed cows in the state and they have a honor store at their facilities.
Haven't found a supplier for leather yet but I'm sure if I looked hard enough I could find a good deal on rattlesnake hides.
Quote from: kodydog on March 23, 2012, 05:19:29 pm
Off topic- but Chris started it.
Here's the cool thing about living in the sticks. We buy our eggs from a friend who has free range chickens (I eat two a day). When she does feed them grain it is hormone free. She also has grass fed beef and goat meat. Her goat sausage is to die for. And in the fall she lets us gather all the pecans we want.
Another Amish couple supply us with butter and three kinds of cheese. And its the best you have ever tasted. They also have 100% organic whole chickens. $20 a pop but oh so good.
For whole milk and drinkable yogurt Kerts Dairy is the largest supplier with grass fed cows in the state and they have a honor store at their facilities.
Haven't found a supplier for leather yet but I'm sure if I looked hard enough I could find a good deal on rattlesnake hides.
That homemade cheese and butter sounds REALLY good! I'll take a few of those rattlesnake hides too. You should start an export business. I'll make the first order! ;D Just let me know how much the shipping is.
This is true! Honest!
I was recently at a birthday party and a guy that I had just met (older man about 60) told me that he is a vegetarian - not because he thinks it's wrong to eat meat, but because cow farts (he said methane gas) from all the cows are causing global warming and if people would stop eating meat we would have no need to have so many cows.
Honest. This guy was serious. He was a friend of my friend who's birthday it was so I did not share with him what I thought about his view of how life works. I'll give you a clue as to what I was thinking - it has to do with a big old, well worn Texas boot!
gene
Tell the guy your working on an invention to capture all that methane gas and when its complete you will solve all the worlds energy problems. Tell him he can get in on the ground floor at a bargain price if he wants to invest in your company. ;) He may just be intellectually challenged enough to go for it. Not only would he help solve the energy crises but he would stop global warming at the same time. Sounds like a win win to me.
Quote from: gene on March 24, 2012, 06:48:24 am
I'll give you a clue as to what I was thinking - it has to do with a big old, well worn Texas boot!
gene
Don't tell me you were going to piss in his boot to see if he knew how to pour it out ?
8)
Chris