Impending, possible meat shortages

At least I had an excuse to break my diet: conserving the meat by putting pasta under it.

steak-alla-pizzaiolo-variant.jpg

Rich
 

After having read that article, it's another unfortunately clear example of how our reaction to COVID is harming us, rather than how the virus itself is harming us. It is true, as the John Dean employee correctly illustrated, that meat processing facilities are being affected. It is also true that, primarily, they are being affected by human decisions more than by direct COVID debillitation.

And... squirrels can be delicious. I cook them in curry, young ones are beautiful fried, and any sauce that goes well with duck (orange, cherry, cognac) compliments squirrel equally well. That is not a joke...serious comment. I love squirrel.
 
After having read that article, it's another unfortunately clear example of how our reaction to COVID is harming us, rather than how the virus itself is harming us. It is true, as the John Dean employee correctly illustrated, that meat processing facilities are being affected. It is also true that, primarily, they are being affected by human decisions more than by direct COVID debillitation.

And... squirrels can be delicious. I cook them in curry, young ones are beautiful fried, and any sauce that goes well with duck (orange, cherry, cognac) compliments squirrel equally well. That is not a joke...serious comment. I love squirrel.

How are red squirrels? I hate those commie bastards anyway.

Rich
 
I’m eating a steak reading this thread. Don’t hate. :)
fdcf493973f9512336eeb2a6e2de8b41.jpg


Yes it’s overdone. Wifey likes it more done than me.
 
Looks delicious. Would view again. 10/10. :)

It's kind of a pauper recipe because any wild meat or cheap cut of store-bought meat works. Brown it in olive oil, season it, then add a splash of red wine and cook it a bit more. Cover it with something tomato-based (I used V8 juice this time) and let it cook some more. Half an hour to 45 minutes usually does it. It tenderizes the meat and tames the gaminess of wild meat. Kind of a cross between cacciatore and alla pizzaiolo.

Rich
 
After having read that article, it's another unfortunately clear example of how our reaction to COVID is harming us, rather than how the virus itself is harming us. It is true, as the John Dean employee correctly illustrated, that meat processing facilities are being affected. It is also true that, primarily, they are being affected by human decisions more than by direct COVID debillitation.

And... squirrels can be delicious. I cook them in curry, young ones are beautiful fried, and any sauce that goes well with duck (orange, cherry, cognac) compliments squirrel equally well. That is not a joke...serious comment. I love squirrel.

Yep, if the folks that keep the electricity on decide it's too dangerous to go to work, we'll be screwed.

I like squirrel or rabbit gravy over some biscuits. I may go shoot some tomorrow for a good breakfast.
 
Yep, if the folks that keep the electricity on decide it's too dangerous to go to work, we'll be screwed.

I like squirrel or rabbit gravy over some biscuits. I may go shoot some tomorrow for a good breakfast.
I work for an electric company but I get to work from home. At least for another day, the lights will stay on. LOL
 
To me overdone is charcoal. LOL

Normally I would just pull mine off the heat early, but this cut was a large thing that I was doing at 500F in cast iron, and it gets to a point where it isn’t worth burning myself. LOL.
 
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OMG!

The professional chicken expert again. Been there, done that. Lemmings and Sheeple, beware.

Really, IDGAF. I'm killing birds and my friends are killing hogs. Believe what you want.


Ok, I do care, and happy to verify my bona fides if you need it. I'm the president of #3 and #9 on the list below. I'm the current president of the Iowa Poultry Association, the Secretary of the United Egg Producers, and chairman of the UEP animal welfare committee. Our eggs hit the shelves in about 1500 big box stores. You've probably had our product at Subway, Burger King, Holiday Inn, etc.

0010_omgjot_fg.png

https://twitter.com/VersovaFoods/status/1185289671775080448

https://www.iowapoultry.com/ipa-board-of-directors-and-staff



I like POA, because I like flying. I've met some good friends and confidants here. Even got to fly with some, and have several in my logbook. @Ted DuPuis checked me out in the 310 and remains a great friend. I've had an amazing flying career, but am a complete NOOB compared to the experience of many here.

You can match my ugly mug in this video flying @flyingcheesehead and @SixPapaCharlie around showing out a bit in the Conquest.




I don't like POA for all the silly people who think they have an opinion when they should just STFU and learn.



None of the above really matter, and at the end of the day I'm just some guy on the internet. Sorry all for the tinkling match, but this is the most stressful time in my career, and I'm ****ing ****ed. Will we have shortages? I really don't know. Depends upon the economy and how deep the recession is. I do know for absolute fact that my company makes a metric crap ton of protein, and it is going to take a year+ to get back to the level of production we were at just two months ago.



@Art Rose , you can believe whatever you want, but I KNOW we will have less food this fall than we did the year prior. Guaranteed.


BTW, even in crisis, our company is paying it forward. What are you doing?

https://www.nwestiowa.com/scnews/si...cle_bfa342ea-8670-11ea-8875-fb1a87370ce9.html

/rant off/

Eggman
 
this is the most stressful time in my career, and I'm ****ing ****ed.

And this from a man who, a few years ago, had the avian flu epidemic decimating his birds a few years ago. I remember that time and how stressful it was for you.

As for me, I hope we'll get to go flying again one of these days when things calm down. Getting to do your transition training in your 310 was some of the most fun flying I've gotten to do. And I'm proud to call you one a great friend of mine.
 
I believe it; our family in Nebraska hasn’t been able to sell their cattle due to problems in the processing centers.

Hopefully gets back to normal soon; my wife has three covid icu patients, and elderly people dying left and right from non-cv causes like falling and not being found...don’t know what bs the media is pumping out, but there ain’t no pandemic in south Texas.
 
Really, IDGAF. I'm killing birds and my friends are killing hogs. Believe what you want.


Ok, I do care, and happy to verify my bona fides if you need it. I'm the president of #3 and #9 on the list below. I'm the current president of the Iowa Poultry Association, the Secretary of the United Egg Producers, and chairman of the UEP animal welfare committee. Our eggs hit the shelves in about 1500 big box stores. You've probably had our product at Subway, Burger King, Holiday Inn, etc.

View attachment 85160

https://twitter.com/VersovaFoods/status/1185289671775080448

https://www.iowapoultry.com/ipa-board-of-directors-and-staff



I like POA, because I like flying. I've met some good friends and confidants here. Even got to fly with some, and have several in my logbook. @Ted DuPuis checked me out in the 310 and remains a great friend. I've had an amazing flying career, but am a complete NOOB compared to the experience of many here.

You can match my ugly mug in this video flying @flyingcheesehead and @SixPapaCharlie around showing out a bit in the Conquest.




I don't like POA for all the silly people who think they have an opinion when they should just STFU and learn.



None of the above really matter, and at the end of the day I'm just some guy on the internet. Sorry all for the tinkling match, but this is the most stressful time in my career, and I'm ****ing ****ed. Will we have shortages? I really don't know. Depends upon the economy and how deep the recession is. I do know for absolute fact that my company makes a metric crap ton of protein, and it is going to take a year+ to get back to the level of production we were at just two months ago.



@Art Rose , you can believe whatever you want, but I KNOW we will have less food this fall than we did the year prior. Guaranteed.


BTW, even in crisis, our company is paying it forward. What are you doing?

https://www.nwestiowa.com/scnews/si...cle_bfa342ea-8670-11ea-8875-fb1a87370ce9.html

/rant off/

Eggman



Maybe the time has come in this country that factory farming, massive power grids, over seas manufacturing, and a whole host of other practices finally get the attention they've needed for many decades.
We've now witnessed an entire world economy brought to it's knees by a tiny little bug. As someone here already said..... We need to question whether or not our reaction to this bug is more harmful than the bug itself. My opinion...... It sure is, and it's becoming more ridiculous the longer we, the people, allow this to continue. This continued rhetoric about food shortages, and all the other foolish gloom and doom based on theoretical predictions needs to stop.

You said you were ****ed. You're not alone. Why don't we put that down for a minute, stop throwing around credentials, and all the other position justifying statistics, and the basic bull crap. Let's try to bring some perspective to the situation. Here's a couple of examples......

A big ole factory farm has cornered the chicken egg market. They own a million egg laying chickens. They have every aspect of that egg product nailed down to perfection. Introduce one bug into the chicken population. The product everybody depends on is gone. We've seen it happen. There's no common sense reason for this situation to ever occur.

During the Great Depression, the small family farm allowed the farmers to continue right along without a major disruption of their food supply. Eggs, no problem. We have enough extra for a couple of the neighbors too. Back then, the city folks were the ones who suffered from the food shortages.
You can name practically any other commodity, (corn, swine, wheat, cattle, etc.), that factory farming has taken over, and you can predict the same potential catastrophic situations. We've already seen it happen.

Power grids...... At the turn of the 20th Century, electricity was generated locally. If you lost power over there in Podunk City, you lost your power, but my lights never blinked. Then, we started allowing consolidation of the small local power providers, and eventually progressed into the massive power grid system that we have today in the US. The Western, Eastern, Texas, and the Quebec grids. A solar flare, or any number of other relatively innocuous situations can literally put the lights out. Sure, the power companies do pretty good most of the time, but it's coming, and they know it. Don't want you to know it though. And it's not going to come from some stupid virus in the system like the media would have you believe. It doesn't work that way. And we call it progress.

Over the past decade or so, we've witnessed an ever increasing number of co-gen plants being installed in critical facilities, and more and more localized power generation installations. Some are using natural gas, wind, solar, geothermal, or any number of other localized power generating solutions. Honestly, I believe that eventually we'll see local facility, or neighborhood, power generated by something possibly like thorium reactors, or any number of other generation schemes. Depends on technological advancements. That would make sense.

Next, we could move to discuss over seas pharmaceutical production, or rare earth materials, or any other number of other mistakes we have allowed to happen. There's not enough room here to open it up for the attention all these issues deserve.

Yes, this is a wake up call, and it goes a bit deeper than a simple little internet **** match.
 
Maybe the time has come in this country that factory farming, massive power grids, over seas manufacturing, and a whole host of other practices finally get the attention they've needed for many decades.
We've now witnessed an entire world economy brought to it's knees by a tiny little bug. As someone here already said..... We need to question whether or not our reaction to this bug is more harmful than the bug itself. My opinion...... It sure is, and it's becoming more ridiculous the longer we, the people, allow this to continue. This continued rhetoric about food shortages, and all the other foolish gloom and doom based on theoretical predictions needs to stop.

You said you were ****ed. You're not alone. Why don't we put that down for a minute, stop throwing around credentials, and all the other position justifying statistics, and the basic bull crap. Let's try to bring some perspective to the situation. Here's a couple of examples......

A big ole factory farm has cornered the chicken egg market. They own a million egg laying chickens. They have every aspect of that egg product nailed down to perfection. Introduce one bug into the chicken population. The product everybody depends on is gone. We've seen it happen. There's no common sense reason for this situation to ever occur.

During the Great Depression, the small family farm allowed the farmers to continue right along without a major disruption of their food supply. Eggs, no problem. We have enough extra for a couple of the neighbors too. Back then, the city folks were the ones who suffered from the food shortages.
You can name practically any other commodity, (corn, swine, wheat, cattle, etc.), that factory farming has taken over, and you can predict the same potential catastrophic situations. We've already seen it happen.

Power grids...... At the turn of the 20th Century, electricity was generated locally. If you lost power over there in Podunk City, you lost your power, but my lights never blinked. Then, we started allowing consolidation of the small local power providers, and eventually progressed into the massive power grid system that we have today in the US. The Western, Eastern, Texas, and the Quebec grids. A solar flare, or any number of other relatively innocuous situations can literally put the lights out. Sure, the power companies do pretty good most of the time, but it's coming, and they know it. Don't want you to know it though. And it's not going to come from some stupid virus in the system like the media would have you believe. It doesn't work that way. And we call it progress.

Over the past decade or so, we've witnessed an ever increasing number of co-gen plants being installed in critical facilities, and more and more localized power generation installations. Some are using natural gas, wind, solar, geothermal, or any number of other localized power generating solutions. Honestly, I believe that eventually we'll see local facility, or neighborhood, power generated by something possibly like thorium reactors, or any number of other generation schemes. Depends on technological advancements. That would make sense.

Next, we could move to discuss over seas pharmaceutical production, or rare earth materials, or any other number of other mistakes we have allowed to happen. There's not enough room here to open it up for the attention all these issues deserve.

Yes, this is a wake up call, and it goes a bit deeper than a simple little internet **** match.


So,.....we’ve gone from “no meat shortage!!!” to “we need more thorium reactors!!”

You have no idea what “factory farming” is or why it is a thing.

While I don’t disagree with you on the thorium reactor bit, I do think you need to acknowledge that there are a lot of smart people out there. You can either start solving problems, or stfu.
 
Yes, this is a wake up call, and it goes a bit deeper than a simple little internet **** match.

That’s sure a lot of words to say “urbanization” plus “specialization”.

Every item in there is simply a side effect of people wanting the conveniences and commonalities of living in denser and denser city cores and suburbs.

We have zero problem out a little way raising food, at least some of it, or running our own generator for power, or any of those things you’re claiming need a re-think. Most do as a backup to the city based supply chain.

And “corporate” farming is what you get when some small but non-insignificant number of humans think meat is grown in shrink wrap packages, because they have no idea whatsoever how their food arrives at the Super Target. They work other specialties themselves, like bean counting for the same food maker.

Not sure whether you think there will be some magic move toward de-urbanization coming after a bad case of the flu, but I highly doubt it. A few will reassess their living packed in like sardines, and maybe a new flood to the suburbs, but I doubt it.

Nothing you said was untrue, but wasn’t suggesting any specific ACTION you think any significant number of people will take. I don’t see our typical software developer picking up from their urban “walking neighborhood” lifestyle and heading out my way looking for a house with a ramshackle barn, chicken coop, and raising goats. Maybe, one who remembers it as a kid? If that. Way too far from Starbucks.

And that’s fine really. There’s no real reason to uproot themselves. Not for something that probably lasts a year and kills a few million. Big cities didn’t empty out after 1918.

So if it’s changing YOUR calculus on life, cool. It’s really not going to change many other’s. Grab a realtor and head on out when things calm down a bit. We’ll say hi and see how long you stay like all new neighbors out here. Most make it three years and return to the rat colony. If they stay longer than three, they love it. The realtors even put reminders in their calendars. :)

And no, we aren’t all rustic. Still need the city and it’s silliness to get Charmin. Not planning on growing corn for the cobs like my grandparents for that yet. Or to burn to heat the house. LOL.

Any misplaced anger at James or his business is relatively silly unless you’ve got a better solution to provide something like NYC with eggs. They’re not going to be installing any factory sized coops in Manhattan by tipping out Broadway theaters.
 
Any misplaced anger at James or his business is relatively silly unless you’ve got a better solution to provide something like NYC with eggs. They’re not going to be installing any factory sized coops in Manhattan by tipping out Broadway theaters.
That wraps it up in a nutshell. People like James and business''s like his are what keeps millions of people fed. If you don't like "factory farms" then come up with another solution for feeding billions of people. Yeah, I miss the nostalgia of the family farm. But the fact that they can't keep up with population growth isn't Jame's fault. He is the solution, unless we want to consider massive population reduction, or a HUGE reduction in the general quality of life. There should be a "Hall of Fame" for people like James.
 
And this from a man who, a few years ago, had the avian flu epidemic decimating his birds a few years ago. I remember that time and how stressful it was for you.

I was thinking the same thing, I remember the avian flu from a few years ago, if you @James_Dean think this is worse, well, that's pause for thought. I give you props for having the patience and will to run a business like this.
 
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All I can say about Art’s post above is wow - I guess the PoA universe was unbalanced and we needed a new purveyor of crazy ideas to return after the departure of Henning. And funny enough, Henning is mostly much more sane these days - plus more entertaining. I’m looking forward to seeing his new boat if I ever make it to the PNW.

Sure there are a lot of things that hopefully we’ll see changes in after this is over. But many of those items suggested? Nope, no way, not going to happen and frankly no benefit to doing so.

In the mean time, I’ll listen to my friends who know more about these subjects than I do when they tell me what they’re seeing first hand in the daily operations of their businesses.
 
This may be an opportunity for people also to consider trying out reducing their meat consumption a little. Not suggesting everyone jump to vegetarianism overnight, but experiment cutting out meat from one meal or even a day of the week or two. It really isn't very hard and can have beneficial effects on both health, the environment, and even the pocket book.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-...y-eating/in-depth/meatless-meals/art-20048193
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3662288/
 
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All I can say about Art’s post above is wow - I guess the PoA universe was unbalanced and we needed a new purveyor of crazy ideas to return after the departure of Henning. And funny enough, Henning is mostly much more sane these days - plus more entertaining. I’m looking forward to seeing his new boat if I ever make it to the PNW.

Sure there are a lot of things that hopefully we’ll see changes in after this is over. But many of those items suggested? Nope, no way, not going to happen and frankly no benefit to doing so.

In the mean time, I’ll listen to my friends who know more about these subjects than I do when they tell me what they’re seeing first hand in the daily operations of their businesses.

The personal attack. A typical lo quotient response.
 
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