NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Beef producers are worried they may lose money amid the coronavirus pandemic due to a lack of processors available.
In order to sell their products to the public, cattle farmers must first have their product processed by a company to ensure it’s up to USDA standards.
However, due to challenges from the coronavirus outbreak, processors are not able to handle the current volume of beef.
“Obviously, there's no shortage in cattle,” said Emily Nave, spokesperson first Heritage Hollow Farm. “There has been a stall with the processing plants. With the coronavirus we're having to slow down our processing plants because limited people are allowed in the store and are limited in the processing plants as well as possible [sickness] occurring in those plants."
Heritage Hollow Farm have cattle that are ready to be harvested, however, processors are booked a year out or more.
That creates a problem for the farm as there’s a set window for cattle in which meat is the most desirable. Nave said cattle that are older and heavier aren’t as high quality and will have to be sold for ground beef.
"With a stall in the market, we had cattle that were 1200 lbs, an ideal weight at processing and they were ready to go to market. However, prices fell because processing plants were unable to accept those cattle. That has created a stall where cattle have been unable to go to market and farmers saw it as more beneficial to keep those cattle, sell it at a little more of a higher weight and take that price cut at a different time of the year,” said Nave.
The farm is skipping the middle man and selling some of its beef at the Rutherford County Farmers Market. However, they’ll still have to wait on a lot of their product.
