Swine Spectator
is Blowin Smoke!
I friend of mine is the banquet manager for one of the hotels near the French Quarter. He was telling me that they anticipate a shortage of turkeys around Thanksgiving this year and that they had already purchased all of the birds that they needed.
I did some Google searches and found this:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/17/health-birdflu-poultry-idUSL1N0Z22LI20150617
Sounds bad, but then there's this:
My read of this is that larger birds will be in short supply, but smaller ones should be available. I don't know if this will affect overall pricing. I usually do two smaller birds (10-12 lb). I smoke one and roast the other.
Just thought I'd share in case it helps any Brethren plan their holidays.
David
I did some Google searches and found this:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/17/health-birdflu-poultry-idUSL1N0Z22LI20150617
The worst-ever U.S. outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza, or bird flu, has raised concerns about higher turkey prices this holiday season. The outbreak has claimed about 7.8 million turkeys in seven states this year, many of them culled to control the virus' spread....
...Amanda Martin, senior analyst with Indiana-based Express Markets Inc Analytics, said that Tuesday's report offered a "hint" of the bird flu's impact since an unknown number of breeder flocks were hit by the outbreak...
..."To see that it is down 7 percent makes me think, that's probably going to mean the big, whole birds for Thanksgiving are going to be extremely hard to come by," said Martin...
Sounds bad, but then there's this:
USDA's May 22 Cold Storage Report showed there were 394.4 million pounds of turkey in cold storage during April 2015, up 5.2 percent from April 2014.
My read of this is that larger birds will be in short supply, but smaller ones should be available. I don't know if this will affect overall pricing. I usually do two smaller birds (10-12 lb). I smoke one and roast the other.
Just thought I'd share in case it helps any Brethren plan their holidays.
David