The Turkey Shortage Has Not Hit Lubbock

I guess you might have heard media reports that there might be a turkey shortage.

There was talk of a "turkey shortage". Supposedly what had happened is the pandemic cooled off family gatherings so fewer turkeys were sold. The farmers responded to this lessened demand by breeding fewer turkeys. Then the avian flu came along and wiped out a bunch of birds. It sounds pretty terrible, right? How are you possibly going to get your turkey on?

I guess all of this would be some real doom-and-gloom stuff if wasn't just the usual ebb and flow of every business. All businesses make adjustments based on consumer demands and all businesses experience a little chaos. Good business people (including farmers) are ready to react and minimize the problems.

All of this was reflected by a visit to Market Street this weekend. I encountered some of the biggest turkeys I have ever seen, and I mean really huge turkeys. Not only were there plenty, but they were selling them for 97 cents a pound, which is about as cheap as anything gets.

Who knows if the supply will dry up, so maybe go ahead and throw a turkey in your freezer for the holidays, or heck, at 97 cents a pound cook one up now and cut it up for sandwiches. That is some CHEAP meat (of course the price could've changed, so you're going to have to check).

The smart money says this is a pretty good indication that there will not be a shortage. It would have been so easy to keep these birds in a freezer for a month and triple the price. The fact that they're out there and actually on sale is a very good sign.