I will do my best to keep this short and on a even keel.
This spike in meat prices aka the bottle neck started near 2 yrs ago.
The covid pandemic. At that time for better or for worse it was treated as being fake and swept under the rug.
After the pandemic went through the packing plants , beef , poultry , pork and the work force became infected the plants closed for a time.
This then forced the farms to unload all cattle , hogs , ect as you can not just let them keep growing.
With no end in sight at that time the numbers were not replaced aka the shortage we now see and we all know what happens to prices once there is a shortage.
You folks all know this stuff it is not a mystery.
Ck. IBP , Tyson, ect ect profit,loss and were their stocks are trading at.