That's true; between recent blizzard and droughts, US meat prices have been widely forecasted to be high this year. Still, the prices the OP mentioned are crazy.

$4.99/lb is the regular price, not the sale price, for (Australian or New Zealand) boneless leg of lamb at Costco. I have a 4-lb leg of lamb in the fridge that I got at Costco for $20, two dinners for two at least. The high-end grocer near me had (US) leg of lamb for $6.99/lb before Easter.

Lately I have been buying beef chuck roast when I see it for $3.99/lb; I haven't seen it for less than that it in quite a while. If you have a meat grinder or Kitchen-Aid grinder attachment at home, that's the way to stockpile burgers and ground beef in the freezer.

I haven't bought any kind of round for years, considering it too tough to bother with, but if I saw some at less than, say, $3.50/lb, I might buy some just to grind and mix with ground chuck for burgers and such.

I expect beef prices to be high all spring, summer, and fall this year, and plan to keep an eye peeled for sales and pounce on relatively low prices when possible.

p.s., I heard something on the radio this morning about the new water restrictions in California: 25% cuts, but not for agriculture (meat and produce) production, which supposedly counts for 80% of water consumption in California. I'll say no more on that because there's a thread going already in Omni and I don't want this one merged or moved there. I just wanted to comment that the radio story ended with "so we can expect higher prices for beef and wine this summer," and I thought, what makes you think we all get our beef and wine from California?