Recent content by TerraceRidge

That does make perfect sense. I was thinking about the guy with 400 calves. If he wanted to go into direct marketing big time, he could probably make it work with 400 feeder calves. But, if it’s anything like North Carolina, his problem might be finding custom processors with that kind of...

If 16,000 people eat beef 4 times per week at a half-pound per meal, that’s 32,000 lb of beef per week, or 1,664,000 lb of beef per year. Divide that by a 70% yield and again by a 60% dressing percentage, and you get right at 4 million pounds of live weight. At 1,200 lb per finished steer, it...

Thanks Jan, I'll look that one up and watch it. Steve, I think the only real way to talk about profit is net profit after all expenses, depreciation, etc. is deducted. That's one problem (at least it seems like it is) with some of the numbers that we're seeing, including the Sterling Beef...

No, they're definitely not worthless. It's my understanding that the hide and offal is what's included in the drop credit. That averages out to $7.51/cwt based on live weight, according to this report: https://www.ams.usda.gov/mnreports/nw_ls444.txt However, the fat and bones pose a great...

Since we’re talking about prices, I’ve got a discussion going over on the NCBA/COOL/R-CALF/USDA forum about packer profits compared to producer profits. I keep hearing about how much the packers are making compared to the producers, so I’m trying to do some digging to figure it out. I’d greatly...

I agree that Cargill and the other packers employ a lot of people and pay into the system, and that's all good. I'm just trying to figure out what's really going on. Some of the Facebook comments that I've read are just incredibly nasty - basically calling the packers liars, cheats, thieves...

Thanks for posting those links. That market report is helpful, and I think it would be good to discuss it. I am not really in the cow-calf business anymore. Instead, I raise-pasture fed and finished beef and sell to local customers (most steers are supplemented but some are grass fed). It...

I've been seeing a lot of discussion recently about packer gross profit. Believe me, I have no great love for the packers, and I would much rather the American farmer/rancher make money than the packers. But if we're going to claim that they are taking advantage of cattle producers, we have to...

Queue!

That's true, but at least I know the reason for it (he ran out of cottonseed). Why he didn't budget it better to make it last longer, I don't know. He does raise all the grain he mixes, by the way. The protein by itself doesn't bother me very much right now, simply because I have 6000+ lbs of...

Ok, so I kept in touch with the man who mixes his own feed, and he said that he was out of cottonseed, so he has been mixing corn and oats 50/50. I went ahead and bought a ton of it since I have some cottonseed myself that I can mix it with. I have been mixing about 50% cottonseed and 50% his...

Ok, I just saw your post from earlier, TB. I always sensed something was off with their feed tags. I never understood how they could mix all these different cattle feeds and they all have the exact same feeding directions and little to no difference on the label, but call them different...

The North Carolina Performance Feed Company was the one I was referring to in my "Feed Question" thread over on the beginners' board when I said I wasn't pleased with the quality of feed offered in my area. Almost everybody around here feeds their products, but I was not impressed with their...

I went ahead and picked up 20 bags of his feed the other day, and they weighed out right at 100 lbs each. I sent off a sample today to have it tested and I will post back with the results when they get back to me. I figured it couldn't hurt to pick up a little and see if it is any good.

Texas Bred, that does bother me, too. That is the same feed he feeds his own cows, though, so that makes me feel a little better. Feed is really high in my area (the local co-op, Southern States, is selling whole corn for $8 per 50lbs). I picked up 7600 lbs of whole cottonseed in October at a...