Burger/Steak Epiphany?

[Son of Butch]

No problem burgering a 7 year old cow.. that'll make dandy burgers!

Old cows make great hamburger. Only problem with some cows is the Retail Yield vs the butcher's fees.
Grocery store hamburger prices here generally range from 2.39 - 6.99 lb

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

If you butcher an older cow, you can still pull the loins out to make good steaks.
Edit: You can also get pot roasts, cube steaks & stew meat

 

[True Grit Farms]

If you butcher an older cow, you can still pull the loins out to make good steaks.
Edit: You can also get pot roasts, cube steaks & stew meat

Why butcher a old cow? Around here kill cows go for $600. and that can buy a lot of hamburger. We probably eat more chicken than hamburger in this household, and I don't care for chicken. Brisket, eye roast and high choice or prime steaks is about all the beef we buy, and none that's finished on grass only.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

$600??? How small is your cow? What is your kill market? I just checked out local market and it is $0.78. Even a small cow of 1250# would bring nearly $1000

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

CHICKEN!!!!! You gotta be pulling our leg?? LOL
Do you buy your beef in a grocery store?

 

[True Grit Farms]

$600??? How small is your cow? What is your kill market? I just checked out local market and it is $0.78. Even a small cow of 1250# would bring nearly $1000

Kill cows are $0.65 here and trending down again this week. A 1250# cow is a nice size cow for us, I sold a 1525# cow once and she was huge. I was figuring on the conservative side, at $1000. for a kill cow you could be eating lobster, shrimp, snapper and wagu.

 

[True Grit Farms]

CHICKEN!!!!! You gotta be pulling our leg?? LOL
Do you buy your beef in a grocery store?

We don't buy our beef at a stinking grocery store. This is where we buy our beef. http://www.mtmeatco.com
M&T's meat is as good as you can get, it's all high choice or better CAB.

 

[Son of Butch]

$600??? How small is your cow? What is your kill market? I just checked out local market and it is $0.78.
Even a small cow of 1250# would bring nearly $1000

Yesterday kill cows here were mostly .63 - 74 with 1 extreme top cow at .76
1250 lb at .70 = $875 before commission, beef check off and trucking
thin/shelly cows were .30 - .59

On a side note.... yesterday I bought a group of 299 lb BWF bull calves for $475 hd
(I shoulda had 'em at $445 but the other bidder wouldn't let go) :cry2:

 

[Kathie in Thorp]

This will be our last year of butcher beef production. We will be doing 4 "custom cut" this year (1/4s and 1/2s), and one burger cow. Even with grocery store prices down, we haven't had to lower ours. Most of our folks are repeat customers; they know where the beef comes from, how it's raised, etc., and are willing to pay extra for that peace of mind. Our burger goes out the door at $5/lb., and our minimum order is 50 lbs.

 

[RanchMan90]

$600??? How small is your cow? What is your kill market? I just checked out local market and it is $0.78.
Even a small cow of 1250# would bring nearly $1000

Yesterday kill cows here were mostly .63 - 74 with 1 extreme top cow at .76
1250 lb at .70 = $875 before commission, beef check off and trucking
thin/shelly cows were .30 - .59

On a side note.... yesterday I bought a group of 299 lb BWF bull calves for $475 hd
(I shoulda had 'em at $445 but the other bidder wouldn't let go) :cry2:

You need a mask and a gun. You stole em at that price :lol:

 

[callmefence]

If you butcher an older cow, you can still pull the loins out to make good steaks.
Edit: You can also get pot roasts, cube steaks & stew meat

Why butcher a old cow? Around here kill cows go for $600. and that can buy a lot of hamburger. We probably eat more chicken than hamburger in this household, and I don't care for chicken. Brisket, eye roast and high choice or prime steaks is about all the beef we buy, and none that's finished on grass only.

We,ll grind up a cow the sale barn won't take. We also eat a lot of chicken thighs . If we buy beef it's the best ribeyes or tbones we can find.
Usually from the Florence FFA butcher shop.
But honestly.. we eat more venison than anything else.

 

[Son of Butch]

Then I must have borrowed the gun from the buyer that got my fats for 104.85 yesterday :cry2:

But yes, good luck trying to carry a cow for $1 per day ($365 year) in Minnesota.
$475 calves don't have a lot of margin for anyone.

 

[RanchMan90]

Then I must have borrowed the gun from the buyer that got my fats for 104.85 yesterday :cry2:

But yes, good luck trying to carry a cow for $1 per day ($365 year) in Minnesota.
$475 calves don't have a lot of margin for anyone.

That's my line of thinking as well that you can buy them cheaper than you can raise them. I was watching some sales online in your area wondering how those guys make it selling fat cattle at those prices. It's very rare to see steers that size any sale in this area. Mostly weaned calves and feeders the further north you get.

 

[Craig Miller]

Will some of you tell me where you are and what price per pound you're getting hanging weight? Feel free to pm me if you don't want to post it.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

$3/hanging weight. They pay cut/wrap/freeze cost.

 

[Stocker Steve]

But yes, good luck trying to carry a cow for $1 per day ($365 year) in Minnesota.

It is closer to $2.
ND came in at $1.5X

 

[Son of Butch]

10% over USDA Choice boxed beef prices plus processing
Choice boxed beef is currently 1.92 lb (by definition it is already processed) 10% over = 2.12 lb hanging weight
processing adds about 67 cents 2.12 + .67 = 2.79 cut/wrapped/ and ready for pick up

Because they pay processing 2.79 lb is really 44% over 1.92 wholesale (but I don't point that out)

 

[Chief Dirtyface]

$5-6 per pound hanging butcher fee included