Cattle Marketing

[J+ Cattle]

Direct selling is a different beast, you have to be a salesman, a farmer, customer relations, a cattle hauler, a feed hauler, a meat hauler and be able to communicate well between your customer and butcher what each can realistically expect, and you have to enjoy all those aspects to do good at it. I enjoy the salesman part and farming part the most.

I can imagine that managing expectations is a big part of maintaining customers and keeping your processor happy. Do you have any tips to offer in regard to this aspect?

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

Get ahold of your state Beef Industry Council or Beef Producers and get flyers on cut-out sheets. Or go to their web sites and they should have some you can print off. Generally, they will have something explaining loss weight from live to hot carcass weight, and from hcw to freezer meat.
Here's a link to NY's info: https://www.nybeef.org/Media/NYBeef/Docs/ny-direct-marketing-resources-form_2021.pdf

 

[Little Joe]

I can imagine that managing expectations is a big part of maintaining customers and keeping your processor happy. Do you have any tips to offer in regard to this aspect?

Make sure you explain that the price they pay is for carcass weight not freezer weight and what the difference is. I generally try to give the an estimate of what they're gonna have invested per lb freezer weight, example: my price is $3.75/hw including processing so I estimate they're price for actual freezer beef will be in the $6/lb range. I also try to give them an idea upfront what they will be looking at for total price if they are first time customers, most people don't realize what a finished steer weighs so they may think they're only going to be paying you for 50-100 lbs hanging weight. Having repeat customers helps, they kinda know what to expect. Most people never complain and are just happy to have great beef, some will find a problem no matter what.
One of the processors I use will let you have each quarter cut different, that complicates things and someone usually gets the wrong cuts or is missing something, the other I use that is actually .20/lb cheaper won't allow quarters from same half to be different, I never get complaints after I get one processed there. I'm trying to just give a few standard options so it's easier on the processor.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

@Little Joe nailed it. Buyer needs to be informed what to expect. Est. carcass wt. Est. freezer wt. Est. actual out of pocket cost. And estimated actual cost per pound of meat put in freezer. $6 or $7/lb may sound high for hamburg, but not for steaks and roasts, etc.