Entering Meat Market vs Barn sales

[james coffelt]

IMHO, every portion of business that can be moved away from the commodity market, needs to be moved, especially at current pricing.

A well fleshed cull cow, sold by the piece, will bring 4k+, matching the mid to upper end, grocery store pricing.

A lot of our grass finished beef goes to retailers of grass finished beef, in which case, we don't deal with any end customers.

In New Zealand, everything is grass finished, all natural, etc., etc.,, and expensive. They are 10 years ahead.

I think there are going to be 2 worlds in the USA, those that want cheap, and those that want healthy and quality. There is no money in the first.

Over half the profit is made at the grocery level, the balance split between the rest of the chain. Become the meat grocery.

On a side note, we have a couple pens each, of layers and broilers. These are addons, and easy.

Of the products we work with, the most stunning difference in flavor are the broilers, next is grass finished hamburg, next is pork
(we buy the pork), next are eggs, and last are the beef cuts. The reason the beef is last, is, it seems to take a slightly different set of cooking skills.

 

[HDRider]

Sky,
I have looked at this a lot. The biggest issue I see is the availability of USDA processing facilities. That can be a show stopper if the nearest one is not near. The other show stopper with them is if they are close but expensive because the demand is high. If you over come those things then you are very lucky. You can sell this beef by the piece.

Next are state inspected processing facilities. Not all states have them. Arkansas does not. I do not know about Virginia. You can only sell by the piece in-state if you use a state inspected. That might not be a problem with you.

Next are the processing facilities that only process the owner's animals. This is what they do around here. You sell the beef on the hoof to the buyer and maybe deliver it to the processor. You are done. The problem here with this is, it limits you to folks that only want a whole, or maybe someone that arranged to split with someone else. This does limit your customer base.

Next is quality and flavor. Have you ate your own beef? How did it compare to what you really like? Was it marbled? Did it taste good? How much did it cost you to finish it? Knowing all that helps you sell. If you sell bad beef word gets around and you get no repeat customers and your reputation is sunk.

Grain Fed or Grass. Volumes have been written on here and there is no shortage of material on this subject. Just know, getting good finish and flavor with grass is hard. You already know to finish on grain can be expensive.

Good luck my friend and let us know how things are going with it.

If I was granted three wishes, I might use one to have this setup. http://www.whiteoakpastures.com/

 

[ddd75]

look at that first picture of that grass fed meat.. all fatty and in hamburger. I bet that tastes like wild game.

people need to learn how to actually finish a animal before selling them.

 

[ddd75]

i know a guy who raises the belted galloway. that meat taste great.. finished on grass. they finish fast, are smaller cows so its not as expensive for the customer. seems to work well for him. he has a waiting list.

 

[ram]

Do a survey at your next cattlemen's meeting. Those that favor grass fed beef to those that favor grain finished. My wife asked this very question a few months back and the results are staggering. The real beef folks that know beef, prefer grain finished beef 24+ to 1. That's just here in middle Georgia and a small sampling of the country folks. I'm going to offer whatever the buyer wants for beef, grain or grass finished it's there $money and their choice.

 

[SJB]

that's exactly right.

 

[muleskinner]

Was at the slaughter house last night making arrangements for mine and they said that they are starting to get lots of calls from farmers wanting to get animals cut up because of price of cows at the Market. They are trying to sell animals to neighbors for beef
in stead of taking them to market. Especially since you could buy good 5 wt steers for less that a Dollar last week.

Sky good idea on the deposit. I had 2 back out on me this year and it also helps spread the cost out for your clients. I also will do a little trading with some people depending on the person. Good luck

 

[skyhightree1]

Thanks all. Its certainly alot to think about and weigh. I talked to local usda and he told me if its inspected and packaged I could sell it individually but I don't want the bs that goes along with individual sales. i do like the idea of how that processor puts together packages and sells them however too much work involved and more people interaction as well as freezers to store meat. I personally prefer grain finished but whatever folks pay for is what they will get.

 

[Dave]

A few years back I sold 15 steers that were grass fed using CL. Notice I didn't say grass fat. But they were in better shape than 99% of the pictures I see on CL but certainly a long ways from grading. They sold like hot cakes. The next year I started raising heifers to sell as breds. I had a PI positive and a free martin that I put into a pen and fed (mainly to get the PI away from the herd). I ran an ad on CL advertising them as grain fed. Ran the ad for a month and never got a single phone call.

 

[Toad]

There is a growing movement in America where people want to buy as direct from a local farmer as possible. There are a number of reasons for this including the desire to eat healthy, the desire to not support "large corporate farms", the desire to support the local economy, the desire to live "green", the desire to buy only humanely raised animal products and the fact that often fresher tastes better. My recommendation is if you want to sell beef locally you don't limit yourself to just one of these.
The people I see who are doing well sell the idea that when you buy from them you are supporting a traditional farming family who live a wonderful life without stress and worry. You are supporting happy animals who roam the lush fields gorging themselves on natural grasses while their counterparts suffer in mud feedlots eating unnatural things. Because of all this you are buying much healthier which will make you live long and be happy.
People buy a story, people want to buy a cause. By buying your product they are doing something to make the world a better place.

 

[skyhightree1]

There is a growing movement in America where people want to buy as direct from a local farmer as possible. There are a number of reasons for this including the desire to eat healthy, the desire to not support "large corporate farms", the desire to support the local economy, the desire to live "green", the desire to buy only humanely raised animal products and the fact that often fresher tastes better. My recommendation is if you want to sell beef locally you don't limit yourself to just one of these.
The people I see who are doing well sell the idea that when you buy from them you are supporting a traditional farming family who live a wonderful life without stress and worry. You are supporting happy animals who roam the lush fields gorging themselves on natural grasses while their counterparts suffer in mud feedlots eating unnatural things. Because of all this you are buying much healthier which will make you live long and be happy.
People buy a story, people want to buy a cause. By buying your product they are doing something to make the world a better place.

Good Point I hope you don't mind me using your idea for marketing :lol: I will buy you lunch when we meet up at the barn for it ;-)

 

[Kell-inKY]

People buy a story, people want to buy a cause. By buying your product they are doing something to make the world a better place.

Exactly, they are buying your whole farm. You say you are private but the best marketing in the world for this type of business is to have them visit your farm, or at least view it on facebook.

As an outsider to farming, maybe I can see what you all are taking for granted. People want a farm experience, if they wanted some faceless producer of beef they would just go to the supermarket and buy something raised in a feedlot.

 

[SJB]

People buy a story, people want to buy a cause. By buying your product they are doing something to make the world a better place.

Exactly, they are buying your whole farm. You say you are private but the best marketing in the world for this type of business is to have them visit your farm, or at least view it on facebook.

As an outsider to farming, maybe I can see what you all are taking for granted. People want a farm experience, if they wanted some faceless producer of beef they would just go to the supermarket and buy something raised in a feedlot.

That's all true, but...

They can already buy most of that at earth fare/fresh market/whole foods/etc, and they can buy only what they want for that meal/week/month etc. so if you're going to go down that road you better be able to deliver a product that is competitive taste-wise and cost effective. Cause what you need are repeat buyers, and no matter how good your story is, your steaks better taste good.

 

[goddy]

.[. Cause what you need are repeat buyers, and no matter how good your story is, your steaks better taste good.

You are 100% right there ! It's pretty easy to sell to someone once, the trick is doing it over again on a regular basis.

There also needs to be an understanding of the difference between grass fed ( ie out on grass and no grain ) and grass finished which does take high quality grass, good genetics and good management.

Buying some steers at the sale barn and giving them grass only and turning them over is probably not going to be successful in the long run - you need .IMO. to be breeding for the finished article and that isn't going to be the same thing for all locations. I see some CL ads for grass finished and the animals are so far from showing any finish it's not funny. In those cases it means the seller is finished with the animal and wants some $. these types give grass finished a bad name as they literally leave a bad taste in the mouth

 

[Kell-inKY]

Agreed, and I think we can assume we are talking about selling quality beef, whether grain or grass fed/finished, and not trying to "put one over" on an unsuspecting public.

Since I have been on the buying end of this, I did like to go out and actually see how the guy was raising cattle. Maybe I'm wrong, but it seemed important to the people I have been around?

 

[Bigfoot]

No doubt, a person could sell sides and quarters. No question about it, that's going to be a growing "thing" in the near future. I gotta question how many animals that I could sell that way in my area? Then your gonna have phone calls at odd hours, tire kickers, and the likes. Making trips to the slaughter house with one or two verses trips to the yard with a trailer full. Also, once a few people are doing it, the competition is going to kick in. Eventually, your gonna have a dark cutter. What am I going to do with it, eat it myself? All questions I ask myself when I get the notion.

 

[james coffelt]

Excellent points above

Grass fed often means absence of grain. Grass finished means it is finished/marbled, as well as grain finished.

The right genetics, i.e, high efficiency, lower milking, moderate growth, moderate frame, thick, will finish easily on grass, and can actually become too fat. We watch fat around the tailhead, if they are fat there, they are finished.








Finishing requires 30-50% legumes of some type, without planting annuals.

Animals up to 6 years old are great beef with great flavor.

Females finish easier, and calve along the way. In my opinion, this is an all female business.

We sell beef twice per year, July and Nov. In July, anything that lost a calf or came up open, Nov. is any additional culls/lates. Trucking and sorting takes time and money. Any over supply goes in freezers.

 

[SJB]

How/why the legumes without planting annuals?

 

[Ebenezer]

A lot of fat in those pictures and the yellow requires a re-education for the buyers. But why so fat?

 

[goddy]

Excellent points above

Grass fed often means absence of grain. Grass finished means it is finished/marbled, as well as grain finished.

The right genetics, i.e, high efficiency, lower milking, moderate growth, moderate frame, thick, will finish easily on grass, and can actually become too fat. We watch fat around the tailhead, if they are fat there, they are finished.








Finishing requires 30-50% legumes of some type, without planting annuals.

Animals up to 6 years old are great beef with great flavor.

Females finish easier, and calve along the way. In my opinion, this is an all female business.

We sell beef twice per year, July and Nov. In July, anything that lost a calf or came up open, Nov. is any additional culls/lates. Trucking and sorting takes time and money. Any over supply goes in freezers.

Got to say that is way more fat than I or my customers want but if that's what yours want all power to you.

I'm going the other way I guess and producing young , fast growing beef on high clover pastures - slaughtering while they are still growing and prior to frost hitting the clover.

I'm told often that you can't get good flavor in beef younger than 2 year old but I beg to differ and my customers agree.

i will experiment with some cull cows tho and see how that works out.