Is Butchering a Steer Worth It?

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You also have very low quality meat. No beef steer will even come close to 'finished' at 750lbs.

What would you say the ygs are on a 750lb steer?
 
I butchered two that were 1000 lbs and while on feed for a long time(from 400lbs)= it was not of finishing level energy- max gain was 3.5lb/day.
They were both very good and had alot of inter muscular fat. With high grain prices and shortages it may become to norm to not fully finished calves even for the big feedlots.

I heard for years about butchering a calf and the meat not being good-- seems like everyone of them were hand feeding them some grain for a short while.Probably never got over 2/lb/day gain.

Price /lb (including what I could have sold it for(younger) and all the normal yardage/feed I charge to a calf---- came out just under $3/lb(I don't feel like looking up the papers for the exact numbers to get there).
One had a gimpy leg- so it was real profitable to put him in the freezer.

But......... I have reasonably priced feed
I don't think you could come out feeding one out of a bag.Find someone like me to feed one out for you.
 
I will make a general statement that there aren't many things that you do yourself that are "worth it".

I grew up in a family that raised our own food - big garden, milk cow, beef. Somehow I was under the impression it was necessary for survival. I have slowly learned doing the math that none of that is cheaper than buying at the store.

The cheapest way to live is to get a small house in town, within walking distance of a store and buy everything you need. Get a good paying city job instead of raising cows. Become a high paid specialist and pay other specialists to do things for you for maximum efficiency. Minimize your energy use - no driving. Stay in the house and spend lots of time on the internet or watching TV when you are not working.

You will get fat and die early, saving even more money.

Since I don't want to die, I keep wasting money growing a big garden, milking a cow and raising beef, because I like it.

Doesn't make any sense at all. My neighor laughs at me and tells me he can buy it all at the store. But then I see him pulling a big boat around to catch 3 pounds of fish. Or spending big money fixing up old time cars which is completely unnecessary for transportation.

Seems Americans have forgotten what food used to taste like. Store tomatoes for example just don't have it. I tried drinking store milk the last year and it isn't the same. It just isn't right to have oatmeal/raisin cookies you have to wash down with scalded, chalk flavored milk. And you have to have real cream and milk to go on cheerios with raspberries/strawberries. I thought store beef was okay until we butchered our last steer. Almost got tongue cramps it was so good - hard to describe. Heard the same from others with which we shared.
 
It doesn't work for me to raise one of my calves clear up to butcher. Almost every week of the year I can buy a 1,000 pound heifer that didn't breed for less dollars than I get for selling a 600 pound steer calf. I can't put on that additional 400 pounds for free. So I sell the steer and buy that heifer. Probably feed her for 45-60 days on the extra money from selling the steer. I have been doing this for years.
 
I have been kicking this same question around for several years now. In the past, i have kept back a calf a year at weaning and fed him out and usually split him with another family. I have to agree with many others that the quality of the home raised beef by far exceeds the quality that you buy in the store (if its a good calf and you feed him right). I have my own grinder/mixer and make my own feed (used to be cheaper, its really not anymore.) I also agree with others that you could take that 7-8 hundred and go fill the freezer with beef and probably have a little cash left over. I'm gonna have to agree completely with SBJ and Dave on this. I think the way to go is to buy a big 9 weight steer or a big fat open heifer and feed her for 6 weeks, then we're done less time and money invested and good meat in the end.

Thanks for all the posts they helped me make up my mind on this matter.
 
When I first saw the title of the thread I htought "Depends on how big of a PITA he is"
 
dun":ermhuuib said:
When I first saw the title of the thread I htought "Depends on how big of a PITA he is"

:lol: I hear ya' Dun. This steer however was as simple as they come to raise. Only put hands on him 3 times. Once to pull him the last little bit as he was huge and momma was tired, and twice for shots, etc.

I really like Dave's idea too. Gonna try the sell steer/buy from store this time as I sure don't need another mouth to feed in this drought, but will give the sell one to buy another a shot next time.
 

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