Is there any way to make money in the cattle business?

[HDRider]

I want to ask you guys to help me understand how to make money in the cattle business. Maybe the question really is; "If you can make money in the cattle business".

I am going to use
Current Live Cattle Price - https://www.cmegroup.com/trading/agricultural/livestock/live-cattle.html
and
Current Beef Cutout Price - http://beefcutoutcalculator.agsci.colostate.edu/

Let's assume a live weight 1,000 pound steer

Current Live Weight Price is $0.855 per pound making the steer worth $855

The current cutout value of that same steer is $1,264 with approximate weights of hanging 620 pounds and 430 pounds of retail cuts

The full retail value at the supermarket of that 1,000-pound steer is about $6.50 per pound averaged over the different cuts, including hamburger. That puts the retail value of that steer at around $3,000.

Do you take any issue with this as a premise?

 

[Caustic Burno]

Yep sell every one and go in the hay business.

 

[SBMF 2015]

I've always said feeding cattle is an addiction. The son of the guy that I've been herdsman , the last twenty years says it's a disease.
Either way true cattle feeders feed cattle because it's what makes us tic.

 

[sim.-ang.king]

There is a lot of opportunities right now, just have too go find them.

 

[MurraysMutts]

Yep sell every one and go in the hay business.

Hay business will keep ya busy. It poses the same question tho. I guess after the initial investment, it could be a lot worse. Good thing is, you'll be so busy u wont have time to worry about it til winter!

Cattle are the same way huh? Once u get past the initial investment, it's easy sailing...
We been working on getting past the initial investment for about 5 years now I guess. Sure been fun.

 

[WFfarm]

It seams the only way to make money in the cattle business is to do every involving cattle but don't actually have cattle.

 

[MurraysMutts]

I want to ask you guys to help me understand how to make money in the cattle business. Maybe the question really is; "If you can make money in the cattle business".

I am going to use
Current Live Cattle Price - https://www.cmegroup.com/trading/agricultural/livestock/live-cattle.html
and
Current Beef Cutout Price - http://beefcutoutcalculator.agsci.colostate.edu/

Let's assume a live weight 1,000 pound steer

Current Live Weight Price is $0.855 per pound making the steer worth $855

The current cutout value of that same steer is $1,264 with approximate weights of hanging 620 pounds and 430 pounds of retail cuts

The full retail value at the supermarket of that 1,000-pound steer is about $6.50 per pound averaged over the different cuts, including hamburger. That puts the retail value of that steer at around $3,000.

Do you take any issue with this as a premise?

Sounds good. But ur waiting too long to sell calves. Takes way too much input to get a calf to 1000.
Wean em at 6. Sell em a lil after 7months and get out b4 they cost so much.
Minimum inputs. Maximum returns.
We're making it work.

 

[Lucky]

Short answer is NO!! Get out while you can, if you can....that's the problem

 

[CG1]

We sell eggs...to pay for the cattle....

 

[HDRider]

I want to ask you guys to help me understand how to make money in the cattle business. Maybe the question really is; "If you can make money in the cattle business".

I am going to use
Current Live Cattle Price - https://www.cmegroup.com/trading/agricultural/livestock/live-cattle.html
and
Current Beef Cutout Price - http://beefcutoutcalculator.agsci.colostate.edu/

Let's assume a live weight 1,000 pound steer

Current Live Weight Price is $0.855 per pound making the steer worth $855

The current cutout value of that same steer is $1,264 with approximate weights of hanging 620 pounds and 430 pounds of retail cuts

The full retail value at the supermarket of that 1,000-pound steer is about $6.50 per pound averaged over the different cuts, including hamburger. That puts the retail value of that steer at around $3,000.

Do you take any issue with this as a premise?

Sounds good. But ur waiting too long to sell calves. Takes way too much input to get a calf to 1000.
Wean em at 6. Sell em a lil after 7months and get out b4 they cost so much.
Minimum inputs. Maximum returns.
We're making it work.

Interesting. How does taste, tenderness, marbling and quality of a 600 pounder compare to a thousand pounder?

 

[MurraysMutts]

O we dont eat those. I thought u wanted to sell em, not eat em.
We let someone else make em bigger.
Are u the someone else?

I do see your point tho. When we feed one out to butcher, it costs quite a bit as we have to buy feed.
Idk how anyone can afford to make em bigger and then sell em and still make money. Not the way practices and prices are now.

Where does one find feed cheap enough to make em that big at a big scale? Ya got me..

 

[HDRider]

O we dont eat those. I thought u wanted to sell em, not eat em.
We let someone else make em bigger.
Are u the someone else?

I do see your point tho. When we feed one out to butcher, it costs quite a bit as we have to buy feed.
Idk how anyone can afford to make em bigger and then sell em and still make money. Not the way practices and prices are now.

Where does one find feed cheap enough to make em that big at a big scale? Ya got me..

You can't make a profit the way most of us go to market. I want to take out the backgrounder, feedlot, distributor and the retailer with minimal processing cost. I'm thinking if I take their profit margins and make them my profit margins, even at a small scale, I can make a profit.

 

[MurraysMutts]

So u want to be farm to fork as they say? But without processing them yourself?

I cant imagine the investment required to make such a venture work. All the land for breeding animals. Land for stockers etc. A usda approved processing facility.
What's a guy do with all the leftovers? That's a huge venture.
Doesnt Braums have such a setup? They have a pretty big operation dont they?

 

[1982vett]

If Tyson gets its way it outta get better after they put 80% of the hogs and chickens in the landfills....

 

[HDRider]

So u want to be farm to fork as they say? But without processing them yourself?

I cant imagine the investment required to make such a venture work. All the land for breeding animals. Land for stockers etc. A usda approved processing facility.
What's a guy do with all the leftovers? That's a huge venture.
Doesnt Braums have such a setup? They have a pretty big operation dont they?

I raise calves. I raise sheep. I have a partner that will feed them out. I have sourced a USDA processor 140 miles round trip. I will get a trailer with a freezer. I will sell two different days in two different towns and one day at the farmer's market. I will sell my beef, my lamb, and sourced pork. If it goes well, and I deem the risk reasonable, I will open a meat store.

 

[SBMF 2015]

With Tyson back logged my best friend booked 5 slots with a local butcher. He put an ad on Craigslist. In six hours he had 20 quarters of beef sold, and has a waiting list.

 

[Dave]

Is there any way to make money in the cattle business? The answer is yes. There are opportunities every day.

The business which you went on to describe. Birth to the consumer. It is possible but it sure isn't easy. The prices that people I know doing this charge make me blink. But they find people who are willing to pay their price.

 

[ccr]

With Tyson back logged my best friend booked 5 slots with a local butcher. He put an ad on Craigslist. In six hours he had 20 quarters of beef sold, and has a waiting list.

Wow that sounds great. I'd like to know how he prices, handles deposits, and does the logistics from his farm to the butcher to the customer and doesn't get left holding beef when a buyer changed their mind and decided they didn't want the quarter after all.

This sounds like a great way to market beef even for a small timer, but not sure about trusting people to pay up when the time comes.

 

[SBMF 2015]

With Tyson back logged my best friend booked 5 slots with a local butcher. He put an ad on Craigslist. In six hours he had 20 quarters of beef sold, and has a waiting list.

Wow that sounds great. I'd like to know how he prices, handles deposits, and does the logistics from his farm to the butcher to the customer and doesn't get left holding beef when a buyer changed their mind and decided they didn't want the quarter after all.

This sounds like a great way to market beef even for a small timer, but not sure about trusting people to pay up when the time comes.

I totally agree with you, but when you have over a hundred head of fat cattle ready to harvest in the next six weeks I guess you try new things.
He said he was going to charge $1.90/lb hanging wt. Customer pays for the processing.
I would think he would do a $100 deposit.
He is using a local butcher that processes 2-3 strs a year for his family. So they have a good working relationship. The plant is USDA inspected so retail sales are no problem.

 

[MurraysMutts]

So u want to be farm to fork as they say? But without processing them yourself?

I cant imagine the investment required to make such a venture work. All the land for breeding animals. Land for stockers etc. A usda approved processing facility.
What's a guy do with all the leftovers? That's a huge venture.
Doesnt Braums have such a setup? They have a pretty big operation dont they?

I raise calves. I raise sheep. I have a partner that will feed them out. I have sourced a USDA processor 140 miles round trip. I will get a trailer with a freezer. I will sell two different days in two different towns and one day at the farmer's market. I will sell my beef, my lamb, and sourced pork. If it goes well, and I deem the risk reasonable, I will open a meat store.

A friend and I were discussing the same thing the other day. Idk the laws and regs regarding selling meat.
I know the processor we use is USDA inspected and such. A guy could save money slaughtering himself but would require a large investment. The problem we discussed was that the processor is always 3 months out. Idk how a guy could resolve that problem. I mean if demand was there, u would be constantly processing animals. A store front would be ideal. But then u have the problem of lesser value meats accumulating because people dont by a lot of that. I think people who shop that type of thing want premium cuts. Then u turn into a producer, who has a meat market as well. Butcher shop if u will. There is one just like that in Hominy oklahoma. They raise and process cattle. Butcher shop. Custom processor. And a restaurant! I have visited. It's nice. But too far away for me to frequent regularly.

I think theres a lot of details involved. And I really wish there was more places that do just such a thing. Would take some of the monopoly out of purchasing meat from some dang big box store that gets meat from one of the 4 big processors. I think the quality would be better too when there is more competition.