Locker Beef

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kevinjensen68

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Mar 11, 2010
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Hello folks,

I am getting into the locker beef business, my mom/dad have been doing it forever and now my first batch of calves are heading from slaughter this weekend. In the past, they have only sold 4-6 head to family, friends and acquaintances, however I am going to double those numbers in the upcoming year and broaden the field to Craigslist and other forms of advertisement. In doing this I was looking for some opinions as to having the beef USDA slaughtered? The meat is packaged/labeled and sold as not for resale, but I did not know if I should have it done as a form of protection for me or am I just throwing an extra $150/hd down the drain?

I also have been kicking around the idea of a simple contract stating that this meat cannot be re-sold having the buyer sign and date, just trying to keep my butt covered as selling to new unfamiliar people may in turn come back to haunt me if something happens, thank you for any opinions.

Kevin
 
Don't know where you are located, but in Texas I used to get around the USDA inspection and state manufacturing permit requirements by selling whole or half hogs on the hoof, then transporting the animal to the processor. The buyer would turn in their cutting order and pay the processor. I made much better money than a trip to the sale barn doing it that way.
 
I am located in Washington state around the Olympia area, my customers are buying halves/quarters hanging weight and paying for all the slaughter/cut/wrap fees....
 
In NC
Any time you sell pieces of an animal you are opening yourself up to regulations- no regulations at all(and no liability) with selling them a live animal.
Selling halves and quarters in NC would get you in trouble if it was not USDA inspected and killed under your registered label. And you would need a meat handlers license if you touched the meat(as in delivered it) after it was processed. If you took it home and stored it(even for a minute) you would have to meet regulations and have your storage inspected too.

When I have buyers wanting 1/2 or 1/4- I'll introduce them to others that want part and they buy a whole one as a group and split it up all on their own.

Our processors puts the not for resale label on for free(or more accurately adds the cost in with the processing cost) . Total cost for processing a 1400 lb animal is $350(give or take)- your label fee of $150 sounds excessive in comparison. Any processed meat HAS to have a do not sell label on it even if its for home use OR you have to have a registered brand label on it.
 
Well I am not far from you. I probably even know your processer. As long as you are doing wholes, halves, or quarters you are good. Virtually every processer I know of in the area is state inspected and everyone that I know of uses tape that states on it not for resale. If someone were to resell that meat it would be their liability not yours. I have been doing a limited number of direct market for years. I have always done it similar to what you described. If you were to get into quanities lower than a quarter that is when the USDA inspection would apply.
 
Howdyjabo":4hn706ii said:
In NC
Any time you sell pieces of an animal you are opening yourself up to regulations- no regulations at all(and no liability) with selling them a live animal.
Selling halves and quarters in NC would get you in trouble if it was not USDA inspected and killed under your registered label. And you would need a meat handlers license if you touched the meat(as in delivered it) after it was processed. If you took it home and stored it(even for a minute) you would have to meet regulations and have your storage inspected too.

When I have buyers wanting 1/2 or 1/4- I'll introduce them to others that want part and they buy a whole one as a group and split it up all on their own.

Our processors puts the not for resale label on for free(or more accurately adds the cost in with the processing cost) . Total cost for processing a 1400 lb animal is $350(give or take)- your label fee of $150 sounds excessive in comparison. Any processed meat HAS to have a do not sell label on it even if its for home use OR you have to have a registered brand label on it.
Click to expand...
$350 for a 1,400 lb animal is cheap in my part of the country,kansas.my last animal was 1,150 and cost me $425 for processing.
 
Dave":jgi3qjmr said:
Well I am not far from you. I probably even know your processer. As long as you are doing wholes, halves, or quarters you are good. Virtually every processer I know of in the area is state inspected and everyone that I know of uses tape that states on it not for resale. If someone were to resell that meat it would be their liability not yours. I have been doing a limited number of direct market for years. I have always done it similar to what you described. If you were to get into quanities lower than a quarter that is when the USDA inspection would apply.
Click to expand...

Thanks Dave, I have talked to a few other people around here and they say they just do not worry about it, I guess I am just stressing myself out. I use Roger at R and L meats in salzer valley Centralia, he does an excellent job, highly recommend him. I appreciate the reply Howdy, I agree the best way to sell is live.
 
I believe it has to be USDA and labeled if your customers do not pick up the beef from the processor themselves. Here the USDA processing cost is maybe 10 or 15 cents per pound higher than non-inspected "not for resale" processing. I use this as a selling point and just figure it in the selling price. My customers like the fact it is inspected. I sell split halves only. The two USDA processors I use each made a label with my name on it at no charge. A simple computer software thing. I would suggest you have a processor make your own label and sell USDA inspected unless your customers pickup the beef themselves. There are reasons for these rules.

Jim
 
I sell a beef on the hoof each year to a guy in Boston. I don't sell the finished product and I prefer it that way. One year he split it with another couple.

I weigh the steer at the local elevator and deliver him to the processor. He pays me for the steer and deals with the processor on his own. The processor takes the beef to the local airport and ships it to him air freight.
 
I use Roger when ever I can. He can get a little booked up in the fall. But I feel he does the best job of all the local processers.

To go USDA here there are very few options. One place to get the kill. It cost $25 more than the state inspected farm kill plus you have to haul the animal to them. And Heritage has the only USDA inspected cutting and wrapping line. And that is not where the inspected slaughter is located. He charges 48 cents a pound for custom cut and nearly a dollar a pound for USDA inspected cutting and wrap. I know people who go the USDA route but they aren't selling halves. They are selling individual pieces and charging a whole lot more for them.
 
In WA and OR, John Q producer generally can't sell his beef pre-packaged -- takes lots to get through that. We raise a couple a year, sell 1/4s and 1/2s to friends at $X per pound on the rail, plus their share of kill fee and cut & wrap -- the custom cutter takes cutting orders via the half, so those that buy quarters have to buddy-up on cutting instructions. If our buyers wanted to, they could take a 1/2 carcass and haul it home to cut themselves. Our buyers deal with us for hanging weight and their share of kill fee, as that is due at harvest (and we ask for a reasonable deposit, months in advance, just so folks aren't backing out as we get close to butcher time); customers pay cut & wrap to the cutter when they pick up pretty frozen, white packages of beef.
 

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