Marketing Cattle

[Jabes0623]

I've read & learned a lot on this board about the selection & care of cattle. But I have not found much on the marketing side of things, perhaps I just missed it, so I was curious how you all market your cattle? I'd be most interested to hear your alls marketing successes and failures. When & where do you advertise, how do you sell your product?

 

[dun]

The market stters/heifers go through the salebarn. The replacements and bull is via WOM from having satisfied customers through the years.

 

[TCRanch]

Word of mouth works best when I'm selling bred heifers but also when I have too many (including cows) & have to cull. Otherwise Sale Barn, KS Farmers/Ranchers (on Facebook) & Craigslist - all contingent on how quickly I want to sell them & if I have the time to deal with all the tire-kickers/weirdos/no-shows. I provide a complete health history, bull EPD's including the bull that sired them & the one that bred them - if applicable, what they're fed (including minerals, protein tubs, etc), disposition, pics of calves/heifers/cows/bulls/dams.

 

[ostie]

Does anyone on here sell their cattle directly to the consumer (butchered)? I'm interested in raising cattle from start to finish, but it appears I will be the oddball in that. Anyone doing that?

 

[backhoeboogie]

Does anyone on here sell their cattle directly to the consumer (butchered)? I'm interested in raising cattle from start to finish, but it appears I will be the oddball in that. Anyone doing that?

I've done it. Cypressfarms was doing it and had a market set up with a retirement home. There are others too.

 

[Gerard Dawn]

I market my cattle produce through my website and I my local neighbors already know me so they just come over my farm to buy milk and meat.

 

[Supa Dexta]

Sell off farm and though farmers markets here (grow all feed and grain myself though). But may be losing my butcher. So not sure the future.

 

[Kell-inKY]

Does anyone on here sell their cattle directly to the consumer (butchered)? I'm interested in raising cattle from start to finish, but it appears I will be the oddball in that. Anyone doing that?

I would like more info on this as well.

From what I have researched, it is the only way to turn a profit for small operations, actually, some seem to do really well especially with the grass fed movement. Very few people I know can afford a whole or even half a steer/cow even though it's cheaper in the long run, so selling smaller quantities is easier, and you can charge more.

The negatives it seems are having to deal with people which can be a pain, and isn't there some USDA type regulations or some hoops you have to jump through to sell direct to consumer? Plus you need quite a bit of freezer space, not a big deal really.

 

[M.Magis]

It's not the only way for a small producer to make a profit, but it can certain increase it. The search function here isn't too user friendly, but there's a lot of information on these boards if you're able to find it. I think the vast majority that sell freezer beef, technically, only sell a live animal. But they also make the butcher arrangements, and the only thing the client has to do is pick up the packaged meat. It does limit sales to halves and wholes I think. If I'm not mistaken, there's a lot of red tape of you actually want to sell cuts of beef by the piece. Dealing with the public is bad enough. Dealing with the public and the government sounds like a nightmare.

 

[boondocks]

We are selling grassfed natural Angus just by word of mouth so far. Sell by halves or quarters (technically a split half). The customer is buying a portion of the animal so we are not selling individual cuts of meat, which requires more hoops, USDA approval etc. We sell it by the quarter or half, with the price based on the hanging wt. We deliver it for a fee.

We will see how it goes over time. We are not trying to compete with the race-to-the-bottom aka Walmart. We sure won't get rich doing this (hopefully won't die trying), but if it gets to the point we can't sell it at a price that reflects the work/inputs involved, we'll figure something else out, or sell.

We have also just started selling a few replacement heifers--nice animals who just didn't fit into our timing.

We took one to the sale barn who wouldn't keep a pregnancy in 2 of 3 at-bats.
So I guess we have a mixed approach.
No website or anything fancy, at this point anyway...

 

[SJB]

i;'ve done the math a bunch lately on the sell side. i don't have the experience to do the math on the buy side, so i can't say about actual profit. but from my calculations, you can sell people freezer beef and at least break even with what you'd sell it for at my local auction. my math actually puts freezer beef about 20-30% ahead of selling at the auction, but that is comparing selling a steer that's been fed out for two months vs the same weight animal at the sale, which isn't apples to apples. hence the "break even" projection. this is selling it for a reasonably competitive rate against grocery store prices for Choice graded meat, including butcher and slaughter costs.

the market for straight from the farm beef, pork, and poultry is in the early stages of a boom in my area. i have 4 or 5 people trying to pay me up front for 2016 beef, and i don't personally own the first cow yet.

i just want to run a farm for the good of my family. actually two families. i'm sensitive to the folks in my immediate area who raise beef cattle for a living, and i don't want to get in their pockets too much. i have a cow/calf guy who has really helped me, and another neighbor that's a pretty big outfit (cow/calf and backgrounds). neither of those folks have any interest in freezer beef. so it's sort of a niche in the market that might really work out well for me, while not directly competing with the guys who are helping me that do it for a living. i think i can make it pay for my families beef, and not take money out of my neighbors pocket. win-win.

 

[M.Magis]

If you're selling freezer beef for no more than you'd make selling at the local sale barn, raise your prices. There's more work involved, don't do it for free.