Picked up my freezer beef

[RAWCJW]

Well I had my first steer proccessed. Pure bred Highland. It weighed 1140 lb live, 638lb hanging, roughly 390lb package meat. I sold 3/4 of it for $2.25lb hanging I paid proccessing, which was .56 lb hanging. Do these numbers sound comparable to you,re operations I want to be fare to my customers and myself. It,s all natural no hormones grain finished for the last 140 days. I got a 2.08 adg the last 140 days. I had roughly $500.00 in feed.
Opinions Please
P.S. my first T-bone will be tonight but the burger was good!

 

[cornstalk]

Your dressing percent seems pretty light.....but I dont know much about highlands...maybe a breed thing? You should have dressed about 707lbs @ 62%.

I'm also surprised at your $2.25 on the rack sale price. Part of this is likely due to your paying of the processing. In my area we sell freezer beef for going market rate. So @ $.89 per pound market price, were selling to custormers for $1.40 ish per pound on the rack, and they pay processing......generally pushing there price up to around $1.80 per pound. This is for corn fed sim-angus.

Just to give you an idea. Your getting a good price.

 

[ROB]

Cornstalk-

The 62% ...is that at the local butcher shop or on the grid?
What is your packaged weight running (percentage of hanging weight)? breed? backfat? Does this include the liver, tongue, ox-tail, cheek meat? Just curious.

ROB

 

[RAWCJW]

I did not include organs,tongue or tail in my package weight. I think the lower live weight has to do with the heavy hide this time of year. Does the package weight sound about right?

 

[somn]

I did not include organs,tongue or tail in my package weight. I think the lower live weight has to do with the heavy hide this time of year. Does the package weight sound about right?

The winter hair isn't going to weigh that much more. Unless the hair was full of manure.

 

[Susie David]

We don't sell by market price because we are not seling to markets or wholesalers, we sell for $2.15/lb hanging and the retail customer pays the slaughter and cut & wrap. This is for farm slaughtered animals, the USDA processed beef is sold by the cut with ground beef starting at $4.50/lb...running around 90% lean depending on the animal.
See some folks up here selling for less but the old addage holds true...never compete with a manure salesman, they know what their product is worth. Had some customers buy from the low priced farms but they have ordered spring beef from us.
We average 60-64% loss from live to hanging and 33-37% cutting loss, not counting edible organs or bones, that's meat packages...a beef with steaks cut 1" will give you 28 rib, 28 T-bone, 8 porterhouse and two tenderloin....this is a truth teller for the butcher.
Took two in for USDA processing yesterday, a 1410# Angus steer and a 1245# black baldie, yes we track the weights and yields on our animals...and keep track of the cut count.
Just my two bits worth...Dave Mc

 

[dieselbeef]

wanna see something crazy go to http://www.amazingrazingbeef.com.
theyre prices are somethin to see

 

[TXBobcat]

We sell whole or half animals at $2.00 lb hanging weight and customer pays processing.

We are getting more people asking to buy individual packages of meat, such as 5 pkgs hamburger, 4 T-bones, etc. A lot of people just don't have enough freezer space for a whole or even a half animal.

What procedures do you have to follow to be able to sell meat by the individual package?

 

[dieselbeef]

i just hand it to em and stick the cash in my pocket

 

[ROB]

Txbobcat-

in missouri - i have my beef processed at a usda inspected facility. they affix my private label to each package along with the usda seal, and i obtained a state sales tax i.d. number for retail sales and a merchants license at the local courthouse.

ROB

 

[TXBobcat]

Txbobcat-

in missouri - i have my beef processed at a usda inspected facility. they affix my private label to each package along with the usda seal, and i obtained a state sales tax i.d. number for retail sales and a merchants license at the local courthouse.

ROB

The meat I normally get from my processor says 'NOT FOR SALE'.

For me to sell it by the pkg, I assume they would have to put a different stamp on it and I would have to obtain the correct licenses/ID's etc.

 

[RAWCJW]

I checked in to selling by the package.you have to have a brokers license it doesn't sound like to big of a deal.

 

[ROB]

before i began selling retail i checked with the federal inspector on what i needed to do, forms to complete and licenses' to obtain. it was much easier to do than i had anticipated. if you have a private label design you want to use it will need to be approved by the usda. i opted to use labels made by the processor with my name, address and other information printed on them. everything on the label was "pre-approved" by usda. many processors offer this service free of charge.

ROB

 

[Susie David]

To sell meat by the cut it has to be USDA processed. It will have the USDA bug on the lable. A fella could get a huge fine if inspected...had a guy at the farmer's market selling uninspected beef and got turned in...he got tipped off and had another animal in the freezer when the inspector came, saved him about ten large ones.
The farm killed beef is basically the property of the buyer....we sell live animals and broker the processing. DMc

 

[ROB]

didn't mean to mislead, all the beef i sell retail is usda inspected. previously i stated that i had beef processed at a usda inspected facility.

additionally, in missouri - if you use a state inspected facility, you can't sell retail outside of the state.

ROB

 

[auctionboy]

We don't sell by market price because we are not seling to markets or wholesalers, we sell for $2.15/lb hanging and the retail customer pays the slaughter and cut & wrap. This is for farm slaughtered animals, the USDA processed beef is sold by the cut with ground beef starting at $4.50/lb...running around 90% lean depending on the animal.
See some folks up here selling for less but the old addage holds true...never compete with a manure salesman, they know what their product is worth. Had some customers buy from the low priced farms but they have ordered spring beef from us.
We average 60-64% loss from live to hanging and 33-37% cutting loss, not counting edible organs or bones, that's meat packages...a beef with steaks cut 1" will give you 28 rib, 28 T-bone, 8 porterhouse and two tenderloin....this is a truth teller for the butcher.
Took two in for USDA processing yesterday, a 1410# Angus steer and a 1245# black baldie, yes we track the weights and yields on our animals...and keep track of the cut count.
Just my two bits worth...Dave Mc

I agree with charge at $2 or over. Why go threw everything to find people to buy and a whole bunch of other work then sell for what you would have got at the auction. I sell 1/4 and at that point you can put the price up even further. My compation is the grocery store which sells fatty burger for 1.89 and round steaks for 3.99. Keep in mind when selling straight from the farm the people ar getting the premium product with usually less hormones anibiotics....... I agree with you no sense in selling yourbetter product for a discount.

 

[auctionboy]

I charge my customers 1 dollar per pound for the steer. Then hey pay the kill bill at the slaughter house which is typically around 150-200 dollars. When you figure it in since they get a big steer they usually have around 1.80-2.14 per pound of beef. My steers always dress at over 60%.

Don't they get 1.80-2.14 a pound for a side? Telling them what you said as if they were getting meat alone for that price is dishonest. 1200# $1200 =$200 is $1400 amybe #600 meat that is maybe in the$2.50 for meet, still a great deal.

 

[cornstalk]

Cornstalk-

The 62% ...is that at the local butcher shop or on the grid?
What is your packaged weight running (percentage of hanging weight)? breed? backfat? Does this include the liver, tongue, ox-tail, cheek meat? Just curious.

ROB

Rob:

These are locker numbers. I would expect to get close to 62% DW regardless of where the animal was butchered.

Backfat= .4
1200lbs @ 62% DW = 744lb carcass or hanging weight
744lbs x 15% waste = 111lb waste (bone/fat/trim)
744-111= 633 packaged weight including variety meats. (85% of HCW.

 

[Susie David]

Cornstalk....you only loose 15% in cutting? Seems like our animal's bones weigh alot more than that.
We loose on average 35%...that is 65% of the hanging weight ends up as meat packages for the customer's freezer. We don't count edible organs, bones or fat...strange but we have customers that want all the beef fat that they can get, some make soap and some cook with it.
Dave Mc

 

[ROB]

Susie David-

thats what i was thinking. i always come out at 65% hanging wt. maybe we need to find a different butcherer!

ROB