Selling Freezer Beef

[calfbuyer]

A few months ago we were out of beef and I was thinking of not selling one of my heaviest calves and feeding him out and butchering him. Then I got to thinking about how long he would have to be on feed and how much the feed would cost and the 750 to 800 dollars that i was going to have to forfit by not selling him. I was reading a thread on here about freezer beef and Sale Barn Junkie brought up a point that I couldnt believe I hadn't thought of.....Buy a big fat open heifer or a heavy steer at the sale barn and feed em for a month to 6 weeks and youre done....brilliant, why hadnt i though of that. So, I told my "order buyer" (my neighbor who works the ring at the sale barn and buys calves for my nurse cows or whatever else im looking for) to try to find me a big 9 weight steer (hard to find) or a big fat open heifer (much easier to find). It took him a couple of weeks and he called me after the sale one thursday and said he had one. He ended up buying me a 865 lb., fat, open, Herford heifer, she looked like a picture from a county fair back in the 60's with the short, fat little herefords, PERFECT! I really could have taken her to the butcher the next day but I wanted to guarantee myself good marbling and make sure that if she had been shot with anything recently that it would be clear of her system by butcher time so I fed her for 45 days with a cheap low protien filler ration that the local sale barn uses and I added a coffe cup of Golden Flow (Golden Flow is a 90% fat liquid that is used to put finish on show steers) morning and evening to about half of a 5 gallon bucket of feed. I just picked up the beef yesterday and it is excellent. Highly marbled, looks good and tastes even better. The total investment was 865 (dollar a pound purchase price) about 150$ worth of feed and 441 processing for 542 lbs of meat at .70 per lb =1456/2 (we split it with another family) =728 dollars.

I said all that to ask this...how many of you sell freezer beef? how do you do it and what are your cost, concerns, who are your customers and what do they want. I figured it all up it comes out to 2.68 per pound. He77, hamburger meat at the store is 4.50 per lb. Why wouldn't people jump all over this? Is it just that they don't want to make that large of a purchase or is it that they dont have storage for that much beef at one time or do they just now know that they could do something like that? Comments please, im thinking of sellin me some freezer beef!!

 

[Sir Loin]

calfbuyer
I'm not following you.
List your costs from and including animal purchase to having wrapped beef (freezer beef ) for sale and give me your total cost and the total number of pounds salable.
SL.

 

[Jogeephus]

The only flaw (if you can call it that) I see in your thinking is that you are overlooking the fact that you could also start one of your own calves on feed at a heavier weight. I see a lot of people pour feed to a 3-4 wt calf thinking its going to make all the difference in the world and it doesn't. It just costs you a pile of money feeding a young calf to slaughter weight. Either way, I think you could do well with this but by doing your own you really know what you have on the plate and in the field.

If you are going to do this there are a lot of threads about just this but to some them up in two points - get your money up front before the calf is butchered. And the second thing, get your money up front.

 

[cross_7]

i think what turns people off, does me anyway is the ads on craigslist of "home raised beef".
the picture is of a jersey steer in a make shift lot of wire, pallets, chain link fence, wrecked cars, goats,mutt dogs and a fat women in spandex, a tube top and smoking a cigerette.

i think if people saw a nice finished steer, in a clean pasture with green grass and well kept place it would be a different story.

 

[Jogeephus]

To some people, knowing where their food comes from is very important. I have a guy that bought a side from me and he ended up being what I'd call a liberal greenie and he kept telling me how great a job I was doing raising cattle organically and in a very humane manner. I took the opportunity to correct and educate him letting him know my operation was just like thousands across the country. He said there was nothing wrong with what I (WE) are doing. He later called me and asked permission if I would mind if he posted an article on his website with pictures and stuff of how I raised his calf. So maybe it educated a few nitwits that think we give our animals LA200 to drink.

 

[calfbuyer]

calfbuyer
I'm not following you.
List your costs from and including animal purchase to having wrapped beef (freezer beef ) for sale and give me your total cost and the total number of pounds salable.
SL.

Read it again. I pretty much summed it all up there buddy.

 

[calfbuyer]

We always had home raised beef when i was growing up and i have fed out some steers on my own for my family but it has always been alot of time and money invested. I have never been able to do it this cheap. My yuppie inlaws and some of their friends wanted to buy beef halves a couple years ago and I ended up going to a small feed lot west of here and buying some fat, already done calves and hauling them to the butcher for them, this was way cheaper than trying to feed some of my calves from weaning to finished for them. My sister in law kind of negotiated everything and we got 500 deposit and the rest when i delivered the beef to Austin. Was a pretty good deal but the feedlot wont sell me anymore calves because they are supplying a couple restaurants now and contract the beef. I think that there is money to be made here and i agree with both jogee and c7 i think people like to know where their food comes from and if you could do a good job of marketing it you could really do some good.

 

[greybeard]

I dunno--seems frought with potential headaches to me. It's awful hard to make people (customers) happy and some just like to whine no matter what.

 

[snake67]

A few months ago we were out of beef and I was thinking of not selling one of my heaviest calves and feeding him out and butchering him. Then I got to thinking about how long he would have to be on feed and how much the feed would cost and the 750 to 800 dollars that i was going to have to forfit by not selling him. I was reading a thread on here about freezer beef and Sale Barn Junkie brought up a point that I couldnt believe I hadn't thought of.....Buy a big fat open heifer or a heavy steer at the sale barn and feed em for a month to 6 weeks and youre done....brilliant, why hadnt i though of that. So, I told my "order buyer" (my neighbor who works the ring at the sale barn and buys calves for my nurse cows or whatever else im looking for) to try to find me a big 9 weight steer (hard to find) or a big fat open heifer (much easier to find). It took him a couple of weeks and he called me after the sale one thursday and said he had one. He ended up buying me a 865 lb., fat, open, Herford heifer, she looked like a picture from a county fair back in the 60's with the short, fat little herefords, PERFECT! I really could have taken her to the butcher the next day but I wanted to guarantee myself good marbling and make sure that if she had been shot with anything recently that it would be clear of her system by butcher time so I fed her for 45 days with a cheap low protien filler ration that the local sale barn uses and I added a coffe cup of Golden Flow (Golden Flow is a 90% fat liquid that is used to put finish on show steers) morning and evening to about half of a 5 gallon bucket of feed. I just picked up the beef yesterday and it is excellent. Highly marbled, looks good and tastes even better. The total investment was 865 (dollar a pound purchase price) about 150$ worth of feed and 441 processing for 542 lbs of meat at .70 per lb =1456/2 (we split it with another family) =728 dollars.

I said all that to ask this...how many of you sell freezer beef? how do you do it and what are your cost, concerns, who are your customers and what do they want. I figured it all up it comes out to 2.68 per pound. He77, hamburger meat at the store is 4.50 per lb. Why wouldn't people jump all over this? Is it just that they don't want to make that large of a purchase or is it that they dont have storage for that much beef at one time or do they just now know that they could do something like that? Comments please, im thinking of sellin me some freezer beef!!

Second try at this - do not know where the first one went.

Some things for you to consider before you jump.

First - the marbling she had, she had at birth - you did not add any when you kept her for 45 days at about $3.30 a day (your number) - most of that fat you added was likely desposited inside the body cavity and the remainder went onto her back.

Did you factor in the fuel driving for feed? Probably not. Did you factor in yardage costs? Probably not. Did you factor in time? Probably not. There is much more, but you probably paid closer to 5 - 10 bucks a day depending upon your operation and the daily costs you have to simply open the doors in the morning. Most folks do not even think about this.

You will eventually lose money at this rate. Fine for your own meat - but on a commercial basis you are going to go broke.

Liquid fat? What the he!! is in it?

You fed her with a "cheap low protein filler" and something that had "90% fat liquid" in it - your words.

People are looking for grass finished or grain finished. If you told the average person (using your words) this is what you fed your animal and then wanted the customer to buy it there is a good chance they would turn up their nose.

Telling folks you bought some unknown animal at a salebarn - brought her home and then telling them about your cheap feed program - that is almost like telling the public you fed your animal chicken litter or "schitte" (an approved USDA food for cattle) and then asking them to eat it - which will guarantee a hard sell. You do not often see people advertising this do you? Yet it is done on a daily basis.

Be aware of the "returns" from dissatisfied customers - customer dissatisfaction may be real or imagined but it will be real to your pocket book.

You need to build a reputation and get your act together first - and your rep is THE most important - without it you are bust!

You better not have one of those bull crap set ups with mattress springs and crates in the pens, and a 5 acre grassless field knee deep in mud either - because what your place looks like will directly affect the sale of your product. If your place looks like crap, what your animals look like will not matter to the client - the customers will believe you are selling crap.

We used to sell beef at $3.00 a pound on the rail - and we sold lots of it - but got tired of the BS and the work - which is not as easy as you make it out to be.

If it was easy EVERYONE would be doing it!!

Never forget that!

Best to all

Bez

 

[greybeard]

Be aware of the "returns" from dissatisfied customers - customer dissatisfaction may be real or imagined but it will be real to your pocket book

That was my concern when I first read the thread.

First - the marbling she had, she had at birth - you did not add any when you kept her for 45 days at about $3.30 a day (your number)

THANK YOU! I've tried to explain that to my neighbor for years and he just doesn't get it.
If it ain't there--you ain't gonna magically create it with a feed bucket. Ever.

 

[Workinonit Farm]

Be aware of the "returns" from dissatisfied customers - customer dissatisfaction may be real or imagined but it will be real to your pocket book

That was my concern when I first read the thread.

First - the marbling she had, she had at birth - you did not add any when you kept her for 45 days at about $3.30 a day (your number)

THANK YOU! I've tried to explain that to my neighbor for years and he just doesn't get it.
If it ain't there--you ain't gonna magically create it with a feed bucket. Ever.

Anytime I have ever tried to tell anybody this, I am told that I am "full of crap" and I don't know what I'm talking about. I have tried to explain that it is more of a genetic/breed issue rather than a feed-at-finish issue. I have given up.

Thank you Bez and Greybeard for the back-up.

Katherine

 

[Dave]

To me your biggest tell is your statement that your sister in law handled the sale. That is the biggest draw back for me doing it. Dealing with the people. It doesn't seem to matter if it is calves born on your place or ones you picked up at the salebarn about the same percentage of people complain. I have a built in customer base. There is about 1-2 million people just north of me. I just hate dealing with the people.

 

[goddy]

We're selling grass finished beef and our clients like the whole home bred/ raised/ finished/ slaughtered all on the property and completely under our control thing. So selling bought in animals we didn't know the background on wouldn't cut it.
We sell on a liveweight basis so the 1/4, 1/2 or whole animal belongs to the person at the time of the on farm slaughter then it is hung, cut and wrapped at a USDA exempt plant.
I think you do have to enjoy the people side and the education, if you like, that goes with it. We enjoy the interaction with customers and take real pleasure in them getting a healthy, quality product, locally at a fair price.

 

[calfbuyer]

First - the marbling she had, she had at birth - you did not add any when you kept her for 45 days at about $3.30 a day (your number) - most of that fat you added was likely desposited inside the body cavity and the remainder went onto her back.

Yes some cattle have more genetic potential to marble than others at birth but marbling is stored calories or fat that is the last type of fat that is stored in the body. If you ever took a basic ag class in high school or were in 4-H or FFA you would know the pattern in which fat is distributed into the carcass of cattle First are KPH (Kidney pelvic and heart) then subcutaneous (the fat under the hide) then intermuscular (the fat between the muscles) then intramuscular (the specks of fat inside the muscle). I hate to argue but baby calves do not have marbling, they have the genetic potential to marble.

Liquid fat? What the he!! is in it?
Golden Flow is an additive that is 90% fat that is plant bi-product it is mainly used in show cattle (steers) to get one fat faster.


Telling folks you bought some unknown animal at a salebarn - brought her home and then telling them about your cheap feed program - that is almost like telling the public you fed your animal chicken litter or "schitte" (an approved USDA food for cattle) and then asking them to eat it - which will guarantee a hard sell. You do not often see people advertising this do you? Yet it is done on a daily basis.

What is so bad about an "unknown" animal from the salebarn? you eat "unknown" beef everytime you go out to eat or to the grocery store. I didn't feed her schitte (your words) pal. I bought a ton of feed bulk that is a mixed ration that the local sale barn uses yes it is low protein. If the animal is already grown out and about to be butchered why the he!! would she need a high protein diet, high energy or fat would be more suitable in this case. Again freshman ag class would have taught you that.


You better not have one of those bull crap set ups with mattress springs and crates in the pens, and a 5 acre grassless field knee deep in mud either - because what your place looks like will directly affect the sale of your product. If your place looks like crap, what your animals look like will not matter to the client - the customers will believe you are selling crap.

I may be country but I am not white trash my friend. There are no mattress springs or mud lots here. My place sits right on the highway and the grass is always mowed and the fences and barns stay painted. I love how you just assume "Schitte" (your words!!) about people you don't even know.

 

[SRBeef]

There is a lot of interesting discussion in this thread. However I am perplexed by the statements that the marbling is in the beef from birth. Obviously beef breeds tend to marble better than other breeds. I can also see how it makes no sense to feed a finishing ratio to 300 lb calves.

But it seems to me that the ability to marble may be in the beef from birth but it still takes some finishing feed to develop that marbling.

I sell freezer beef by the split half (quarter) only. My beef is birth to plate on my small place. I raise some corn and graze it for about 3-4 months (Jan-Apr) "finishing" my Mar-Apr calved steers along with hay available behind them. I also harvest my steers at about 13 months old, of necessity, so I can get them off of my corn in mid April and replant the same strip to corn again in early May for next year's steers.

Grazing corn also provides a lot of forage per acre over the winter that I don't need to supply with purchased hay. I will add a couple pictures from January in Wisconsin (=snow) of steers grazing corn and some of my cows and heifers getting a special treat - a hay bale out on the snow (not in the feeders) ahead of some very cold weather so they could "stock up".

Are the posts above telling me that my steers would be equally marbled by hay alone as they are grazing corn?

BTW the key thing in the freezer beef business is selling it. If you don't like city people it's not the thing to do! Those city people are your market and be thankful for them. I try to have orders for most of my harvest before they go to the processor. The beef is paid for when delivered or picked up. Split halves end up at about 100 lb of lean beef (little bone in the trim) w about 50% good hamburger which is affordable for many families and not to hard to find freezer space.

Jim

 

[TexasBred]

Liquid fat? What the he!! is in it?
Golden Flow is an additive that is 90% fat that is plant bi-product it is mainly used in show cattle (steers) to get one fat faster.

Be a bit more specific about exactly what this is when discussing it. With a label like Golden Flo ther's a 99% chance that it's little more than vegetable fat (corn, canola, soyoil) highly refined and an excellent top dress for a feed needing more energy. Not really unlike what the wife cooks with. ;-)

 

[Jogeephus]

I see nothing wrong with your idea but basically what you are realizing is its much easier and profitable to finish a calf when you put him on feed at a heavier weight whether its yours or one bought at a salebarn this is the very reason for backgrounding. I have no problem buying a calf from the salebarn. If and when I do, it will usually be a heifer and you can usually find some really fat calves that were previously owned by small producers who have pampered the calves like pets and are only handling money.

I won't go into the details but what you might consider thinking about and questioning in your endeavor is what the ADG is based on different starting weights as this can be key to enhancing your profit margin. You may also find it interesting to do some figuring on what the minimal amount of days on feed would be to hit an acceptable quality target for your venture. I'd also suggest plotting the data and creating a graph which I think you will find very helpful. Is it 30 days of 180 or god forbid longer. Your results will be more accurate if you can reduce the genetic variation by using your own animals but salebarn animals will still yield results that you may find enlightening. Just some food for thought. Good luck with it.

 

[Running Arrow Bill]

It is not legal to sell packaged beef to the public unless it is USDA inspected and labeled. Period.

We, at Running Arrow Farm, LLC, sell natural grass fed frozen packaged Longhorn Beef that IS USDA inspected and processed with the Federally approved labeling.

On the other hand, one can sell a LIVE animal on the hoof taken to any processor and let the purchaser of the whole, 1/2, 1/4, or whatever part pay for all the processing costs and pick it up themselves.

Finally, one would probably NOT even break even by buying an animal, feeding it out, etc. And, you would have no idea where it came from, etc., etc.

:cowboy:

 

[gizmom]

We have sold freezer beef we would sell 1/4, 1/2 or whole the thing we sold it off the farm at 1.25 a pound then went to 1.50 a pound on the hoof. We would deliver the steer to the processer the buyer was responsible for all processing cost. We quit because when we went to 1.50 people balked at the price, had no understanding of what it cost to get the calf to that weight all of the calves graded really well. Educating people is the most difficult part of the process making them understand if they want a quarter then it has to be processed the same as the other quarter, then they want to pay in installments the final straw was the call of a lady that wanted 1/2 a steer but she wanted the whold steer cut into steaks, she didn't like hamburger. I tried to explain that it didn't work that way but she insisted that we cut the calf into steaks. I finally told her we were out of the freezer beef business lol. I just couldn't take it anymore. We developed a flyer with freezer beef facts the whole thing but it just got to be more trouble than we wanted to deal with. Another issue was getting the calves into the processor it never failed when they were ready the processor couldn't take them for weeks we only have two in our area so that was a major draw back. I think it can work but do your homework before you start.

We quit a couple years ago now just keep a few for close friends and faimly.
Gizmom

 

[Dave]

I have been doing freezer beef since I was in high school. That is over 40 years ago. I will go along selling to family and friends. I will have a few extra that I sell to the public. I do well on them so the next year I add a few more, the next year a few more. Seems like about the time I get to 20-25 head I will have a year like this year when I get the complainers, people who don't want to pay, etc. One complainer trumps ten compliments. Especially when the last customer is a loud complainer. It leaves a sour taste in the mouth. So next year I am back to just friends and family.