Selling Whole Finished Cattle directly to Institutions

[MrBilly]

Below is a SARE funded study done in Iowa comparing the costs to three Institutions (a university, retirement home and a short order restaurant) that buy whole beef animals from local producers, compared to that which they would have paid if they bought similar amounts of meat from conventional sources.

http://www.uni.edu/ceee/foodproject/report.pdf

I have a few concerms with the data, or the lack of:

Of course the costs of feeding and finishing a steer (assuming they fed them grain?) will be less in Iowa compared to here in Georgia. Also, it would have been useful for the authors to break out the non- farm share price into its component parts. 32% seems a bit high, but then I really don't know what is in their number.

They also should compare apples with apples, which I don't think they did? In other words, they should be comparing Angus beef prices with Angus beef in the the conventional market - usally about $1 per pound more than generic beef.
Similarly, I don't think they took into consideration that the local beef is without antibiotics and hormones, this also should bring a premium of another $1 per pound in the conventional market.

I also don't understand the setting of the animal's total price based on the auction market for that week? Here our auctions do not sell finished, or fed, beef; I must assume they do in Iowa otherwise they are again short changing themselves on what they charge???

Billy

 

[flaboy+]

Interesting read MrBilly. Thanks

 

[Susie David]

Yeah, interesting...I'd be giving the cows away at those prices.
Good concept but the pricing needs to be adjusted regonially.
We don't compete on price and get two bucks/lb on the rail, processing is a customer's expense...
DMc

 

[Cheyenne]

I live 20 miles from the the area that this study was done and every institution/restaurant and locker are familiar to me.

If you noticed only one of the institutions is now purchasing directly from the farmer. Yes Iowa does sell what we call "Fat" cattle and right now they are running in the area of .85-90 cents a pound. I too believe that farmer is selling way too cheap.

The other two are purchasing beef that was purchased by the lockers and processed and what they quoted $2.65 lb., if I remember correctly, is within a few cents either way of what local stores are retailing conventional beef to consumers. We do have some Angus beef being sold in our local store and it maybe only goes for a few cents higher per pound. I have purchased both the Angus product and the generic and honestly I can't tell a difference in the taste or quality. But that is not the point.

I believe a couple of grad students at UNI wrote this paper for a project or something and in my opinion didn't do enough research. A major state college with that many students attending is going to have to buy more than one whole cow and hog every other month. Where is the rest of it coming from? One whole cow would not last a more than a few days to a week.

So please don't judge Iowa and our practices on this article as it is flawed and or incomplete. Thank you for the interesting reading though.

Cheyenne

 

[preston39]

Cheyenne,

It don't believe it has anything to do with Iowa.

The additional point in the study I believe was that regional and area slaughter operations..thru co-operatives,etc., are making a comeback. One of the local slaughter houses closed three years ago and there is talk of it being revived. The other one is doing hogs only.

The costs of transport of the live animal and then the processed product is significant to consumer costs.

 

[la4angus]

It don't believe it has anything to do with Iowa.

What does it have anything to do with :?:
.

One of the local slaughter houses closed three years ago and there is talk of it being revived. The other one is doing hogs only.

Which slaughterhouse is this :?: