What are they worth now

[SmokinM]

Got 3 heading off the first week of February. Not looking to screw anybody but obviously things have gone up. Locally prices are all over the place because some are just flipping market culls, some can't do math and some have just lost their minds. Processing alone is at $1.05 a # now. What do you charge hanging weight nowadays?

Not USDA processing so they are buying halves

Nice angus steers with a good finish on grain but raised on grass

Thanks for any input you can give.

 

[J+ Cattle]

@SmokinM first of all, your price shouldn't be dependent upon those around you that are flipping cull animals or that are mathematically challenged, they will run themselves into the poor house soon enough. You should sell based on your value, quality and service provided. You need to make money or it's just a hobby.
Here's a link to live cattle markets which have been up recently.

https://www.cmegroup.com/markets/agriculture/livestock/live-cattle.html

 

[GoWyo]

I wouldn't want to mess with feeding anything out right now for less than $3.75/# hanging weight and buyer paying the processing. 800# carcass would be $3,000. Our steer calves sold last fall at $1680/hd and it would have cost probably $800/hd to feed one out. The $500 extra profit barely covers the risk of death loss and hassle.

 

[gcreekrch]

Feedlot we deal with is selling 1/4s of freezer beef. What you get goes in the pan, they pay all processing and no scraps. $10 a lb.

 

[Silver]

I just bought a 1/2 from the local packer, picked it up yesterday.
The invoice isn't showing it, but the quoted price was a little over $6 per lb. The beef is usually pretty good, the beef is supplied to the packer by a Hutterite colony that has a small feed lot.
I guess this is about $1,400 USD

 

[tsellars]

I picked my yearly half up in mid December. It was 2.10/lb live weight and then .69/lb for processing, non usda. My total came out to around $1750. Total live weight was 1340.

 

[Travlr]

I wouldn't want to mess with feeding anything out right now for less than $3.75/# hanging weight and buyer paying the processing. 800# carcass would be $3,000. Our steer calves sold last fall at $1680/hd and it would have cost probably $800/hd to feed one out. The $500 extra profit barely covers the risk of death loss and hassle.

$3.75 a pound? Hanging weight? On a steer that would bring more than that live weight? That's a bargain.

 

[GoWyo]

800# carcass weight would be around 1300# live. At $2.00/# live be $2600. 800# at $3.75/# is $3000. So $400 extra profit. The risk and interest and make me not interested in feeding steers right now unless we priced them higher and could get them sold.

 

[SmokinM]

Thanks for the feedback folks. The number I had in my head was close, maybe a tish high but cheaper than a lot of guys here. In the grocery store burger is $5.50 to $8.00 a lb. here steaks run $11-19 a lb. mostly. These steers will be pushing1400# I think. My math backwards with processing put me right around $2000 a half for the actual meat in the freezer figuring $7.50 a lb. average. Does that sound about right? Thanks.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

Why are you comparing to the grocery store or other people on this forum?

What is your cost to get that steer from birth to slaughter? You need to know that number and then you set your price so you are making a profit...

 

[SmokinM]

Why are you comparing to the grocery store or other people on this forum?

What is your cost to get that steer from birth to slaughter? You need to know that number and then you set your price so you are making a profit...

I agree and I do know that number. However I like to see where the market is and compare. You should be competitive with a similar product IMO if you plan to stay in business.

 

[Dave]

Just a few says ago I looked up what the packing plants are paying for fat cattle. It was roughly $2.00 live and a touch over $3.00 on the rail. So a person selling for $3.75-$4.00 hanging with the customer paying the processing is making $600-$800 over what the packing plants would pay. I would think that would be a fair profit.

 

[Little Joe]

I've been at $4.75/lb HW and I pay processing, I've got to go up. I'm talking to others at $6/lb HW. My processor is still at .75/lb HW.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

I agree and I do know that number. However I like to see where the market is and compare. You should be competitive with a similar product IMO if you plan to stay in business.

If you provide a good product that your customers are happy with then staying "competitive" with others is irrelevant. Just because another's product is similar doesn't mean it's equal.

Trying to stay "competitive" with Walmart is what has driven numerous other businesses into the grave.

 

[ClinchValley86]

I've been at $4.50 since 2021, not including processing on corn finished animals. Corn finished steers and heifers will have to go up by 50 cents this year for myself. Young culls I will stay at $4.50 if i can. All the stuff required to do it, trailer, truck, feeders, fence, fuel all that stuff really adds up. Then all the time spent. Then some of them do expire on us. I'm not a feedlot situation and I don't have their efficiencies. I'm not doing it for nothing.

Every single consumer has the option to walk into a salebarn and buy their own animal to finish.

Sale yesterday has me concerned about the young cull approach. They type I buy to beef, the real good ones were going up to 1.50 to 1.70. I can only assume people are wanting them to put with a bull.

I hope it was just people blowing their Christmas money and it'll be lower this weekend.

 

[tsellars]

I've been at $4.75/lb HW and I pay processing, I've got to go up. I'm talking to others at $6/lb HW. My processor is still at .75/lb HW.

Who you using for processing?