I collect my money while the animal is still alive to avoid the "grey area." Shares of the animal are sold alive, but based on an actual package weight that will be received by the customer. That packaged weight price comes out to $3 per pound. The slaughter expenses are included in that price.
The butcher I now use is charging in the high thirties per pound on hanging weight, I think 37 cents, with either a twenty or twenty-five dollar kill fee.
We raise Herefords, and butcher Herefords and their crosses, always utilizing the gene pool that we breed. In this manner we can evaluate where we are at in are breeding program in the carcass and on-feed performance area. For instance, I am feeding a steer sired by a bull I raised, (Tamerlane) out of the cross-bred, Charolais influenced daughter of the herd bull I used last year. This past winter, we butchered a steer sired by that herd bull. We feed usually over 100 days. One area that we have had great success in has been the dressing percentage from hanging to package. Always under 30% loss, and the last two only 24% loss, in spite of the last steer hanging for 16 days as the butcher was so busy.
Our butcher has been very impressed with the steers. In fact, one of the steers by that WBL Chief 20F bull he said had the best marbling he'd ever seen. I can't keep up with the demand from my customers.
