What to charge friends for fall beef?

[Utah]

OK, stupid question here:

What would be a fair price to charge some friends for the final product - wrapped and boxed? I also want to be fair to myself.

These will be black baldies and a horned angus cross to whatever the mother was. They have put on size like I cannot believe!! And, I will grain them on corn for about 90 days plus or minus.

Friends are asking how much loin, roasts, hamburger, etc. will be in the total? Any estimates if they slaughter at about 1000 pounds?

One final, how do you estimate the weights as a newbie without a scale? I would swear that these I have had put on about 4 to 5 pounds per day for about th efirst 6 weeks. Is that really possible on crappy but tall green salt grass?

Thanks for any and all replies! - Utah...

 

[Chuck]

Horned Angus? I would sell them the animal live and let them pay the locker bill. Use the scale at the locker plant or the grain elevator, fert. plant, etc. to determine weight when you sell them. Maybe some of the folks on here that sell beef off the farm regularly can help you with determining a fair price. You have to make enough over selling them into the regular market to make it worth the extra time and work. Good Luck.

 

[farmer rich]

Me, if it was for friends I would charge them what it cost me to produce the animal plus slaughter and cutting charges.

 

[Utah]

"a horned angus cross to whatever the mother was. "

Sorry, I should have typed that the steer I have has horns but the father was an angus - dont know what the mother is.

 

[JMHayes]

I don't want to sound mean, but if your in it for the money the price shouldn't change, whether it is a best friend or John Doe. I have a friend that is an electrician and plumber that whenever I need work done he doesn't cut me any slack, so why should I give him a discount on my beef?

 

[Bama]

4 or 5 pounds a day is a lot, even on grain. It could happen but it is a lot. One quick and dirty way to guess weight is to have a point to guess against. On a wall or post put some marks that you can get a idea of height. When you have one with a known weight notice where it comes to on the marks. Now notice how long it is and how much it is filled out. How heavy and deep the chest is and how wide it is. Now check out the hindquarters. Make a mental note of this and compare the others to this mental note. One of the best ways to guess weights is to go to a salebarn and start guessing the weights. Then look at the weight shown. Sooner or later you will get pretty good at it.

 

[Caustic Burno]

"a horned angus cross to whatever the mother was. "

Sorry, I should have typed that the steer I have has horns but the father was an angus - dont know what the mother is.

You charge the same, but my real question is how did you end up with a horned steer out of a Polled Angus Bull. They only way for that steer to have horns is that Angus was carring a horn gene thus not a pure Angus.

 

[ctlbaron]

Live weight, market price per lb. They pay haul bill and processing bill. I don't think we can do that here. You can sell beef on the hoof but not processed.

 

[Utah]

I never did see the bull close up. I guess he is a cross too. Yep, I got cow mutts that seem to be growing faster than I expected.

The 4 to 5 pounds per day I mentioned was going by what the experienced seller was guessing on their weights. I am comparing this to what I have asked others who have seen them recently, again people with experience.

I just wondered if weanlings that were kept in a pen for a while became stunted by not being fed as much? And when they get on pasture, do they gain back what they would have durign that time? I think I came out way ahead for what I paid.

And this is why I posted the question in the first place. By no means am I in it for the money - that is laughable!! I have spent so much time and money on things for which I can never be repaid, like fence, the feeders, the waterers, the sprinklers, the dirt I hauled in, the trailer, etc, etc, etc. Ugh!

The only way I justified this expensive hobby was good-tasting, clean beef and a decent real estate investment.

I guess my costs are lower than I expected - for the actual steers plus vaccine, hauling, corn, hay, and expected kill and packaging fee but not factoring in anything else.

Maybe I should just charge them a market price with a significant discount plus the kill & processing fee per side and call it good. I am sure they will still expect a better deal than that.

 

[polledbull]

OK, stupid question here:

What would be a fair price to charge some friends for the final product - wrapped and boxed? I also want to be fair to myself.

These will be black baldies and a horned angus cross to whatever the mother was. They have put on size like I cannot believe!! And, I will grain them on corn for about 90 days plus or minus.

Friends are asking how much loin, roasts, hamburger, etc. will be in the total? Any estimates if they slaughter at about 1000 pounds?

One final, how do you estimate the weights as a newbie without a scale? I would swear that these I have had put on about 4 to 5 pounds per day for about th efirst 6 weeks. Is that really possible on crappy but tall green salt grass?

Thanks for any and all replies! - Utah...

We just had one done . I charged $2.50 lb for the dressed weight. I paid the packer and delivered the cow to the slaughter house. It was vacum packed . It was the first one we had did in a long time and I was not sure what to charge either . My neighboor was charging $2.00 lb and delivering the cow, the customer paid the slaughter bill.

 

[milkmaid]

I just wondered if weanlings that were kept in a pen for a while became stunted by not being fed as much? And when they get on pasture, do they gain back what they would have durign that time? I think I came out way ahead for what I paid.

I've wondered about that before. Seen some calves that had been shorted put on an amazing amount of height and weight after actually being FED.

Someone in another thread guessed a 1,000lb steer would yield around 500lbs of meat, maybe a little less.

 

[farmer rich]

I just wondered if weanlings that were kept in a pen for a while became stunted by not being fed as much? And when they get on pasture, do they gain back what they would have durign that time? I think I came out way ahead for what I paid.

This is called comensatory growth and is widely exploited in grazing systems in the UK. Cattle fed at a low plane of nutrition for a period of time will have increased feed intake and better feed convertion ratios when they are fed at a higher nutritional plane. So much so that they will catch up and even surpass cattle that have been fed for higher rates of gain. This is most often seen in cattle that have been fed short over the winter feeding period and then turned out onto higher quality grazing in the spring. This can save a significant amount of money on purchased or conserved feed, which is the biggest single expense you will have.

 

[Running Arrow Bill]

The objective is to sell the animal, live or processed, and make a profit. Only way you know for sure is to weigh the animal on a certified scale (live weight) and then weigh the hanging carcass. Unless you have the animal processed at a USDA Certified processor, you probably can't legally sell the beef by the pound, packaged.

Figure your costs: Acquisition cost + TOTAL care costs to point of processing + transport & processing cost / processed pounds of meat = your cost per pound. Then, add a profit percentage.

You could estimate the processed costs per pound and then give buyer revised cost after processing.

Probably the safest and quickest way is to sell the animal based on live weight at processing time for $X.XX per pound. At bare minimum, figure the sale barn prices for that weight of animal and then add another .50 to $1.00 per pound for your trouble & profit.

 

[Dre]

Live weight, market price per lb. They pay haul bill and processing bill. I don't think we can do that here. You can sell beef on the hoof but not processed.

Is there a web site that gives the daily active beef prices for Fla or is it a regional pricing? Thanks

 

[rwtherefords]

you get so much per pound for the hanging carcass.

the slaughter house charges by the carcass weight for processing.

the person pays you for the carcass and they pay the processor for the slaughter and processing.

hanging weights on a thousand pound animal can be any where from 60 to 72 percent of the live weight. it depends on the animal.

I've sold beef for years the way Guest25 just stated. A person purchasing half a beef from me pay me $2.00 per pound hanging weight. They pay 1/2 the kill fee, and processing for their half to the processing plant. I call the processing plant after I've been paid to release the half for pickup, and the customer settles up with the processing plant at pickup time. This way customers can order any special cuts, boning, patties, etc. any way they want, and not effect my profit. All the extra handling costs additional, you know.

 

[Susie David]

We charge our family the same as we do our regular customers $2.00/lb on the rail or $1.25 on the hoof. We sell live animals and arrange shares between customers that want halves or quarters. We broker the slaughter and cut & wrap for our customers which is a customer's expense...our slaughter guy is our butcher so he transports the carcasses to his locker for hanging and procerssing. For the folks that buy quarters we have the butcher divide the front and rear quarters at cutting...good selling point that insures that both buyers get equil anount of the different cuts from each end of the steer.
We've found that our customers really don't want more than 125 pounds of beef at a time but don't mind buying every few months...just an observation so we don't let them get much over 1100-1200# but have had hanging weights of 780# (big o'l Angus 2 year old)
I would ask around and check the local papers to see what the market is in your area.

 

[Utah]

Thanks for all the replies, they have helped a lot!

 

[memanpa]

i run a small feed lot here in AZ sell custom fed beef by the 1/4, 1/2 or whole. on grain 120 to 180 days prior to slaughter.
i base my price on the carcas weight (hanging) and get $3.00 per pound, slaughtered cut wrapped and frozen. and delivered to the customers door, all cuts are specified by the purchaser prior to being slaughtered. the bulk of my meat grades on the high side of select some at prime, but i would rather grade select. (less fat but still good marbling)
my processing is done by a licensed and inspected butcher therfor 100% legal. he charges me $45.00 to slaughter and dispose of waste. $.49 to cut wrap and freeze.
i deliver the animal on the hoof to him.
as a general rule of thumb i figure a 40% loss of weight from hoof to hanging weight but that can vary with the breed and structure of the animal being slaughtered.
what i do must work because i average 3-4 per month going out the door and have a lot of repeat customers and allmost all of my advertizing is word of mouth.up until the first of the yr i was getting $2.75 per pound but fuel costs, cattle replacement costs forced me to raise my price!!
i only sell quality stock for slaughter, no old range cattle, average age 18 moths to 2 yrs old, do not give steroids or growth enhancment feed and try to stay as natural as i can having to buy feed and not knowing what it might have in it so i cannot specify "all natural" what i can say is that all my cattle are on the Quality Assurance Program as far as feeding goes..
i do not cut the price for family friends or anyone as i am not in the business to give away money!
good luck

 

[Rookie]

OK, stupid question here:

What would be a fair price to charge some friends for the final product - wrapped and boxed?

The short answer be - as much as ya can be gettin unless ya be really generous and be havin time and money on ya hands ta raise beef for friends and relatives at your expense.

george

 

[Utah]

on grain 120 to 180 days prior to slaughter.

i base my price on the carcas weight (hanging) and get $3.00 per pound, slaughtered cut wrapped and frozen. and delivered to the customers door, all cuts are specified by the purchaser prior to being slaughtered. the bulk of my meat grades on the high side of select some at prime, but i would rather grade select. (less fat but still good marbling)

my processing is done by a licensed and inspected butcher therfor 100% legal. he charges me $45.00 to slaughter and dispose of waste. $.49 to cut wrap and freeze.
i deliver the animal on the hoof to him.

Thanks! - Are you saying you pay the slaughter fee and the cut and wrap - then charge the $3.00 per pound on the hanging weight?

If so, that would be about 600 lbs hanging weight from a 1000 pound steer, plus or minus. Then your reimbursement would equal $1800 - is this right?


I'd like to continue the conversation if you dont mind...

Per steer, how many pounds of corn and roughage would you feed per steer over that 4 to 6 months period of grain? That seems long to me but is this what works best for your customers' tastes?

Additionally, what percent of total wrapped weight are the different cuts such as loins, roasts, flanks, ribs, burger, etc?

Sorry for all the questions, but your post was very helpful and I thought I might ask more. Thanks!