What's a fair price to sell farm beef for?

[Alan]

With beef prices up and more request for farm raised, grass fed, beef what is a fair or the average price some of you folks or your friends are selling farm beef for. I thinking $4.25 to $4.50 plus processing fees, that's cut and wrapped.

Thanks

 

[ram]

I'd say $3.00 on the rail. That way you'd be out and they'd make the deal with the butcher on cuts and price.

 

[Kingfisher]

Think $17 lb farm raised Turkey.... $4.50 sounds cheap!

 

[bball]

I have 3 different butchers within 40 minutes so I have to be competitive with them. If I tried to get more than $3.00/lb hanging, I wouldn't sell much. The current butcher prices for a side of beef near me ranges from 3.39-3.59 hanging. That of course includes processing. I'm actually glad they are keeping their prices up as the feeder prices stumble on CME. With corn prices down, and calf prices dropping, more profit margin in selling sides.

Edit to add..at $3.00/lb hanging wt, they pay for their own processing.

 

[Son of Butch]

Choice boxed beef prices from 600-900 lb carcasses is currently $202.60 cwt
Selling by hanging weight at a nickel under choice boxed beef prices is more than you can expect shipping top market steers.
Top market steers are currently selling for 124.25
1400 lbs x 1.2425 = $1740 gross minus $20 hd commission and yardage = $1720
1400 lb at 62.9% = 880 lbs hanging
197.60 x 880 hw = $1738

Even though the butcher has told me I'm the low seller in the local area, I'm more than happy selling at 2.30 lb plus processing
2.30 x 880 = $2,024 or an extra $300 hd net more than when I ship 'em, and I have never been sold out of steers.

 

[Toad]

I got $2.50 for the last ones I did. I know one of the last steers hung at 675lb which would be $1,687.50 Thats the same as getting $1.40 at the sale barn for my 1200lb s1 steer. I'm not going to get rich doing a few a year but its a few bucks more than I had.

 

[Named'em Tamed'em]

Alan, I think we have a different market in our area. We sold 3 beef last year and they all went for $3.95 a lb. on the rail, kill fee ÷by 4 and cut and wrap paid by customers .

We could have sold more.

You should be able to hit that yuppie Portland area nitch. Young up and coming family's love local sorced meat.

My accountant pays $6 and up because it's predator friendly. :hide:

 

[Son of Butch]

My accountant pays $6 and up because it's predator friendly.

Seems he may be buying from a friendly predator.
The question was what is fair, not what will the market bear.

 

[boondocks]

My accountant pays $6 and up because it's predator friendly.

Seems he may be buying from a friendly predator.
The question was what is fair, not what will the market bear.

Some will say that's one and the same question--true capitalism. ;-)

 

[boondocks]

With beef prices up and more request for farm raised, grass fed, beef what is a fair or the average price some of you folks or your friends are selling farm beef for. I thinking $4.25 to $4.50 plus processing fees, that's cut and wrapped.

Thanks

We sold Angus halves and quarters in Sept. for 4.25/lb hanging weight (we paid butcher fees and delivered it for free if relatively nearby; otherwise we added a $50 delivery fee. (One person was a 3hr roundtrip--wouldn't do that again for that price). This was grassfed, natural, no hormones etc. We could have sold more.

Some people around here do it for cheaper, especially if grained (and not Angus, FWIW). But I think some of them are selling to family and friends at cost or even a loss....they are essentially competing against Wal-Mart, which I think is crazy, or at least not for me. I know I can't produce cheaper than Wally World, not about to try.

 

[ram]

Boondocks, I hope you have good liability insurance. The way your doing it is very high risk on the liability aspects. The consumer could leave the meat to spoil and it would be all on you. Or someone could supposedly get food poisoning, then the FDA, and USDA would be all over you. If I was you I'd check with your lawyer on the liability issues, and make sure that your homeowners or some other type of insurance has you covered.

 

[muleskinner]

Our Extension person says that $3.00 hanging is a fair price. I see it advertised any where from $1.75 to 4.50 a lb on hanging weight. To me somewhere between $2.75 and 3.25 is fair and they pay there own processing.

 

[boondocks]

Boondocks, I hope you have good liability insurance. The way your doing it is very high risk on the liability aspects. The consumer could leave the meat to spoil and it would be all on you. Or someone could supposedly get food poisoning, then the FDA, and USDA would be all over you. If I was you I'd check with your lawyer on the liability issues, and make sure that your homeowners or some other type of insurance has you covered.

Ram, they buy a share of the animal before butchering. The butcher picks it up and slaughters. It's frozen when we pick it up and we immediately deliver it (in coolers) still frozen. We help them unload into their deep freeze.
We don't sell retail cuts. And so far, we sell only to people we know (not via CL, for example).. We use only a professional experienced slaughterhouse and we've see their pristine facilities.

 

[Dave]

The ads on CL in Seattle and Portland run between $2.85 to $4.50 a pound on the rail plus the cost of cutting wrapping. Most are between $3.00 and $4.00.

My accountant pays $6 and up because it's predator friendly. :hide:

What the heck is "predator friendly" in your neighborhood? It is not like you are up in Stevens County fighting off wolves and cougars.

 

[WalnutCrest]

<snip>
My accountant pays $6 and up because it's predator friendly. :hide:

Predator friendly?

:???:

 

[Alan]

<snip>
My accountant pays $6 and up because it's predator friendly. :hide:

Predator friendly?

:???:

Likes to hand feed wolves, lions and tigers for their health.

Thanks for all the responses, we sold all we had quickly at $4.25 cut and wrapped plus processing.

 

[Named'em Tamed'em]

The predator friendly beef that my accountant buys comes out of Oregon. The sales pitch is they are Longhorn cross, get to keep their horns that way they can protect themselves. And the rancher doesn't shoot coyotes. Haha

It's just all a joke to suck in the Yuppie people she also supports the spread of wolves.

I really need to watch what I say when I'm around her :roll:

 

[Named'em Tamed'em]

The ads on CL in Seattle and Portland run between $2.85 to $4.50 a pound on the rail plus the cost of cutting wrapping. Most are between $3.00 and $4.00.

My accountant pays $6 and up because it's predator friendly. :hide:

What the heck is "predator friendly" in your neighborhood? It is not like you are up in Stevens County fighting off wolves and cougars.

Not my neighborhood or my beef Dave, she travels to Oregon for a quarter.

 

[SJB]

the way i have it figured (which may be all washed up), is about $3-$5/lb hanging. that puts it in somebodies freezer for average $6-$8/lb. at the grocery store, ground chuck is $3something/lb, and ribeye is $15ish. and lord only knows where it comes from or what it was fed.

if i take care to select good animals, make sure they have good clean water, no unnecessary hormones/medicine, and feed them out with a good quality ration, $6/8lb is pretty fair deal.

and at $3/$5 hanging that puts me making decent money. better than taking to the sale and taking my chances with the market, which is also fair, considering my time and trouble to do the above.

 

[WalnutCrest]

The predator friendly beef that my accountant buys comes out of Oregon. The sales pitch is they are Longhorn cross, get to keep their horns that way they can protect themselves. And the rancher doesn't shoot coyotes. Haha

It's just all a joke to suck in the Yuppie people she also supports the spread of wolves.

I really need to watch what I say when I'm around her :roll:

:!: :clap:

That's some clever marketing right there! HA!