where's the profit??

[woodspirit]

Ok you buy a bull or steer. $$$$
you pay for feed and medical $$$$
you pay to have it butchered $$$$
This isn't including housing, fencing, labor, etc
How much does it cost to have an animal butchered?
Is it by the pound?
How do you know that the butcher is charging you for the correct weight?

 

[showme]

Ok you buy a bull or steer. $$$$
you pay for feed and medical $$$$
you pay to have it butchered $$$$
This isn't including housing, fencing, labor, etc
How much does it cost to have an animal butchered?
Is it by the pound?
How do you know that the butcher is charging you for the correct weight?

Must be pretty new :lol: . Lets see hit the jackpot shows that pay out a good lick of money. If you win Houston your steer will sell for about $100,000. If you rasie it that cuts out alot of money. To get ahold of a steer that will win alot of show you got to pay $5,000-$10,000. That's why you rasie them if they win shows you get payed instead of breaking even or loose alot of money. You weight the steer every week you should know about how much the live weight is. That's why I like Reg. better; if you pay $10,000 for a steer you mite not get it back. Reg. you can show them then let them raise you some calves that will make your money back for sure.

 

[msscamp]

If memory serves, it's about 2.10/pound for butchering here. As far as the correct weight for butchering goes, I would say that most, if not all, butchers are honest otherwise they aren't going to be in business too long. You could have the animal weighed before hand and then do a little research about how much is bone, viscera, etc.

 

[Matt Schiel]

SC,

You totally missed the question! Re-read the question and start over again. He is not worried about showing steers, just trying to see if it is worth feeding out a steer for his family.


Woodspirit,

At the end of the day it will usually be cheaper for you to raise a good growthy calf and have it butchered. You got to think about the price for a steak at the grocery store. The intial capital layout for a shed, fence, etc. will cost, but if you do it long enough it will pay off.


Matt

 

[jersey lilly]

good Grief ?!?!?! $2.10 a lb to butcher? It's only 1.25 lb here.

Also even if it was break even, and you get to put your own steer in the freezer. The taste difference in what you raise and the stuff ya buy at the grocery store will make it all worth while.

 

[milkmaid]

Also even if it was break even, and you get to put your own steer in the freezer. The taste difference in what you raise and the stuff ya buy at the grocery store will make it all worth while.

And...an added bonus, you know what he's been given (drugs, vacc, etc) and what he's been eating.

$35 kill charge + $0.37/lb carcass weight + $5 waste disposal here...that's average from my local butchers.

 

[msscamp]

If memory serves, it's about 2.10/pound for butchering here. As far as the correct weight for butchering goes, I would say that most, if not all, butchers are honest otherwise they aren't going to be in business too long. You could have the animal weighed before hand and then do a little research about how much is bone, viscera, etc.

My memory fails me yet again! $35.00 kill/skin fee, so much to cut and wrap except they are closed and no one seems to remember what that charge is. Sorry. I'll call and find out Monday. Getting old is the pits!

 

[Rookie]

Well woodspririt, for me it dont so much be the savin of money for what I raise my own. I maybe dont be savin a whole lot. But I be knowin where my meat be commin from, it aint had no dopin goin on, pretty much be all natural, most times it be way better that what be bought in the stores around here.

george

 

[RichieMaGoo]

In my neck of the woods:

Buy baby bottle calf: $125.00
Milk replacer till weaned: $30.00
17 months of grain: $144.00
Meds and vaccines: $0.00*
Butcher 1,000 lb. steer $125.00
_____________________________
Total $355.00

I didn't include hay- since I get mine for free. Add a few dollars for hay.

*I don't vaccinate. The only people in my area whose cows have gotten black leg, are the ones who vaccinate for it! [Can I get a Sam Kinison "OHHHHhh!!!" ?]

Well there you have it- even adding a few dollars for hay- you're getting 500 pounds of healthy, disease-free delicious beef for about .75 cents a pound!

Labor? Even if you had to pay someone to do it, we're talking five minutes a day to throw the cow some grain and water and hay. The ammount of time it takes to tend that cow is less than the ammount of time it takes to go shopping at the supermarket...or even to drive to the supermarket.

Even if your costs are DOUBLE that- where can you get good, lean beef for $1.50 a pound?- plus scraps for the bow-wows? (Don't forget them!)

Oh...and then you can sell the cows hide...or tan it and make something out of it.....

And lets not forget the nitrogen in his pee-pee, and other goodies in his poo-poo that he fertilized your garden with!

If you think in terms of money, in this artificially controlled economy, where the middleman makes more than the producer, agriculture is not well-paying. If you think in terms of product and benefit, agriculture is a goldmine!

I hear that pigs are an even better deal for raising meat (I wouldn't know- I don't eat pork)- Ditto goats and sheep (I'm gonna try them!)

 

[RichieMaGoo]

Ooopppsss! My head isn't working tonight- that total should have been $424. Still well under $1 a pound.

 

[msscamp]

Ooopppsss! My head isn't working tonight- that total should have been $424. Still well under $1 a pound.

Well, at least I'm not the only one! :lol:

 

[showme]

SC,

You totally missed the question! Re-read the question and start over again. He is not worried about showing steers, just trying to see if it is worth feeding out a steer for his family.


Woodspirit,

At the end of the day it will usually be cheaper for you to raise a good growthy calf and have it butchered. You got to think about the price for a steak at the grocery store. The intial capital layout for a shed, fence, etc. will cost, but if you do it long enough it will pay off.


Matt

I was stating how you could make your money back in the show ring.

 

[RichieMaGoo]

Ooopppsss! My head isn't working tonight- that total should have been $424. Still well under $1 a pound.

Well, at least I'm not the only one! :lol:

LOL! I wonder if anybody would've noticed my faulty math if I had kept my mouth shut?!

 

[msscamp]

Ooopppsss! My head isn't working tonight- that total should have been $424. Still well under $1 a pound.

Well, at least I'm not the only one! :lol:

LOL! I wonder if anybody would've noticed my faulty math if I had kept my mouth shut?!

Yep, someone would have. Trust me on this! One has to get up awfully early to slip anything past a lot of the people on this board! ;-)

 

[Tod Dague]

Local packer is $35 kill fee and $0.32/lb. butcher and paper wrapped. The meat is pretty messy when you get it though. The one we use now is a pretty good drive but close to the feed yard that we are now using. They are $25 kill fee and $0.52/lb butcher and vacuum packed. They produce a beautiful product. Quality pays.

 

[Farminlund]

We use a slaughter house run by a Mennonite family. The kill charge is $35/hd, while butchering & packing is .39/lb for vacuum pack (based on hanging weight). Quality is excellent. Have never had an issue in 20+ yrs. We keep the the carcass out of the cooler as long as possible to insure maximum tenderness (post slaughter). Hang time is a function of fat thickness, in most cases approximately 2-3 weeks.

 

[woodspirit]

Yes I'm gonna start this spring. I think I have many questions but I do appreciate the help from everyone. While I could go for inexpensive crossbred animals, which are great, I was thinking of spending the xtra up front for purebred, for many reasons. Right now we buy half a steer and I'd like to have the animal eat my grass. The flavor can't be beat. I think its good for the kids with life lessons.
I was thinking that debating a guy who calls himself a butcher and is really good with knives wouldn't be the best idea ya know?

 

[Susie David]

Looks like we have some regional differences in slaughtering costs but all in all not all that bad.
We pay $45.00 for the slaughter (went up cause of gas prices)
35 cents/lb for the cut and wrap (hanging weight)...slaughter on the farm.
Alfalfa is $105/ton delivered...cracked corn is 7 cents/lb have to drive to the silo...25 miles..a long bed pick up will hold 2800 lbs and a son-in-law can unload it and store it in barrels in under two hours
Dave Mc

 

[shorty]

I pay $50 for killing and 20 cents /lb. for cutting , wrapping and freezing is 20 cents extra.

 

[J. T.]

SC,

You totally missed the question! Re-read the question and start over again. He is not worried about showing steers, just trying to see if it is worth feeding out a steer for his family.


Woodspirit,

At the end of the day it will usually be cheaper for you to raise a good growthy calf and have it butchered. You got to think about the price for a steak at the grocery store. The intial capital layout for a shed, fence, etc. will cost, but if you do it long enough it will pay off.



Matt

I was stating how you could make your money back in the show ring.

SC Farms....get back to earth. The cattle business doesn't revolve around the stupid showring.