Butchered Meat Prices. What to expect?

[Paranoid]

Meat prices are just skyrocketing out of orbit where I live, because everything is specialty snob stores.

If I were to buy half a goat, quarter of a cow etc, what prices are the norm for bulk meats?

Also is it always just sold in halves in quarters? I'd think the cost of specialty cuts like filet, ny strip, ribeye and the like would increase the total cost of the carcass.

You ever hear of farmers selling bulk chuck steaks or somesuch? I wanna put away about 2 months of meat at a time when I shop. $4+/lb meat is rediculous

[longshadowfarms]

We sell beef for about $2/lb HANGING weight, including cutting, butchering, etc. Ours is a little higher than average because we sell it as beef that has been fed a more healthy diet (no hormones or medications added as normal part of the raising). Ours are also grass/hay fed as opposed to grained a lot. Some people like that flavor, others don't. You'll lose some of that to cutting losses. Not all the bone and/or fat ends up in your freezer. We sell only by halves and quarters, not by the cut. There are a very few around us who do sell by the cut. We didn't get pigs this year so I don't know up to date prices around here. Our website has some details on how the meat breaks down if you go to the beef and pork pages: www.longshadowfarms.com

[Paranoid]

man, if only i lived near you, 2 per all inclusive would make me so happy.

[mpillow]

Not sure where you live....which greatly effects this process but...

In New England, I have known folks to go to the livestock auction right around Christmas....even a week or so after....to stock the freezer quite cheaply....granted you need to have a barn and truck to do this because you'll want to keep mature animals for a holding period to be sure they don't have any nasties in their systems.....some examples I have seen here in Maine....full grown goats for $25, full grown pig $20, Day old calves $5 (jersey) and $50 (Holstein).....if you have a truck and a place to house and feed for 30 days...my butcher charges .50 a pound hanging wt for custom butchering, wrapped and blast frozen. Do you know what milk fed veal goes for?

[Quiver0f10]

I just bought a 1/2 cow last week and paid $1.65/# hanging weight. Same butcher sells pigs for $1.45/# hanging weight.

[mink]

i get 1.50 a pound for the carcass, the butcher charges .42 cents a pound plus 10 dollars a half for the cooler....mink

[cindyc]

I just bought from the menonites. I paid $1.97 per pound (ACTUAL PER POUND PRICE THAT YOU WOULD PAY IN THE STORE) for beef (including the cuts that would be astronomical in price at the grocery) and about $2.50 per pound (same as above) for lamb. These were pastured and mostly grass-fed animals. I have purchased pastured chickens from them for $1.50 per pound and am investigating a pig. They want .70/lb lwt for it INCLUDING curing. ($20.00 processing fee). What is yeild on a pig? 50%? Yep, my freezer is pretty much stocked for the year. Now that I have done this, I don't think I'd ever buy from a store again- not exactly organic, but no hormones, no pesticides, no anti-biotics, plenty of exercise, and green KY grass. These are very healthy animals.

[Marilyn in CO]

We have sold certified natural beef for many years and we are now charging $1 @lb. live weight and the butcher gets his $.38 @lb. The reason the beef prices are so high is still the effects of the drought in the Western states. The pastures dried up and many ranchers were forced to sell their herds many of stock that was developed over the generations....was/is quite sad. Some are just now starting to build their herds again and we will most likely be looking at high beef prices for several more years. Right now a 500# calf is bringing around $700, and there is no way the producer can even break even on that "out of sight" price.

[mightybooboo]

Prices for what is described sure sounds reasonable to me.Wish I could take advantage of same. :1pig:

BooBoo

[edcopp]

Originally Posted by Paranoid

man, if only i lived near you, 2 per all inclusive would make me so happy.

Does anybody know where you live? My chrystal ball is in the shop.

[WindowOrMirror]

I just bought a whole beef...

$1.42 a lb hanging weight
$0.35 a lb for processing
- - - - - - - -

Hanging weight was 780lbs = $1,380

Now... hanging weight converted (for us)... on a 20 day hang... to just under 500 lbs of ground beef, soup bones, stew meat, steaks, roasts, canning meat, etc... that is, "human consumed" meat. We had it butchered at a place that is VERY picky about quality and getting lean cuts.

We also got all the soup bones, large bones (for the dog) and the organs.

so... if you count only what you could buy in the store... it's around 500 lbs for $1,380, or $2,76 a lb... about what ground beef costs us here in WI. Of course, that's ALL the cuts at what ground beef runs ya...

R

[mightybooboo]

Originally Posted by Red Devil

I just bought a whole beef...

$1.42 a lb hanging weight
$0.35 a lb for processing
- - - - - - - -

Hanging weight was 780lbs = $1,380

Now... hanging weight converted (for us)... on a 20 day hang... to just under 500 lbs of ground beef, soup bones, stew meat, steaks, roasts, canning meat, etc... that is, "human consumed" meat. We had it butchered at a place that is VERY picky about quality and getting lean cuts.

We also got all the soup bones, large bones (for the dog) and the organs.

so... if you count only what you could buy in the store... it's around 500 lbs for $1,380, or $2,76 a lb... about what ground beef costs us here in WI. Of course, that's ALL the cuts at what ground beef runs ya...

R

Sure sounds good.

BooBoo

[WindowOrMirror]

... just had chili tonight!

Tomorrow I trim out several tenderloins and wrap them in thick bacon... mmm dinner tomorrow is gonna be so great!!

R

[kesoaps]

I just got a call from the butcher saying our two lambs were ready. They were both $85...one gave 49 lbs, the other just 18!

Not sure why the difference in price. The larger lamb was 6 months older and I would have thought he'd have been more expensive. Guess I'll have to ask tomorrow when I go pick them up!

[Jennifer L.]

I get mine from my neighbor for $1.10 or so. Haven't gotten it yet this year and he may have upped it some. He may be higher for other people, but I doubt it's over 1.25. This is for hanging weight. The processor charges something in the neighborhood of .30 per pound, and there is a butcher fee of $15 or so.

I get a front quarter and a friend with family takes the other three quarters.

Jennifer

[Charleen]

We charged our pork buyers $1 per # hanging weight plus they had to pay any butchering, smoking & slaughtering costs. I think it worked out to a total of about $1.55 per #. I think we'll be raising our price next year.

[michiganfarmer]

Originally Posted by mpillow

Not sure where you live....which greatly effects this process but...

In New England, I have known folks to go to the livestock auction right around Christmas....even a week or so after....to stock the freezer quite cheaply....granted you need to have a barn and truck to do this because you'll want to keep mature animals for a holding period to be sure they don't have any nasties in their systems.....some examples I have seen here in Maine....full grown goats for $25, full grown pig $20, Day old calves $5 (jersey) and $50 (Holstein).....if you have a truck and a place to house and feed for 30 days...my butcher charges .50 a pound hanging wt for custom butchering, wrapped and blast frozen. Do you know what milk fed veal goes for?

Be careful about cheap pigs. some of them may be 10 or 15 year old breading boars wich will taste very strong. Ive heard some people say thay arent edible because they have such a strong taste from all the testosterone. Ive heard that while being cooked they can smell just like urin

Originally Posted by michiganfarmer

Be careful about cheap pigs. some of them may be 10 or 15 year old breading boars wich will taste very strong. Ive heard some people say thay arent edible because they have such a strong taste from all the testosterone. Ive heard that while being cooked they can smell just like urin

We have a pig sale barn nearby and there are a lot of overgrown sow's and boars purchased by the sausage makers. Sometimes a 500-600 pound pig will only sell for 5 cents a pound. So the next time you go into a grocery store and see all those neat sausage rolls with names such as Jimmy Dean, Ranchhouse, Potter, or whatever the name brand is in your area, this is where your sausage meat comes from. Over grown old pigs.

[dseng]

I don't want to derail this thread, but am curious about how much space, cubic foot-wise, a quarter, half or whole beef (approx 125, 250, or 500lbs respectively) will take up in a freezer. We're considering buying a used freezer for storage and don't want to get something too small.

Thanks,
Dave

I don't have the largest chest freezer on the market, mine only measure about 2' wide by 4' long. I usually buy half a beef around in March when my income tax comes in and I can just barely get all the half beef in the freezer. Usually by March most of my garden vegetables are just about all ate up, leaving me more room for meat storage. I do have another chest freezer out in the storage building that I only use when I do have an overflow. Mostly use it to store fish bait and deer hides (waiting to be tanned).