Beef pricing question

[PrettyPaisley]

Well Brisket and Chuck Roast made the ultimate sacrifice for us today. It's been a long, emotionally charged day around here.

I learned *SO* much from the man who's been cutting meat and processing around here for 41 years. He spent so much time with me, walking me through the cut sheet and even taking me back to see where the animals hang and the room where they are cut. He even took me back to see my animals hanging and showed me the fat that (wasn't) available and showed me how the pieces would be cut and from where. It was awesome and I feel so fortunate to have had that time with him. Bless his heart, he's 77 years old and is clearly the heart of that place!

So here's the question. Now that I know what the hanging weight is and the options I have for cuts, how do I price it? Keeping in mind this is not for business; no farm name ... just me offering cuts to friends and family.

I had one person show interest in a quote "on the hoof" which I knew I could not do. I had no idea much meat there would be and really, who quotes a price for stuff you can't eat? (I'm sure there is a reason ... I just don't know it.) I wasn't sure that I knew how to price it without being too high and turning him off or too long and losing my shirt !

Anyhow ... so I have a friend who's interested in a 1/4 of the cow. She and her DH have come out and seen the place several times and are very supportive of what we're doing and currently looking for their own place. So I want to be fair but I also want to cover my processing costs.

In the past I've paid close to $5lb hanging weight for the beef but if one of my steers weighed 400lb - that's darn near $500 for 1/4 of him ! Hardly seems right to me - but before we moved out here and had two kids, I had a LOT more money.

BUT-if I offer the cow as a 1/4 I don't really have 3 others who want to purchase the other quarters as a quarter ... so I don't want to CUT it in 1/4th. Reason is - it seems that if I do I lose out on the whole filet and standing rib roasts ... and if I end up keeping the majority of the meat then I WANT those pieces !!! LOL I reckon I should dust of my selling skills and get the rest of that bad boy sold, huh?

Anyhow - what would be a fair price per pound if I sell it as 1/4 and include all the good steak cuts ... filet and ribeyes included?

[gone-a-milkin]

Here is the thing: you get to divide the 'quarter' however you want.
You don't have to pick a front or hind, left or right quarter for them.
They get 25% of the meat is all it means.
They could get 25% of the ground meat, 25% of the steaks, roasts, etc.
OR, maybe they only like certain cuts?

Prices will be according to this information.
You can either lay it out for them how YOU want to, or leave it to them to decide.
Beef is very high so don't sell yourself short.

How did your hanging weights come out?
If these are very lean animals, be sure to tell your customers that.
Use it to your advantage even and get extra lean price for your burger.

Good luck.

[PrettyPaisley]

Well one was 424 and the other was 396. Just about what we estimated - kinda proud on that. (Not the weight but the accurate estimation!)

When he took me back to see them hanging I could tell that they looked different from the others; he did say that there would be no extra fat for tallow but then he pointed to some others who had this awful, thick yellow fat that he called "mud fat". He said that wasn't idea, either.

I also asked him if he could hang it to make the meat more tender since it was was not grain finished and that was the only thing he was not agreeable on. He sais, "No-you do that before you bring it here." I made note of that with a quick, "yes sir".

I've been looking to replace them with a couple of small beef calves so Ms Moo will have pasture mates and I can do this again soon ... and yeah - beef is insanely priced! I find myself driving past pastures and quickly adding up the $$$ on there on the hoof ! Wish I had more land .... sometimes. The neighbor next door has been telling us to cut back on the goats and get more cows. Now I know why !

[MO_cows]

Yes, what GAM said. They should get 1/4 of the total beef, from all over the animal. They will even cut the brisket into 4 pieces.

You don't have to feel guilty about making a profit! You aren't running a charity are you, where your costs to have the land and your time and so forth are just a donation so your friends can have home grown meat, cheap? The feed a friend foundation, is that it?

Look at what your costs were, what similar product sells for at retail, and hopefully you can cover your costs and still give them a discount over what they could buy it for otherwise while making a profit.

[Molly Mckee]

If the meat is not inspected, be sure your state allows you to sell packaged cuts of meat. Ours does not. Here you sell the steer on the farm and the new "owner" or owners send him to the butcher. We sold beef at the market price, the day it went to the butcher.

[Wendy]

We buy beef by the side or whole. We pay the guy (in this case my brother) the market price for live weight. We then have him haul it to the butcher where we say what we want & how we want it cut. Then we pay the butchering fee. It ends up being around $3.00 per pound this way.

[Waterwheel Farm]

PP,
I have sold quite a few head of cattle to individuals using the "on the hoof" method. My logic was that I can take them to the stockyard, unload them, and get a check. No fuss, no muss. Or, I can take them to the slaughterhouse, mess with people who only want a quarter, gives the names of these people to the butcher, listen to complaints if the meat is less that tender, etc, etc. Lot's more involvement by me. So, I would get on line, look at the most recent sales and get an average price and use the upper prices that cattle are going for. Like your's, mine are grass fed with little fat and lean meat right now brings a premium price. You can roughly figure that hanging weight will be around 60% of the live weight (give or take) on a 1000 pound animal. The smaller the animal, the percentage of actual meat goes way down because when they get bigger the bones don't grow much more, but the body mass increases. So on a smaller animal a lot of the weight is in unusable parts, bone, etc. All that being said, hopefully the butcher took a live weight or you can make a close estimate, find out what they are selling for at the stockyard per pound, add in the processing cost, add in a little for your time and fuel, you can come up with a reasonable estimate of what the meat is worth. When I was selling them to people before the prices went way up, it was costing them about $3.00 a pound average for all cuts out the door. What I've been seeing at the sales are prices 40-50% higher, so asking $4-$5 a pound out the door is very reasonable right now. Just my two cents worth.

[mistletoad]

Originally Posted by PrettyPaisley

So here's the question. Now that I know what the hanging weight is and the options I have for cuts, how do I price it? Keeping in mind this is not for business; no farm name ... just me offering cuts to friends and family.

If money changes hands it s business.

Originally Posted by PrettyPaisley

I had one person show interest in a quote "on the hoof" which I knew I could not do. I had no idea much meat there would be and really, who quotes a price for stuff you can't eat? (I'm sure there is a reason ... I just don't know it.)

The reason is legality. If your processor is not inspected (USDA or State) then you cannot legally sell the cuts and they will be stamped "not for resale" or whatever wording your state requires.

[PrettyPaisley]

Originally Posted by Waterwheel Farm

PP,
I have sold quite a few head of cattle to individuals using the "on the hoof" method. My logic was that I can take them to the stockyard, unload them, and get a check. No fuss, no muss. Or, I can take them to the slaughterhouse, mess with people who only want a quarter, gives the names of these people to the butcher, listen to complaints if the meat is less that tender, etc, etc. Lot's more involvement by me. So, I would get on line, look at the most recent sales and get an average price and use the upper prices that cattle are going for. Like your's, mine are grass fed with little fat and lean meat right now brings a premium price. You can roughly figure that hanging weight will be around 60% of the live weight (give or take) on a 1000 pound animal. The smaller the animal, the percentage of actual meat goes way down because when they get bigger the bones don't grow much more, but the body mass increases. So on a smaller animal a lot of the weight is in unusable parts, bone, etc. All that being said, hopefully the butcher took a live weight or you can make a close estimate, find out what they are selling for at the stockyard per pound, add in the processing cost, add in a little for your time and fuel, you can come up with a reasonable estimate of what the meat is worth. When I was selling them to people before the prices went way up, it was costing them about $3.00 a pound average for all cuts out the door. What I've been seeing at the sales are prices 40-50% higher, so asking $4-$5 a pound out the door is very reasonable right now. Just my two cents worth.

Thank you for breaking that down for me. Just what I needed!

[haypoint]

Sure, it is illegal, but it is among friends and family, so doubtful anyone is going to snitch her out.
You can't figure in everything that it cost you, add in some money for your time and set your price based on that. That is how General Motors works. Farmers don't set the price. Generally in farming, the buyers set the price. Even in a Farmers Market, if you are selling green beans for $1.00 a pound and the next guy is selling for 75 cents, the buyers set the price by avoiding yours.

Many butcher shops offer a whole beef, cut and wrapped for a price per pound. Some also offer "package deals" where you buy a quarter of a beef for a set price per pound. See what they charge and price based on that.

But, IMHO, the tough part is the significant difference between everything that has passed through that butcher shop this month and your "unique" fat-less beef. You and your family are expecting tasty, healthy, tender beef and that should command a good price and be greatly sought after. That would be worth more than that stuff in the grocery stores.
However, if the lack of marbling and "wild" taste that most people are not used to, makes the dining experience a "tried it, tasted it, didn't like it, won't do that again". then charging the same or more for what they might better enjoy from the store could strain friendships.

Ask your friendly butcher if he thinks it will be tough or taste different. He is your on site expert. He can tell just by cutting it and looking at the steaks if it is going to be tender and not taste gamy.

That is a lot to turn into jerky, but people pay dearly for seasoned, smoked, dried, lean beef strips.

[PrettyPaisley]

Everyone who is interested knows that it's grass-fed and none are expecting a Iowa CAFO experience at dinner. Of course my mom just wants ground beef because she doesn't like wild and grainy but I think she's buying 50# at "fair market value" (as she says) for a reason to give me money I wouldn't otherwise accept. She knows it will go back into goat feed - she's my enabler. Bless her heart - it will take her the rest of her life to eat 50# of ground beef. Most likely she will end up giving it to my sister - the Paleo nut - who will eat it in a month. And yeah - I'm not processing them in the bathtub. The processing plant that is doing it seems to have inspectors on sight. They weren't even allowed to dispatch them until the processor looked at them live. And the meat was stamped all over with the official inspection sticker. Regardless - I've got bigger issues to deal with if I think my BFF is going to call the police because I didn't beg permission from state to sell my own cow. But thanks for all the concern.

[Becka03]

I just ordered a half of beef - in Pa- where the drought effects have not been quite realized yet- ours is 2.25 a lb hanging weight... add in processing cost - which I didn't know what they were until today- it equals out to just under 3.00 a lb...

[Becka03]

I have heard of it going for way more than 3.00 a lb though- that is for sure

[wwubben]

You need to talk to your butcher one more time.Here in Iowa I raise highlander grass fed beef.I deliver the critter to the locker plant.My customers pay for the slaughter and their own processing.They pay 1/4 if they buy a quarter,1/2 if they buy a half etc for the slaughter charges.I base my price on the live weight market value.They used to sell front quarters and back quarters but now the butcher gives the same cuts to each customer and everyone pays the same price.The butcher will tell you how nhe divides the meat into quarters.You can also ask him what people are charging for the meat also.He sounds like a really good person to deal with.Peop-le need to realize that they pay for hanging meat and the bones and some waste comes off of that.They will not get the pounds of meat that was paid for on the hanging carcass.

[mmoetc]

My only concern for you is selling meat before you know exactly what you're getting back for yourself. I'd advise you to see what you actually get back, set aside a bit more than you think you'll need and then let others know what is available. You might want that 50# of ground beef.

[haypoint]

Neither of us like sarcasm. I've tried to be open and non-judgmental.

Having a USDA livestock inspector on site, sounds like you are at a USDA inspected facility. That is a good thing. Insures healthy sanitation practices are in place and all the cattle that were slaughtered before yours were healthy.
USDA doesn't care about what the cattle owner does with her own meat. But when it enters the public food chain, quality assurances pop up. It just may be that the place is USDA inspected and you can legally sell to anyone, I think.

But is was a nasty remark to call a sanitation/health inspection " government permission to sell your own cow".

I don't know if grass raised beef is new to you or not. I look forward to hearing how you enjoy the home raised, grass fed lean beef.

[haypoint]

A couple years back, I had a 2300 pound organically raised, grass fed Angus bull to sell. Was too big for my heifers and related to them anyway. Thought about having it all made into hamburger. But I had no way to market 900 pounds of ground beef. 90 people to buy 10 pounds or 10 people to buy 90 pounds, just wasn't going to happen. Sold at auction for $1.00 live weight ($2300). At $3.00 a pound, I'd break even.

[cshire]

We just recently had our first jersey bull processed.
We are in MI and as long as the processor is USDA inspected we can sell the meat by the cut. We can drive 45 minutes to an uninspected processor or 1.25 hours to an inspected processor. We chose the inpsected processor so we could sell a portion of the beef - only 2 of us at home now and we don't need a whole beef all at once.

Hanging weight was in the 750 lb range.

A guy I work with bought a half from us and split his half with with his extended family. The processor separated and labled the halves. He got the same cuts, steaks, roasts etc. as we did. We charged $3.00/lb for the meat and he paid $0.49/lb for cutting and packaging and 50% of the $45 kill fee to the processor. His total was a bit over $3.50/lb based on hanging weight.

We split our half with another guy. He got 25% of the meat but not a front or rear quarter. We went through the cuts together and split them evenly - he got half the ground, half the roasts, etc. We processed before we had our arrangment with him worked out so there were some trade offs. There is only one brisket in a half beef and we only had one standing rib roast cut from our half. We kept these premium cuts and adjusted his price down accordingly. He paid the same $3.00/lb to us and paid us $0.49/lb for his portion of the cutting and packaging = $3.49/lb based on hanging weight. We did not charge him a portion of the kill fee and just absorbed that small cost.

All parties were happy with the beef and cuts they received and the price they paid.

This bull was fed out on pasture, hay, and spent brewers grain. He showed nice marbling and has had no off or gamey tast in any of the meat we have eaten so far.

We have sold pork by the cut in the past and price the various cuts according to their value - pork chops and tenderloin are more expensive than hocks and shoulder roasts. We try to price in line with the nicer, upscale grocery stores in the area. Not as low as Walmart or as high as the high end palces like Whole Foods. If we were to sell beef by the cut we would price the same way - steaks cost more than burger.

[Harry Chickpea]

I would be the last person to ask on the proper pricing of meat - I just don't have even a hundredth of the knowledge of many folks here. What I do know from having my own business is that you NEVER sell product or services at less than market price plus whatever premium your specialty deserves. If you don't obey that rule, you will sell yourself into bankruptcy and STILL have people clamoring "I know you can do --- for a really good price, can you --- just this once?" If people respect you, they will pay the fair price. If you want to supply them with competitive pricing to show where you get your figures, you can, but it isn't needed.

Bravo on your work and self-education.

[TripleD]

Just wondering what the processor charged???