Calves for $1?

[Simpleterrier]

Nice @farmerjan me and a few guys have been talking lately about what u just wrote. Right now the butcher shops around here sell steaks for around 30$ a lb. And when we sell beef halves most people have 4-6$ a lb in the same quality steaks. So why is that? The butchers market their products? The farmers over produce? I think both what does a farmer do on a good year? Raise more cows what does a farmer do on a bad year try to produce more cows. Same with the milk market. I have a good thing going I can sell beef and pork at live weights and I make enough where the meat in my freezer is around a dollar a pound. But u have to market what u got. So u ask why not raise to beef a year. Or six hogs? Know ur market and don't flood it

 

[Duckfarmerpa1]

besides too much sleeping, now everyone has to worry about CWD in deer. We are planning to plant field peas and turnips for the feed on our farm to keep them from leaving the area. Maybe if we can keep them away from the areas where there is CWD then maybe they will be ok. We don't even eat them but still want them healthy.

CWD? Perhaps we call it something different up here but this doesn’t sound familiar and we have deer everywhere!

 

[Duckfarmerpa1]

What do you consider "costing a fortune" for the half? Is it that much considering the amount of meat? I figure that it will cost approx $6.00 lb for the actual meat you get. That is the average for all the meat, from ground beef to the best steaks. You aren't going to be saving a whole lot if you don' t eat all the cuts, but the thing is for me knowing where our meat is coming from. I haven't bought beef in probably 30+ years. Although it is not an "out of pocket" expense like if I were just "buying it".... We do figure in the value of the meat if it were sold. That is one of the reasons I eat my jersey steers. The calves aren't worth anything, the steers aren't worth more than $.50-.60 lb at 500+ lbs., so they are best for beef. We have the pasture and one or 2 extras out there eating are not going to make or break us. If we got into a severe drought time, they would be the first to go to butcher regardless of the size. But to buy a good "beef" animal is more than a jersey. The one thing about the jerseys, they take a little longer to grow out than a beef, but they also don't have the fat that a beef animal has. There are trade offs.

A 1200 animal is worth 1.15 lb live weight. Current prices from the "fat stock" sale last week here locally. Figure 50% of that is hanging. Another 50% is actual, in your freezer, meat. Now, that is rough estimates. USDA says that the hanging weight is 60% and another 60% is cut.... but we figure that 50% is good, then anymore than that is a plus. So 1/4 or 25% of actual live weight is meat. That makes that steer worth 3.50-4.00 / lb before you pay the butcher fee which here will run about $250..... or in the neighborhood of close to $1.00 lb, killed, cut, wrapped and frozen.... that is vacuum packed. I don't do any paper wrap anymore because vacuum packed will keep for several years if kept frozen, with no pin holes from moving the frozen packages around in the freezer. So if you get a good 300 lb of actual meat, that is about $1500.... but if you figure that you are going to pay 4.00 lb for good ground beef, or more, then you are getting nearly the value of the meat in ground beef. I wouldn't buy cheap ground beef so would probably spend at least 4-5.00 lb for it. I have no idea what it is bringing now. You will get approx 1/4 to 1/3 of your meat in ground beef and stew meat cuts. Trimmings.... but then you have to figure the difference in what those really nice steaks are worth. I get NY strips, ribeyes, filets, and then get the backbones to use for bbq like ribs, or soup etc. All the sirloins..... plus, I get as many of the bones back that I can.
Believe me, we are not making a killing on a beef in the freezer. We actually will do better selling it as a live weight of 1000 lbs or more and let the buyer do all the rest. Again, you have to figure that it costs us at least $500 (1.50 per day yearly average) per year to keep a beef cow. That's what we need to get out of a weaned calf JUST TO BREAK EVEN. Not counting our labor. It takes 18-24 months to get an animal up to 1000 lbs. So we have nearly 1000 in that animal just to get it to that size. We try to sell feeders in the 500 lb size but with steers only bringing 1.40 lb at that size, we are getting back about 700 . Heifers will bring about 1.20, 600. So if you figure that we are making an average 650 a calf, and 500+ is the cost of keeping the momma cow for the year, then we are making 150 per calf per year. That's not much for our labor. If we sell 100 feeders that is only 15,000 per year. Can you live on that, comfortably, and get ahead? That is not counting any major equipment breakdowns, or purchases. That is TOTAL pay for us.... if you figure out how much actual time we put in over the course of the year.... at the average of 40 hrs per week for 52 weeks, which is ridiculously low, that's less than 8,00 per hour. Especially since you figure we don't work 5 - 8hour days with weekends off. We might only "work" 4-5 hours a day in the winter, but then add in equipment maintenance you are up to at least 50 hours/week in the winter, plus anywhere from 8-14 hour days during the calving/growing/harvesting seasons. 6-7 days a week. It is figured that farmers in general make about $3-4 per hour actual labor wages.

We figure that we need at least $1.75 lb for steers @ 500 lbs., to make a small but fair profit. With the inflation rates, cost of living increases over the past 20 years, we should be getting 2.00 lb or more. LIVE WEIGHT.

Sorry, I didn't mean to carry this on so far. I just was wondering what you felt was too much to pay and wanted you to know that there were alot of costs that the average person doesn't see. If they are getting $8-10 per lb then they are making enough of a profit to be able to operate and make a living.

CWD is in deer here. Have to be careful of making sure they are healthy when you shoot. No guarantees. And planting deer plots is good except that you have no way of knowing if the ones eating are healthy. They travel too much to really be sure of one not being a carrier when it comes through. And the bucks will travel. So I am not sure that the plots are of any real advantage to "keep 'em home". Maybe.

Well..I just meant it’s costing my Dad a fortune to feed my son...instead of my son paying for the meat himself...BUT...now that I am a farmer... I absolutely get the whole aspect of your breakdown of how much work goes into it...and how little profit there is....compared to the work side. Unfortunately normal people don’t realize the work. My sister said something to me, and I said...animals don’t know it’s a holiday, or a weekend, etc....

But as I wrote in response to the other thread..I really don’t know what CWD is? In PA. People in our area pray they canshoot at least one deer to help their family through the year.

 

[Duckfarmerpa1]

Thank you FarmerJan!!

One of the reasons I don't do cows. AND I would be a fairly good one to keep a cow & raise a calf per year because I have the pasture to do so. OR bottle a calf as I have so much extra goat milk to use. BUT...not doing. I will raise a lamb or meat goat instead. My goat meat tastes amazingly like beef, IMO. But not a beef steak replacement!! Stews, BBQ, ground, all ok. I just pony up at a sale for a couple nice NY strips.

Older I get, the less meat I consume per portion. Veggie garden needs more attention.

Oh..you mentioned goat milk...once my goats are being milked...could I use their milk for a calf to get it big enough to butcher?

 

[Duckfarmerpa1]

Nice @farmerjan me and a few guys have been talking lately about what u just wrote. Right now the butcher shops around here sell steaks for around 30$ a lb. And when we sell beef halves most people have 4-6$ a lb in the same quality steaks. So why is that? The butchers market their products? The farmers over produce? I think both what does a farmer do on a good year? Raise more cows what does a farmer do on a bad year try to produce more cows. Same with the milk market. I have a good thing going I can sell beef and pork at live weights and I make enough where the meat in my freezer is around a dollar a pound. But u have to market what u got. So u ask why not raise to beef a year. Or six hogs? Know ur market and don't flood it

We are raising feeder pigs, mostly because they are easier to maintain...we don’t have to put up near the fencing that we would need for cows. That’s the main reason my hubby doesn’t want to make the leap...at least $5,000-$6,000 in fencing and we wouldn’t recoup tha5 for at least three years. But...not sure why we’re watching these auctions if he’s not interested...

 

[secuono]

Hmm, I could see buying them for dog food.
Should be small enough for you to butcher the little bit of meat off them yourself.

 

[thistlebloom]

But as I wrote in response to the other thread..I really don’t know what CWD is?

CWD stands for chronic wasting disease.

Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) | Prion Diseases | CDC

www.cdc.gov

 

[Ron Bequeath]

Got it..so the hubb was right again since we don’t have the milk..he said the replacement would cost wayyy too much, as I’ve done it with other animals. He can do the butchering..but he said it would be a big waste of time for so little meat..like plucking a duck by hand...Ok, I guess we’ll hold off on cows for now. My Dad keeps buying half a processed cow for my fitness finatic son..costing him a fortune..I want to raise one for him instead. Still shooting a deer a deer would would be the best, but none of them have had much luck, since they sit in the camp and sleep...

About 25 years back or so we heard of an true story at the auction and it went like this. There was a pickup with a jersey bull calf in it with a free sign on the calf. When the farmer came out of the auction there where 10 more calves with him. I heard that calves where bringing more now i haven't priced them since. What i did back then was i bought a jersey for $10.00. Brought it home and since i had two goat does in milk i started him on goats milk. With in a few days he had sours, wouldn't eat and was laxidaysical. I figured sours, keopecyate; not eating fever; laxidaysical, needing electrolytes, gatoraid; put him on this and he started to make a come back. Called the vet and asked him and the vet said if he lasts 2 months come in and I'll give him something that will help him to live. After 2 months of him nursing off the goats I banded him, had him on dairy feed and started him on pasture. Saved my fifty bucks to the vet and at 18 months we butchered him and I've yearned ever since of raising another quality beef like that. This last 4 months my aussie female looked like pups where on the way. Took her to the vet and found that not only where 7 pups on the way but that mom had lymes. The vet put her on amoxicillin and said the pups may have characteristics like throughing up, diarrhea, and may be other messed up things. At the age of 14 days none of the puppies eyes where open. Day 15 they all opened their eyes and hit some dog food so i added buttermilk, yogurt, raw acv, and kombucha. At 12 weeks the pups have all left, healty as puppies should be whenever a bout would show up I'd add probiotics they did great just use of God given knowledge and we can get through just about anything.

 

[Ron Bequeath]

Oh..you mentioned goat milk...once my goats are being milked...could I use their milk for a calf to get it big enough to butcher?

Why not, there was an article in dairy goat magizine many years back, can't remember who wrote it now but showed someone with the goat on the milking stand and a calf nursing from the goat. Another thing i found was when i use to make cheese i would give the goat kids replacement and they would get diarrhea. So since replacer is 13% protein and whey is 13% protein i mixed my whey with the replacer instead of the water the stools firmed up to pellets and the kids had phenomenal weight gain enough to get much more than dog food out of them. I got my calf over 600 pounds he lived till buthered at 18 mo. A jersey.

 

[Ron Bequeath]

Hmm, I could see buying them for dog food.
Should be small enough for you to butcher the little bit of meat off them yourself.

If their just young small calves use your wisdom and figure out what their illnes is , club foot tape the foot up till the calf puts enough weight on it to straihhten it out, twigs and popcicle sticks make great spints. Theres always a way to heal with the smarts we're given snd a prayer and not especially in that order.