When to send to slaughter

[Baymule]

I even priced the beef, hanging weight at $8-$10 per pound, they thought that was a good price. If I bought a youngster and kept it for a year, it’d be $10, but a slam dunk like this, I’ll be nice and maybe drop it to $8. LOL

 

[Simpleterrier]

You get 8-10 a lb hanging weight ? That's crazy

 

[farmerjan]

Okay, my post was supposed to go on my journal... SORRY.... I will get it moved. I guess I wasn't paying attention when I started to answer it.

 

[Baymule]

Okay, my post was supposed to go on my journal... SORRY.... I will get it moved. I guess I wasn't paying attention when I started to answer it.

Exhaustion sets in....... we don’t pay attention. LOL

 

[misfitmorgan]

I would be on the band them boat with the california bands or find a local cow farmer to help you out. At 8 months old you are going to get at absolute most 120lbs from the larger bull if he weighs 400lbs which is a pretty big stretch for a jersey at 8 months more likely your getting 100lbs from the big one and maybe 80 or 90 from the little one. Sounds like a lot but in reality that would be mostly all hamburger and you would need to take every single cut the butcher could get out of the bull. so 190lbs at best from both bulls minus the feed into them already, the slaughter fee and the per lb cost to butcher, and the purchase price you are going to have some very expensive beef on your hands. Another thought some people really dont like beef that young, as the texture is different then what the consumer is used too. Take your purchase price + feed cost so far + slaughter fee + fee for butcher/processing divide by 190 and that is your price per pound. All that doesnt even take into account the wear and tear on the people caring for them and the equipment used. Now to compare locally we pay $2.50lb for grass feed lean hamburger vacuum packed by the pound.
If you banded and raised to 18 months you would get about 450lbs from both bulls which would be a much better price for the beef. I dont believe you would be happy with the results of butchering now even if you could get a date. Locally we are in the same boat atm in a very low population area of having to book out butcher dates months in advance.

 

[CLSranch]

When I suggested the hurry aspect it is with the possibility of 18 months from now being the earliest opportunity to process and having 3 more to do. Mine was less because it was a new one that just opened up. Others in my area are waiting a year or more longer than they planned because of the delay.
I thought about getting another date then buying another steer according to the date offered, so it wouldn't be to big or old.

compare locally we pay $2.50lb for grass feed lean hamburger vacuum packed by the pound.

Here and where I was working it was that for Wal-Mart hamburger and saw some adds in the feed store for $4. a pd for the grass fed.

 

[misfitmorgan]

Here even the cheapest burger at walmart which is 73/27 in a 10lb tube is $2.36/lb, and I dont touch that stuff. The 80/20 burger in a tray I buy when I need too is $4.38/lb, I take the grass fed beef at every opportunity, less for the grass fed part and more for the locally farm raised part.

General rule is 18 months for butcher, it is your cow and your choice, I still maintain you would be happier with the results if you banded now and waited. In the end it's your choice and your pocketbook, do what works for you.

 

[Ridgetop]

Just took 3 wethers to my butcher - later than normal because had to cancel original date and reschedule my butcher date. My butcher said if we weren't long term customers we wouldn't have gotten in for another 4 months. Next time we have ram lambs, I will have to schedule a date 4 months in advance just in case.

Kent also said that he is having people bringing in everything from as far away as 150 miles! He also said that most of the people coming in to have steers and hogs butchered are not raisers but city buyers. Apparently even some people from West LA (near Beverly Hills, Westwood, Santa Monica, etc. - high priced areas) are apparently just driving out of town, and buying steers our of a pasture. They buy 800-900 lb. steers and the rancher delivers them in to Kent. Most of the buyers are liberals! Then they stand there taking selfies with their steers as they are unloaded! LOL

When they go in the office to tell Kent how to cut their beef, they pull out a sheet of paper they downloaded from the internet of special cuts they want. Kent says Saturdays are a madhouse with these wacky libs wanting all these strange cuts. He said that he takes the list from them and tears it up. Then he asks the rancher who has delivered the steers what the weight is. Kent figures the slaughter weight out at .56% of the total weight and tells the customers that that is the hanging weight. THEN he gives them the approximate poundage yield. They are shocked and they say "but that's a huge steer" (800-900 lbs.) and he has to tell them "No that is a small steer."

He says he would get a bigger laugh out of it if they weren't so stupid and time wasting. We were there for 20 minutes - 10 minutes to off load the 3 wethers and 10 minutes to give him the information about my 2 buyers and my cutting instructions. He said these people that are buying animals and bringing them in to be butchered take almost an hour each to deal with in explaining the cuts - not counting the offloading time that the rancher handles - Oh yes! and the selfies!

Copied this post to put in my Ridgetop because it is so amusing. Here I thought it was livestock people like us bringing in their animals but it appears that the crazy liberals are the ones taking our butchering appointments!!! They are apparently not all vegetarians - or maybe just closet carnivores!

 

[misfitmorgan]

Just took 3 wethers to my butcher - later than normal because had to cancel original date and reschedule my butcher date. My butcher said if we weren't long term customers we wouldn't have gotten in for another 4 months. Next time we have ram lambs, I will have to schedule a date 4 months in advance just in case.

Kent also said that he is having people bringing in everything from as far away as 150 miles! He also said that most of the people coming in to have steers and hogs butchered are not raisers but city buyers. Apparently even some people from West LA (near Beverly Hills, Westwood, Santa Monica, etc. - high priced areas) are apparently just driving out of town, and buying steers our of a pasture. They buy 800-900 lb. steers and the rancher delivers them in to Kent. Most of the buyers are liberals! Then they stand there taking selfies with their steers as they are unloaded! LOL

When they go in the office to tell Kent how to cut their beef, they pull out a sheet of paper they downloaded from the internet of special cuts they want. Kent says Saturdays are a madhouse with these wacky libs wanting all these strange cuts. He said that he takes the list from them and tears it up. Then he asks the rancher who has delivered the steers what the weight is. Kent figures the slaughter weight out at .56% of the total weight and tells the customers that that is the hanging weight. THEN he gives them the approximate poundage yield. They are shocked and they say "but that's a huge steer" (800-900 lbs.) and he has to tell them "No that is a small steer."

He says he would get a bigger laugh out of it if they weren't so stupid and time wasting. We were there for 20 minutes - 10 minutes to off load the 3 wethers and 10 minutes to give him the information about my 2 buyers and my cutting instructions. He said these people that are buying animals and bringing them in to be butchered take almost an hour each to deal with in explaining the cuts - not counting the offloading time that the rancher handles - Oh yes! and the selfies!

Copied this post to put in my Ridgetop because it is so amusing. Here I thought it was livestock people like us bringing in their animals but it appears that the crazy liberals are the ones taking our butchering appointments!!! They are apparently not all vegetarians - or maybe just closet carnivores!

Prices here for sheep and goats at auctions have gone insane and have been high(really good for seller) for months now. ATM local market report is $200-400 for goats and $260-310 for lambs/sheep. I know canada sheep farmers are seeing something very similar. I am not sure if the lamb shortage is due to the whole china thing(as they do tons of processing for aussie lamb which gets shipped to the US) or if it is the slow cargo/shipping issue or people buying more animals from the farmer or maybe all of those together. I'm just happy farmers are making the money they deserver to be making all the time.

I dont like paying a ton of money for store bought meat but i would much rather directly pay a farmer a fair price. I know store meat means the store is making most of the profit not the farmer.

 

[Baymule]

Oh my goodness! How funny! Wait until these city idiots without a clue how the meat they buy at the store, where no animals have been harmed, is actually raised and they
actually BITE into their bought out of the pasture meat! Tough, chewy, lean meat. Small steers at that, without the full maturity that gives to the fat marbling throughout, adding flavor and tenderness. They don't even take into account how much the pile of guts, the head, the hide, the bones will weigh. I'm sure none of them have instructions on how to cut and wrap intestines for their consumption. Pretty sure none of them want all the bones or the hide. haha, they could ask for the hooves and boil them to make their own jello! What a bunch of morons. Glad the ranchers are cashing in.