Craigs list ad for beef.. do people buy at this price?

Dave from MN · Aug 25, 2009

"Ready this fall, grass fed angus by the 1/4 ($5.50/lb) or 1/2 ($5.00/lb). Orders being taken now."

I sold my beef at $1.50 and did good. lets say a younger good eater at 1000# live wieght has a 761# hanging weight( thats what the last 6 I sold averaged)Thats $3800 a steer,even if it includes processing, I cant see getting it. What do you guys think. By the way if this happens to be some one on YT's ad, no offense given, hope it's prosperous, I just cant see any one buying at the price, at least not in MN.

Anonymous-0 · Aug 25, 2009

Don't know. We rarely have beef at our house because it's so expensive. I don't buy it at supermarket sale prices, much less $5 a pound and up.

M Nut · Aug 25, 2009

Good friend of mine sells his Angus beef for $1.80 a pound. Sunday their church had a fundraiser auction so we went. They had donated a 1/4 of beef, with the guarantee it would be 175lbs or more of meat. The winning bid was $225. I though that was a pretty good buy on beef.
I know a couple of the gals I work with buy their beef for $1.50 a lb. I believe that is for Holstein steers though. I really don't know that there is much difference between breeds anyway when it come to the burger and steaks. All tastes the same to me.

Fordfarmer · Aug 25, 2009

They might sell some at that price... some people think if its angus, it HAS to be better... and some people buy steak at $5-$8/lb... but they won't sell any to anyone who KNOWS what farmers get per quarter or half, or to anyone on a tight budget.
My Dad raises my bull calves, and has a waiting list of buyers. Takes the market price for the day they go to the packer, buyer pays for cutting/wrapping. I think the last one that went ended up around $1.80/lb.

Fordfarmer · Aug 25, 2009

If they're handled the same, from raising to butchering, you'll never know if you're eating holstein, angus, jersey, or semintal.

NW Ohio Tim · Aug 25, 2009

A friend of ours feeds steers. Whenever we need beef, we just buy a half from him. We bought a half in April, I think the final price came to just less than $2.25/ lb. We pay top market price for the steer and he hauls it to the slaughter house for free. We pay all the processing.

It's the best beef you'll get anyplace, we know where it came from and what's in it. Well worth the price.

If the CL guy can get $5+, more power to him. I wish I could find a niche market like that for our hogs.

Tim K in NW Ohio ~ Thinking maybe I'll try CL for a new market......

Bobl1958 · Aug 25, 2009

I"m sure that would be cut and wrapped. If you think about it, for an average price, it"s not that terrible high. That and good marketing (Angus mentioned) will lead the sheeple to believe they have hit the home run. Power to him I guess.

Anonymous-0 · Aug 25, 2009

I have neighbor who raises holstien dairy bull calves. Bottle feeds them then moving to grass and feed. Last bunch he sold were "certified" Angus. They recieved a premium because of this. After all ANGUS tastes better. lol gobble

LAA · Aug 25, 2009

I charge double live weight average price (taken from most current livestock weekly) for hanging weight and customer pays for processing. There is a good, clean place near us that charges .75 a pound and they vaccum pack. Averages out around 2.50 per pound in the freezer. My Son took fresh meat to work a few times (pipeline) and now several of his co-workers are customers.

Mathias NY · Aug 25, 2009

Yes, people do buy at that price and it is probably the packaged price.

People that try to live the 'organic' life style but don't want to pay the premium for the organic label go with grass fed.

My wife and I are friends with some organic/grass-fed meat producers and have traded produce for meat. Hand's down the meat is better than anything Walmart or even most butcher stores carry. I can't say I would pay full price for it, but I definately prefer it.

Anonymous-0 · Aug 25, 2009

If you can consistently get 761 lb. out of 1000 lb. animals then you are already a way ahead of the curve and have no need to seek a premium price.

Jerry/MT · Aug 25, 2009

The hanging weight will be 55-60% of the live weight so a 1000# fat steer will hang at 550-600#.
I just sold some 27 month old grass fat steers @ $2.20 hot hanging weight and the customers paid for their share of the kill and haul and the cut and wrap. It worked out to about $3.80/lb of retail cuts.

My sister buys grass fed beef in Arizona where the price is $6.80 a pound for a half, cut and wrapped. So I guess I need to raise my price some!

Jerry/MT · Aug 25, 2009

I might add that the hot carcases average 895# and we use no growth promotants or antibiotics and the animals come off of pasture and are fed grass and grass alfalfa hay in the winter. No grain is used.

We don't use growth promotants because our customers don't want us to and they are willing to pay for it. The same with antibiotics. If we use them on an animal, we market it differently. I really don't think there is anything wrong with growth promotants or antibiotics but as long as customers are willing to pay a premium for "natural beef", we are willing to meet their requirements.

Loren MN · Aug 25, 2009

If it's really grass finished beef, it should get a higher price due to the amount of pasture and labor required to finish without using grain. The supposed health benefits of grass finished allows for higher price too. If people will pay it, go for it. Not sure how many consumers realize the difference between grass fed and grass finished though. My steers are on pasture now, and are being grass fed. However, I'll be finishing them on corn this fall, so they're grain finished. The people that buy from me like the idea of knowing where the meat came from, and that there are no antibiotics, hormones, etc. I sell for $1.90/lb hanging weight, and they pay processing. Works out to around $2.30/lb in the freezer, for black angus.

gitrib · Aug 25, 2009

It is really simple when selling. It is not what something is worth it is what the market will bear. Just sold some Alfalfa at the farm. Sixty pound bales at $8.00 each.
gitrib

RobMD · Aug 25, 2009

damn! shouldn't have sold the baler...

jbp · Aug 25, 2009

I must be a dumb azz. Had a steer butchered early summer. Gave a quarter to my brother, another quarter to my favorite neice, put the other half in the freezer. It weighed 1090 at 14 months and was purebred angus. They did pay their share of the butchering. Still can't figure why I don't have any money.

Anonymous-0 · Aug 25, 2009

We buy our beef from a friend who is a mostly retired farmer. He only feeds about 10 head a year any more, and only sells to family and close friends. He enjoys "still fooling around with the cattle a little", and still has the operation where he used to feed lots more animals.

The cattle are on pasture part of the year, on "pretty good" hay through the winter, and he feeds them some grain the last month or 6 weeks before they are butchered. The cattle stay healthy and there is no need for antibiotics or other drugs. We are SURE the beef is good--it is exactly the same beef as our friend gives his daughter.

The beef is excellent. I think we paid $2.10/lb for the last half we got, plus the cut and wrap and butchering costs. We have it processed at a local business that has done our beef for years, and always treat us right, The beef is packaged like we want it. It might be pretty expensive hamburger, but it works out to be very inexpensive steaks and roasts.

Unfortunately Jim is about 75, and I don't know how many more years he will want to deal with raising cattle. I guess we will enjoy it while we can!

LAA · Aug 25, 2009

Why would the labor costs increase for grass finished ? -- the steer is doing the work. Pasture is cheaper than corn whether you grow the corn or buy it. No expense to harvest silage or bale hay. Been involved in the cattle business all my life and one thing never changed -- if you got grass you can make money even in the worst price years.

Anonymous-0 · Aug 27, 2009

You are on the wrong end of the chain.I sold a bull vealer last year for less than the one I sold in 2001, The Super market is asking more for dogs meat than I got for the beast per kilogram.

Loren MN · Aug 27, 2009

Would depend on how much pasture you have available, and what the climate is. On small farms in MN, we would need to use rotational grazing, which requires labor to move the herd and more fencing. Finishing cattle on grass in November & December gets difficult in the snow. Could calve earlier in the year to finish earlier, but then I have to build a barn for winter calving, etc.

Pasture may be cheaper than corn if the land is paid for, but a different story if you have to buy land. Also its a better business decision to rent out crop land for $90/acre to grain farmers then buy feed, instead of letting it go to grass. I can finish a steer for two months on $60 of purchased corn/mineral feed. Five steers is $300 in feed. How much would it cost me per year for more land to keep them rotated on grass? If I kept 10 acres from the renters and used it for pasture, I'd lose $900 in income and still probably not gain enough pasture for wintering.

There's no expense to bale hay? Really. I must be doing something wrong, because I keep having to spend money on things like gas & diesel for the tractors, parts for baler & swather, twine, $150/bag alfalfa seed, beer for the help.

Craigs list ad for beef.. do people buy at this price?

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