Selling straight to abbatoir?

[Mima]

Dear All,

We have a bunch of steers finished now, a few too many for our own customers and rather than feeding through the winter then beefing at over 30month later on (which is what we've done in the past) I was wondering if selling straight to the abattoir is worth considering, or if anyone knows of any other outlets worth looking into? They are grass only fed Belted Galloways and Dexter's
many thanks

MIma

[Broomcroft]

Mima, There's a recent thread http://www.dextercattleforsale.co.uk/ph ... f=1&t=3364 by Chris looking for a couple to finish in Herts. That's next door to you isn't it? He might want to take them through to 30 months for extra flavour? A lot of abattoirs will go much older as well now. Yummy.

We've sold direct to large-scale general abattoirs as a trial, wish we hadn't, rubbish prices, they didn't want them. Wrong size, wrong grade.

[chris16]

Interesting thought , it would depend on how big they are now and prices etc Pm me some details and I will ask my friend what she thinks .

[Rob R]

How far are you prepared to travel to the abattoir? And what weights are they? I'm a bit too far away but it may help with others who are looking for finished steers.

[Saffy]

Having killed a couple of Dexters for me - my very tiny abattoir/butchers took one for the shop and it sold like hot cakes but they are a very small butchers with their own abattoir in a market town.

Stephanie

[jem]

Have pm'd you but not sure it sent. Can you give me an email address so I can contact you please. Thanks.

[jem]

Hi Mima,

Can you send me your email address please, either via PM or to Julie@ExactSoftware.co.uk.

Thanks.

[Mima]

Dear All,

Many thanks for all your reply's, the butcher we supply locally has come back to me wanting the extra's after all so they now all have 'homes' before the winter.

It is good to know however that there remains a healthy market for this beef nationally so next time I wont be worried about finding homes for the beef when I have a batch finish together.

This has got me questioning again what calving pattern is best for us, like many of us we supply beef direct to customers mostly local and supply a few beasts to the local butcher. However compacting the calving pattern, which we have done quite successfully, doesn't aid an even supply of beef throughout the year, so I'm considering going back to 'dribs and drabs' calving, as I like to call it!

I would just like to say again What a great website this is, bringing together such a supportive group of people. Thank you

Mima

[Rob R]

We used to calve throughout the year, and then it naturally gravitated towards Spring. I wouldn't go back to calving year round but we are now splitting the herd into Spring and Autumn, which means we can use fewer bulls and integrate newcomers more easily, as well as evening out the supply through the year. It's certainly more efficient to have set calving periods.

[Broomcroft]

Like Rob, we used to calve all year round. Now we're spring only. We still manage to spread things out a bit, and there's always the freezer.

Maybe if you're changing, then best to go with your customers? i.e. do you have a boost at Christmas for example, if so, maybe autumn calving is best for you Mima. That's what we should have done, but decided on spring instead and regret it. I can send them at 18 months, but the beef won't be the same and I loose out on a lot of growth and therefore cash!