Meat Prices

[Jac]

Thanks for your speedy reply Boofarm, so yes I used the word 'return' incorrectly.

So if average gross sale price per beast is £700 for the sake of argument, then butchery and transport is £247 - leaving a 'return' of roughly £450 at £3.75 per kilo - this is of course not taking into account, feed, vet bills, my hours etc.
Am I roughly in the right area?

thanks

No. If you are including butchery costs then you are not selling it for £3.75 a kilo.

[Tremewan]

You say 'NO'. Ok, could you perhaps tell me what it is I've got wrong..!? I'm trying to learn, we all have to start somewhere.

[Jac]

You say 'NO'. Ok, could you perhaps tell me what it is I've got wrong..!? I'm trying to learn, we all have to start somewhere.

The figures quoted if you refer to my orginal example, tell you what a butcher was prepared to pay Mark for his steer now that was, £4 per kilo per dead weight.

Mark didn't pay the cutting costs re : BooFarm £247

However if Mark had paid to cut it up and sold it then he would have obtained £12 a kilo.

[Tremewan]

Rob R, thanks also for your comments. I've heard of some Dexters being slaughtered at 18months rather than the average mentioned by Boofarm of 28months. I have two 6 month old steers which I was intending to sell this time next year. Is there any benefit in selling earlier, i.e a better quality meat / higher price per kg? Or is the increase in price per kg not worth the much lower carcass weight? Also presumably 18 or 28 month steers will need to be castrated?

[Tremewan]

Thanks Jac, totally understand. I'm awash with different numbers. Very helpful.
A

[Jac]

You could go down the route of keeping them as cheaply as possible and accepting a lower return of meat

Not if you were hoping to sell it to me.

[Jac]

Rob R, thanks also for your comments. I've heard of some Dexters being slaughtered at 18months rather than the average mentioned by Boofarm of 28months. I have two 6 month old steers which I was intending to sell this time next year. Is there any benefit in selling earlier, i.e a better quality meat / higher price per kg? Or is the increase in price per kg not worth the much lower carcass weight? Also presumably 18 or 28 month steers will need to be castrated?

This is it, there are people who have access to plenty of good grass. There are Dexters and there are Dexters (good quality breeding stock). There is the possibility of not castrating (if you have the facilities) and getting a faster, leaner carcase and killing earlier - with the note of caution that they need careful loading, handling and dispatching quickly on arrival at abattoir to avoid the possibility of a dark cutter.
If you are hoping to sell them on for someone else to finish you will need to castrate also you will need to do this sooner rather than later.
However, if you are doing this for primarily for money .......... do your sums.

[Rob R]

You could go down the route of keeping them as cheaply as possible and accepting a lower return of meat

Not if you were hoping to sell it to me.

I didn't know that was an option. As I said, it's important to know your market. You would be a fool to spend more money/risk than you would get back at the end though.

[Rob R]

Rob R, thanks also for your comments. I've heard of some Dexters being slaughtered at 18months rather than the average mentioned by Boofarm of 28months. I have two 6 month old steers which I was intending to sell this time next year. Is there any benefit in selling earlier, i.e a better quality meat / higher price per kg? Or is the increase in price per kg not worth the much lower carcass weight? Also presumably 18 or 28 month steers will need to be castrated?

The advantage of selling earlier would be that they'd take up less space as you wouldn't have them for an extra winter. They do loose a bit on daily liveweight gain the older they get, too, but if you can feed and house them cheaply, it might be worth doing. I aim to kill them at around 2 years.

[Jac]

You could go down the route of keeping them as cheaply as possible and accepting a lower return of meat

Not if you were hoping to sell it to me.

I didn't know that was an option. As I said, it's important to know your market. You would be a fool to spend more money/risk than you would get back at the end though.

The main problem with the breed is the high processing costs. If I've got to shell out diesel to collect it, electricity to hang it etc etc I don't want something too small.

[Boofarm]

Thanks for your speedy reply Boofarm, so yes I used the word 'return' incorrectly.

So if average gross sale price per beast is £700 for the sake of argument, then butchery and transport is £247 - leaving a 'return' of roughly £450 at £3.75 per kilo - this is of course not taking into account, feed, vet bills, my hours etc.
Am I roughly in the right area?

thanks

In trying to be brief I have been insufficiently clear - I was recommending that you base your plan on the SQQ deadweight price - that is the price which theoretically you should get from a processor and a coninually updated and readily available base price. In practice of course you will have to see what your local market will bear.

All the costs of getting the animal to the abbatoir (feed, vet transport etc) would come out of that but all killing and butchery, delivery costs etc should be passed along.

So to clarify we have just processed 3 bullocks at an average of £700 per head but that is what we get to cover raising the animal, all killing and butchery costs are added to the basic meat cost in proportion to the amount of the animal passed to each cusomer ( half or quarter beast)

If you are planning on marketing your animals I suggest you need to identify your costs and work backwards but certainly up here I would struggle to average £12 per kilo - we actually sold at about £8.50



Hope that helps

[Jac]

I find that very strange because beef prices in Scotland seem to be higher than anywhere else in the UK.

http://www.meat-prices.co.uk/national/Scotland/

[Boofarm]

I find that very strange because beef prices in Scotland seem to be higher than anywhere else in the UK.

http://www.meat-prices.co.uk/national/Scotland/

What is it you find strange Jac - I am guessing that it is my statement that I would struggle to achieve £12 per Kg?

Scotland is a pretty diverse place - I stay in an area of very low population density where wages are typically low. I do not have the time, inclination or freezer space to run anything approaching a retail business.

We had three bullocks within 4 weeks of one another approaching killing condition and age, they were marketed through word of mouth and 2 of them sold (minimum unit 0.25 of an animal). In these circumstances they have to be priced to sell.

In my view we did well to easily sell them at full SQQ price which I do not think I would get in a live market, hopefully the customers feel they got a good deal at an average of £8.77 per kilo and equally hopefully they will spread the word a little and we will get some future inquires which will enable us to price a little more aggressively but for the forseeable future I think I will have to compete on price as well as quality, at the moment it is me trying to sell beef rather than people coming to me looking to buy it.

The link you posted is good but in reading it we need to bear in mind that the majority of meat in Scotland (as elsewhere) is bought at below average price. I priced the equivalent weight of meat at £10.20 per Kilo in Morrisons (mainly)

cheers
mac

[Rob R]

The main problem with the breed is the high processing costs. If I've got to shell out diesel to collect it, electricity to hang it etc etc I don't want something too small.

Indeed, but it's also an advantage, as you can't kill or buy half a larger breed - but you can always buy two Dexters.

[Rob R]

Beef prices were being discussed on Countryfile this week - it seems that a profit of £2.75 per head is the order of the day. That makes me feel better about Dexters & selling direct.