Help With Price of 2yr Old Steer

dizzydex · Post by **dizzydex** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 1:46 pm

Hi being new to keeping Dexters I have no idea what a 2 year old steer is worth. He is a short leg, well put together but not fat and is ready to go. Could you please give me an idea of what I should be asking for him. Thank you

domsmith · Post by **domsmith** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 6:14 pm

store cattle are a blazing price, we bought stores the other week and they averaged £1.7 p/kg.

i would suggest around that is fair, it depends who is buying.

a short steer would be 300-350kg?? i dont know

dominic

dizzydex · Post by **dizzydex** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 6:55 pm

Hi is that £1.7p/kg live weight? Confused???????????

Post by **Mark Bowles** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 7:09 pm

Not many shorts go over 350kg liveweight, some weights i have heard are even under 250kg, thats poor!
£1.20 to £1.30 per kg liveweight is probably what you would expect if you sold him on live.

Broomcroft · Post by **Broomcroft** » Tue Mar 03, 2009 7:14 pm

In boxes, he'd maybe produce between 80-100 kilos of beef which you could sell for £9-11 a kilo. It would cost you about £250 (inc transport) to kill, hang, butcher and pack if you know a good abattoir to do the job.

domsmith · Post by **domsmith** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 9:17 pm

£1.7 p/kg live weight.

why would you sell for 1.2- 1.30 p/kg?

if you have a customer wanting dexter for butchering they know its worth.

its different when i am buying!

dom

dizzydex · Post by **dizzydex** » Wed Mar 04, 2009 11:49 pm

Hi I think we will sell him as a steer rather than sell the meat as I need to do more work on finding a market for my beef. This I am sure will happen though as my confidence grows. I rear and sell GOS pork with no problem. I am working on a new website for my Dexters but progress is slow. Thank you for the advice.

Broomcroft · Post by **Broomcroft** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 8:45 am

What do you think to these as prices for live steers and beef heifers (not breeding stock)?

The last price at 26 months is about what you would get from a butcher (no cost except transport). Obviously you can finish earlier, or later. But it's just a guide.

Martin · Post by **Martin** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 9:38 am

In Ashford last week finished cattle where fetching between £1.70 - £1.80 per kilo (liveweight). Good store stock will be around this figure also.

dizzydex · Post by **dizzydex** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 12:21 pm

Hi and thank you again. I have had one offer for him but I think I will advertise him first to see if I get any further replies

domsmith · Post by **domsmith** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 8:16 pm

I dont understand what the figures in the table relate to. is it age?

how can age be a guide to price?
is that specifically for dexters?

I supose the last figure is not to bad. for a short dexter

we paid £500 each for , 8 month old limo steers last week.

dom

Broomcroft · Post by **Broomcroft** » Thu Mar 05, 2009 11:05 pm

The table is very crude. It just starts with a rough price from a finisher for an 8 month old weaned steer (it's months on the left) and at the other end, what you would get for a finished steer from a butcher at the moment. All the prices in between are just a simple straight line incrementing each month, not based upon any growth pattern. The heifer prices are 15% lower than the steer prices because I read in a book that they are 15% lighter. All non-shorts because shorts can be all over the place.

It is based on butcher prices, what you would get, which would be without costs. It is not based upon what you get selling it yourself which would be double or even more, but with costs.

Edited By Broomcroft on 1236290939

Broomcroft · Post by **Broomcroft** » Fri Mar 06, 2009 9:11 am

PS. The table is based upon only non-shorts and from my farm only. All my steers and heifers vary very little and so the age is indicative of weight (for me) roughly. But anything exceptionally good or poor I would make a manual adjustment for. Also, in practice, I would never sell anything that was anywhere near finishing or even over say 14 months.

The table is equivalent to a steer reaching just over 400 Kg liveweight at 26 months and fetching about £3/kilo deadweight, or £1.60 liveweight at any stage. In reality the table needs to not be linear but to be in line with growth rates at different stage and what I was trying to do was just provide some sort of guide for those, like me, who can't weigh what they are selling. At the end of the day, it's the market and the deal you can do that counts but knowing some figures gives you confidence to do a better deal I feel.

dizzydex · Post by **dizzydex** » Thu Mar 12, 2009 11:49 pm

Hi things have moved on a little with lots of interest in my steer as beef. Could someone please explain how this breaks down if he is roughly 300kg live weight how much beef would I have left to sell dead weight? I was thinking of £7.99 per kilo but will be happy with suggestions please

If I was to sell as beef boxes how much would one normally weigh?

Can someone suggest the contents of my beef box please (apart from beef that is) such as the joints, steaks and other items like mince

So many questions sorry its a bigger learning curve than I first thought

wagra dexters · Post by **wagra dexters** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 12:48 am

Julie, when you speak of dead weight I think that is hook weight, which is a bit over half the live weight.

Then there is packed weight by any name, the meat in the freezer, which is a bit over half the hook weight, so all up the net is just over a third the live weight, up to 40%.

It is awkward to break a side down and still get a good cross section, ie there is only one standing rib roast for instance. I have done it for an elderly lady on her own, but a side of Dexter is not a huge amount of meat for a small family so long as they have the freezer space

A new buyer arrived with 3 huge eskies recently. I had to wonder if he realized the side would be boned out.

Sausage and mince can make up to a third of the meat depending on the beast. That and other cheaper cuts make up half the total.

I can't help with prices. Our price works out to $11 per kg but that has no relevance to UK prices.

Margaret.