Meat Prices

[Rob R]

I find the bigger steers harder to shift, anything over 180 tends to be a bit too big. If you have small joints they seem to suit the market better and larger joints, from bigger breeds are more easily divided, but that middle ground is more challenging for retail customers. Restaurants are perhaps a better outlet for such animals.

[Jac]

If you have small joints they seem to suit the market better and larger joints, from bigger breeds are more easily divided

Have I missed something here. Are Dexters an odd shape then that the joints can't be sub divided?

[ann]

I find the bigger steers harder to shift, anything over 180 tends to be a bit too big. If you have small joints they seem to suit the market better

Maybe you need to find a better butcher, mine has no problem making joints between 3 to 4 lbs and my steers are often over 200kg. Sorry most of my customers prefer their meat in lbs ( approx 0.9 - 1.3kg)

[Rob R]

A lot of my customers are singles & couples who want 2lb joint which can be closer to a thick steak on larger beasts. 3-4lb is 1.3 - 1.8kg, quite a lot of money for one meal & harder to fit into my 5kg boxes.

[Mkay]

Does anyone know who supplys Forman & Field? They have Dexter beef in this year's Christmas catalog. I wonder what they pay for DW?

[Rob R]

They have Northfield Farm beef on their website, it might be them?

[Mark Bowles]

Northfield are in my area, Jan McCort, i wouldnt think he would rear enough for that supply unless he buys them in.

[ann]

Northfield are in my area, Jan McCort, i wouldnt think he would rear enough for that supply unless he buys them in.

According to the website it is from Jan McCort, but they are only supplying salted beef as a speciality. Intresting thats what you call add on value

[Rob R]

I can't imagine that anyone makes any money from those sort of contracts, they're more about the name than a reliable income.

[Mkay]

I see, shame. Would be a nice clientele to acquaint with the name but it seems lake district longhorn are the order of the day.

[Rob R]

I could be wrong, but that's the impression I get from others who do it.

[Tremewan]

hello, I'm fairly new to this and I'm trying to put some sort of a business plan together in a table and I can't make head nor tail of the maths in this post, apologies but I was wondering if someone could simply give me a guide of average prices / weights in a simple table, to the butcher rather than boxed, so I can make some estimations? I guess I'm trying to get to a simple figure of return on each beast based on sale of meat against supplier costs (i.e killing / deboning etc)
1) Liveweight (average at time of killing) = X
2) Age at killing (on average)
3) Carcass weight / deadweight (is this the same) = Y
4) Cost of killing (per beast average = Z
5) Saleable meat in kilos
6) Average price per kilo = a (£3-4)
7) return per beast (before feed / handling etc = b

thanks for your help.

[Boofarm]

hello, I'm fairly new to this and I'm trying to put some sort of a business plan together in a table and I can't make head nor tail of the maths in this post, apologies but I was wondering if someone could simply give me a guide of average prices / weights in a simple table, to the butcher rather than boxed, so I can make some estimations? I guess I'm trying to get to a simple figure of return on each beast based on sale of meat against supplier costs (i.e killing / deboning etc)
1) Liveweight (average at time of killing) = Dunno, but assume twice deadweight
2) Age at killing (on average) = 28m
3) Carcass weight / deadweight (is this the same) = 176.8, 183,192.2 Kg, (yes)
4) Cost of killing (per beast average = £110 + transport to abbattoir
5) Saleable meat in kilos - data only available for 192.2Kg beast atm = 127.5Kg (not including 5Kg heart and lungs, which were made into dog mince, that represents 66% conversion carcase to meat which is probably as good as you are going to get)
6) Average price per kilo = a (£3-4) - exactly what average price are you looking for? Cost of production or average sale price achieved? Use SQQ dwt price - presently about £3.75Kg deadweight
7) return per beast (before feed / handling etc = that is the same as gross sale price, and with respect, has nothing to do with return, in this case the beasts averaged £700 each.

8) not included in your table are butchering costs and transport from abbatoir to butcher - in this case £247 per beast - including sausage making.

thanks for your help.

[Rob R]

It tends to be 50-ish % live to dead weight with 66% carcass to meat weight (boned out), giving a total of 50% x 66% = 33% liveweight to saleable meat ratio. However the most recent steer I killed was only 211kg live and killed out at just 46.4%, but went on to produce 66.9kg of meat (68.2%), so a total of 31.6% liveweight to meat. The next two are 324 & 315kg LW.

Asking for live or carcass weight will get you a wide range of figures as the types of animals available are diverse, as are the way they are kept. You could go down the route of keeping them as cheaply as possible and accepting a lower return of meat (something I would advocate, as there isn't a shortage of Dexters) or you can invest a lot more in better grass and achieve liveweights of 400kg+, but your costs may well be higher.

I buy in some steers to finish in addition to breeding my own, and the variation in is what is available each year is massive (in terms of numbers, size and price). Rearing home-bred animals will give you more control over consistency and costs but with the chance of less security if your market dries up. Aim to kill everything but the animals you need as replacements, as there are plenty of heifer breeders out there, too.

Any answers you receive here will only apply to the people who have given them so do some research - ring up abattoirs/butchers to ask actual prices in your area (and remember to factor in distances as time is a big cost, especially with small numbers). Your market will determine what you will have to produce so start there and work backwards to see if you can produce it cheaply enough.

[Tremewan]

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