Etc... Freezer Beef Prices

[greathorse]

Look up a post or two

 

[Kittymomma]

Quote:
Too funny! I thought I was staying current with this thread, but I completly missed your last post. I think I'll blame it on the three foster kittens that are currently trying to help me out on the computer.

 

[greathorse]

LOL I think we posted at the same time.

I dont keep up on a daily basis but feeder's are a bit softe right now than they have been.

I watch the feeder, stocker auction on RFD on a regular basis so have some idea. I am a part time auctioneer and I think Ralph Wade is the (world Champion) greatest in the world. I turn it on sometimes instead of music. LOL

But I digress, not hijacking

 

[dancingbear]

Quote:
I do believe there is a wee bit of a difference between a grass fed beef in Ky. and one grass fed in Ca. or any arrid area of the West. They don't call Cal. " The Golden State" for nothing. That is the collor of the range grasses for the better part of the year. I have eaten steak here that was presented on the menu to be " grass fed Angus beef" at restaurants quite often that was quite chewy tough as shoe leather... sorry, give me a steak from a beef that was fed on quality springtime green grass pastures then alfalfa and corn in the feed lot for at least 90 days to atchieve proper marbling of the meat. Then hung for 2+ weeks in a cooler for proper aging. As for e-coli, just don't order your steak in the moo phase. Proper cooking to 160+ degree interior temp will kill any evil doer organism.

The OP isn't in CA. The OP is in Indiana, just north of KY.

BTW, I lived in CA for a few years, too, and the entire state is not the dustbowl you make it out to be. I lived in Sacramento, San Francisco, Stockton, Northern CA, in Mendicino county, and spent a summer just outside of Watsonville, the artichoke capital. It was all pretty green. I spent a little time in southern CA, in and around L.A. Bakersfield, Grapevine, all that, now that's arrid.

It's too bad you've never had properly raised or cooked grass fed beef, or any good quality natural or organic food in your whole life. I don't know why you never get any of the good stuff. At least, I guess you haven't, since every single time the subject comes up, you tell about some experience you had, and it was always the very worst crap you ever tried to eat in your whole life. Even though in one post you said you are a distributor of organic goods.

If I had bought a whole beef, I imagine I'd be cooking it myself, so I won't be "ordering my steak" in "moo-phase" or any other way. And if I did, it would be grass-fed, and I wouldn't have to worry about killing the e-coli, because it wouldn't be there.

 

[TimG]

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Kills the taste, too!

 

[TimG]

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I'm sorry for what is probably a silly question, but is that price per hundred weight?

 

[Kittymomma]

Yes, it's per 100 weight. a 400 lb steer calf that goes for $100.00 on the chart is costing the buyer $400.00, it can be a little confusing at first. If you ever get a chance go spend an afternoon at your local auction. Don't ever sit in the front row though, some of those critters can get a little frisky.

 

[dancingbear]

Quote:
So, if I understand this correctly, are these the prices when you buy cattle by the lot, the lowest number in the chart being 13 head? If that's the case, I'm sure you can get prices like that. But when you buy 1 cow or 1 steer, you usually can't get that great a bargain, unless you know the people. You probably do, but most people do not.

I'm pretty sure I could not find anybody in KY that would sell me a 600 lb. grass fed beef calf for the price in your chart, though perhaps they would if I were buying over 200 of them.

I was just guessing at what a 600 lb. beef might dress out to, which is why I said "IF it dresses out to...". I figured the OP might have some idea what weight to expect, and if different from that, do the math to figure the cost per lb. herself. I was guessing a higher percentage of waste than you'd get with a pig, (because we've raised those, first time this year) but I don't know what percentage to figure.

I know if I bought that much beef at the store, with the variety of cuts including steaks, roasts, ribs, etc., it would certainly cost a lot more than that. Indiana prices would be somewhere near KY prices, I'd think, but I could be wrong about that.

ETA:
I see Kittymomma cross posted with me, I didn't know that price was per hundred weight. So the 600 lb. calf would cost around $500, not $83. So before processing, that's still about $400 above market price, in Colorado. I wonder what the market price is in Indiana?

 

[Kittymomma]

Greathorses chart is showing the number of animals that fit the weight range. It's unlikely that all of those animals were sold as a single lot. When I've been to auctions there are often cattle sold as a group, but just as often you can buy choice out of a group.

Five steers in the areana, bidding starts for choice, winning bidder picks his steer(s) and bidding starts over for the rest. Sometimes when they get down to a couple of animals, especially if they are feeder size they'll say that the next round of bidding is for the rest of them and you can't buy just one. Often times they'll sell choice on a group of steers that were slated to be sold together if you ask about it before the bidding starts.

Auctions are interesting, exciting, occasionaly dangerous, and sometimes very very sad.

 

[dancingbear]

Kittymomma, thanks for the info! I had no idea how it worked, I've never bought a cow at all much less at an auction. I've been to auctions, but I wasn't looking for cattle at the time, and didn't pay much attention to that part. I was looking for poultry, and just watching the various critters.