Direct marketing?

[LCP]

Wondering if anyone has done much direct marketing of your cattle? We fatten up 4-5 head every summer and sell them by the quarter to family & friends, but I'm thinking about the possiblity of expanding the enterprise. Perhaps even direct marketing to a restaurant? Any advice is appreciated.

 

[PureCountry]

We have direct marketed grain and grass finished beef in the past, but are going to strictly grass finished now. The whole key to direct marketing is the marketing, plain and simple. In order to market something, you have to believe in it. To believe in it, you have to be satisfied with how you've produced it. If you're satisfied with your product you can confidently price it, market it, and sell it to anyone.

You can try restaurants of course, but finding the one that will want more than just striploins can be a challenge. Our best market has just been the everyday Joe and Jane, creating a relationship of trust through honesty and communication, which is key with everyone involved in direct marketing. Get to know your butcher, and have them get to know what you're doing or wanting of them. It'll pay big in the long run. We sell halves or do custom orders of 50lbs or more, for those people who don't have the freezer space. We set a flat price for orders by the half, but if someone wants specific cuts, everything is priced individually. We make substantially more money/carcass that way, so we don't mind the extra work involved, and deliver most all of our sales. We don't do any fancy labelling yet, although we are working on it for certain products to go to certain customers, like jerky and sausages.

Feel free to ask questions or pm me. There's lots of others on here doing various types of direct marketing also.

 

[Grassfarmer]

:agree:
If your product and service are good enough price is not even a consideration in our experience. Unlike PureCountry we don't go any smaller than 1/4s - thus far we have not run out of customers prepared to buy carcass beef. I don't want to run a butchers shop selling individual cuts year around and I don't want to be left with less popular cuts.
One suggestion re freezer space, get your customers to pick up an old 21 cubic foot freezer (usually free for removal in the cities because of their bulk) Run it as a second freezer, keep a heavy battery on the lid and only open it once a week - the electricity consumption is very low. We tested some this winter and they only cost 70 cents to run for a couple of months at winter temperatures.

 

[leanin' H]

I sell between 15 to 25 finished steers a year. I have built my base of clients by providing whole and halves of beef for sale starting out pretty slowly. The first year I sold 1 1/2 as i kept a half for myself. I know that people are concerned with where their beef comes from and the quality they are not getting under plastic in supermarkets. When they realize they can get ALL their beef for under $4.00 a pound they get interested fast. When they get a knife and fork in thier hands I am done selling and they start doing it for me! Neighbors, in-laws, co-workers, ect.. call and want to order. And I have only lost one client that doesnt repeat every year. He was a giant pain in my hind quarters so I don't miss him! :roll: If you sell a quality product that you believe in and stand behind, the sky is the limit! But NEVER CUT CORNERS! If you get a bad steak on a clients plate YOU LOSE! And i thinks it super important to know your meat processor is honest and you trust them. I know of horror stories of somebody delivering a choice steer and picking up a giant question mark! Good luck!

 

[Trinity man]

This is also something I am looking to do too. I am still working out a deal with Whole Foods but will not have calves ready for them until late fall or early winter. I think I am in a perfect location to direct market my cattle. I am halfway between Houston and Dallas. I am working on a website now. PureCountry I have a few questions to ask if I may. I will pm them to you.

 

[mrj]

I hope all of you are checking the laws/regulations, especially re. labels. You absolutely have to be able to prove anything you say on a label, as I understand it, and you can get into lots of trouble if something happens and it doesn't prove out somehow.

Good luck in such endeavors. I know the costs can surprise if you are not meticulous in counting all input costs accurately.

mrj

 

[LCP]

How do you guys price your product?

 

[PureCountry]

Work out your cost of production to raise the animal from birth to slaughter. Then add in the costs of the abattoir for kill, chill, packaging and processing. When you come to that sub-total, we set ourselves a profit margin that we're comfortable with, and that we feel customers are comfortable with. We haven't had any complaints.

Be careful setting your margin though. Don't short yourself. If you think 10% profit is enough, you're kidding yourself.

MRJ, labelling is a very good point to make. In Canada the labelling regulations are ridiculous, but you have to play that game if you go that way. We can sell beef wrapped bagged in plastic then wrapped in brown paper, just straight from the butcher shop, because it's been government inspected. If we want to have it in a retail outlet somewhere, we have to have labels. The list of what you can or can't do is endless. You can only call it "Natural" if the animal has never had HGP's, antibiotics, or vaccinations of any kind. Basically, our lawmakers state that in order to be labelled "Natural" you have to have no herd health program, other than soil, water and forage.

So where ever you are, do your homework if you're going to be selling in a retail outlet.

 

[Ben H]

The book Grass Fed Cattle by Julius Rueschel sp? Has some work sheets on finding your price. I've seen it at all the TSC stores around here.

I take a deposit for people to lock in at a certain price per lb hanging weight. After slaughter they pay the balance due and pick it up at the butcher shop.

I'm worried about this model with inflation or hyper-inflation looking more and more possible. I'm also worred about our administration following FDR and Nixon and implementing price controls.

I keep a few sides to sell at the farmers market and from the home. The farmers market takes a lot of my time for what I actually get out of it. I rarely break $300 in meat sales on a Saturday from 8-12. I work another job and that's a quarter of my weekend gone. It has landed me customers that buy larger quantities. The majority of my business is quarters, sides and wholes. Last year I killed 20 (grass fed).


Direct marketing takes more time then you think. In a recent or maybe the last Stockman Grass Farmer, I think it was Allen saying that the spot you want to be for selling beef yourself is eaither less then 100 or more then 1000. It could have been Mile Lorentz saying this, not sure. I think I would agree that those numbers make sense.

I'm currently getting $3.40/lb hanging weight for a side. I found out that my friend with the same protocols is selling to whole foods for $3.75/lb hanging weight. (processing included on both).

 

[shorthorn]

I sell at farmers markets as well. Pricing is a headache depending on the region and the economy but the main point is sell for profit and dont try to compete with grocery store prices if somebody whines they can buy it at the grocery cheaper tell them to enjoy their dinner. We do sell alot of halves from the farmers market but we make a lot more money by selling parts and pieces.