Man it's quiet.

[Northern Rancher]

Ohh I'm here!!

 

[gcreekrch]

They did top yesterdays sale. They are on their way to a feedlot. The sale yesterday was stronger than last week according to the regulars there.
Am watching the TEAM sale this morning, a load of Angus/Limo heifers weighing 875 sold for 89.50. These cattle were in feedlot alley area so not much freight.

 

[Northern Rancher]

I was talking to a buddy last night I think were going to put a big bunch of heifers together and breed them next year. Heifer calves are wayyyyy too far back of steers right now I think. The old adage "If your cryin' you should be buyin" might just hold true this year.

 

[Grassfarmer]

Those heifers must have topped the market. Hope I can do that well.
Who bought them? I mean a buyer or some optimistic local? They would sure look good to someone like GF who direct markets, but with fats not fetching much over $900 FOB plant I don't see them going to feedlot.
Did you stay for any of the sale? How did the market look in general.
I hope we have seen the bottom,as fats did turn up a little this week.

You're right greybeard.... but I'm not buying..... working on a few open heifers of our own just now :roll: to supply extra beef to new customers. It's fairly easy for me to clear $4-500 a head over the price GC was getting. Am going to fill our freezers when we have the cattle and then try marketing "50lb beef packs" over the winter. A sideline from our usual 1/4 and 1/2s business but for $500/head I'm prepared to give it a go!

 

[Silver]

You're right greybeard.... but I'm not buying..... working on a few open heifers of our own just now :roll: to supply extra beef to new customers. It's fairly easy for me to clear $4-500 a head over the price GC was getting. Am going to fill our freezers when we have the cattle and then try marketing "50lb beef packs" over the winter. A sideline from our usual 1/4 and 1/2s business but for $500/head I'm prepared to give it a go!

How do you get around all the red tape for retailing your own meat GF? Do you have them custom cut at a federally inspected plant, or are you selling on the sly? A person pretty well cant afford to have an animal cut at a local shop around here anymore. The guy I've been using for the last number of years is now up to 90 cents per lb. So that marks the end of a previously good working relationship as I'm not willing see him gross as much in 4 hrs work on that animal as I did in 2 yrs.

 

[Northern Rancher]

government regs have pretty much made everything our parents did in the 30's to get by a crime now. Lord help you if you get caught selling milk or cream off farm. I don't remember of hearing about anybody dieing from farmgate stuff in the old days.

 

[Grassfarmer]

You're right greybeard.... but I'm not buying..... working on a few open heifers of our own just now :roll: to supply extra beef to new customers. It's fairly easy for me to clear $4-500 a head over the price GC was getting. Am going to fill our freezers when we have the cattle and then try marketing "50lb beef packs" over the winter. A sideline from our usual 1/4 and 1/2s business but for $500/head I'm prepared to give it a go!

How do you get around all the red tape for retailing your own meat GF? Do you have them custom cut at a federally inspected plant, or are you selling on the sly? A person pretty well cant afford to have an animal cut at a local shop around here anymore. The guy I've been using for the last number of years is now up to 90 cents per lb. So that marks the end of a previously good working relationship as I'm not willing see him gross as much in 4 hrs work on that animal as I did in 2 yrs.

We still do it legal Silver - get them cut at a provincially approved plant. On our 600lbs hanging weight carcases we pay $55 slaughter charge, $30 waste disposal, 60c/lb to cut and wrap (paper) plus another 25c/lb to grind the hamburger. Minimum charge we come out to is about $454. On top of that if an animal is cut into quarters versus halves they charge an extra $25 per quarter. As ours go about half and half quarters versus halves+wholes we will average about $500 cutting charge overall.

Our customers also pay extra if they want extra cutting or processing like stir fry, minute steaks, sausages, jerky etc - we just charge them what the processor charges us for these services. We can still make it pay at that and I don't think the processor is getting rich.

 

[Silver]

You're right greybeard.... but I'm not buying..... working on a few open heifers of our own just now :roll: to supply extra beef to new customers. It's fairly easy for me to clear $4-500 a head over the price GC was getting. Am going to fill our freezers when we have the cattle and then try marketing "50lb beef packs" over the winter. A sideline from our usual 1/4 and 1/2s business but for $500/head I'm prepared to give it a go!

How do you get around all the red tape for retailing your own meat GF? Do you have them custom cut at a federally inspected plant, or are you selling on the sly? A person pretty well cant afford to have an animal cut at a local shop around here anymore. The guy I've been using for the last number of years is now up to 90 cents per lb. So that marks the end of a previously good working relationship as I'm not willing see him gross as much in 4 hrs work on that animal as I did in 2 yrs.

We still do it legal Silver - get them cut at a provincially approved plant. On our 600lbs hanging weight carcases we pay $55 slaughter charge, $30 waste disposal, 60c/lb to cut and wrap (paper) plus another 25c/lb to grind the hamburger. Minimum charge we come out to is about $454. On top of that if an animal is cut into quarters versus halves they charge an extra $25 per quarter. As ours go about half and half quarters versus halves+wholes we will average about $500 cutting charge overall.

Our customers also pay extra if they want extra cutting or processing like stir fry, minute steaks, sausages, jerky etc - we just charge them what the processor charges us for these services. We can still make it pay at that and I don't think the processor is getting rich.

That sounds more like it. We usually sell 6 or 7 every fall this way, but they have forced us into the black market to do it. And I don't care who knows it. My only 'beef' is the rapid increase in cut & wrap costs. We generally slaughter ourselves and take to the butcher, and have the customer pick it up when done. This year I'm considering loading them up and taking them to an inspected facility because I don't believe it will be any more expensive than what we have been doing.

 

[Grassfarmer]

How do you get around all the red tape for retailing your own meat GF? Do you have them custom cut at a federally inspected plant, or are you selling on the sly? A person pretty well cant afford to have an animal cut at a local shop around here anymore. The guy I've been using for the last number of years is now up to 90 cents per lb. So that marks the end of a previously good working relationship as I'm not willing see him gross as much in 4 hrs work on that animal as I did in 2 yrs.

We still do it legal Silver - get them cut at a provincially approved plant. On our 600lbs hanging weight carcases we pay $55 slaughter charge, $30 waste disposal, 60c/lb to cut and wrap (paper) plus another 25c/lb to grind the hamburger. Minimum charge we come out to is about $454. On top of that if an animal is cut into quarters versus halves they charge an extra $25 per quarter. As ours go about half and half quarters versus halves+wholes we will average about $500 cutting charge overall.

Our customers also pay extra if they want extra cutting or processing like stir fry, minute steaks, sausages, jerky etc - we just charge them what the processor charges us for these services. We can still make it pay at that and I don't think the processor is getting rich.

That sounds more like it. We usually sell 6 or 7 every fall this way, but they have forced us into the black market to do it. And I don't care who knows it. My only 'beef' is the rapid increase in cut & wrap costs. We generally slaughter ourselves and take to the butcher, and have the customer pick it up when done. This year I'm considering loading them up and taking them to an inspected facility because I don't believe it will be any more expensive than what we have been doing.

I never understand this "un-inspected" deal we have a couple of butchers up here who do that. They charge more money than our inspected plant does so why would anyone go un-inspected? As I understand it their butcher shop still has to be inspected and up to scratch the only thing that makes it un-inspected is the fact there isn't an inspector standing watching the kill floor. If they've spent all the money on their plant why not pay the inspector one day a week and be done with it?

 

[Silver]

The ones I know don't kill, they have a cutting shop and cooler and that's it. Most make their big money on wild meat, and cut beef at a slightly lower rate the rest of the year. For those of us that lives hours from an inspected plant these guys are the natural choice. Looks like the gov't is going to squeeze them out in favour of the big boys though.

 

[leanin' H]

I'm amazed it costs over $400 bucks for a cut & wrap job on a beef. We deliver our fat calves to a USDA inspected meat processor about 80 miles away for our customers. They call in their order and pay $180 for custom cut & wrap. That price is all inclusive. The only thing that costs a little more is if they want per-made hamburger patties which are an extra 25 cent a pound. These guys have been butchering beef for years and do great work. It's clean, wrapped well for longer freezer life and most importantly, I KNOW my clients get my beef! On a side note, I saw an ad last week for custom fed Piedmontese beef for $4.00 a pound hanging weight! :shock: It must be nice to get 2400 bucks a calf! :roll: Same people had an ad on the website down four ads selling angus beef for $2.00 dollars a pound hanging weight. Both ad's were almost word for word about how great the beef was, low in fat, high in taste, ect! From the pictures they had two steers in 4 panels and belly deep sh@! and looked like yer typical "rancher" in the city with 5 acres! :roll:

 

[Cal]

I'm up with a puking 3yr old....

Sure hope she's doing better by now. That's too bad.

Have been trying to get our calves and fences back to normal again.

We briefly saw a mountain lion close to the home place not long ago, and early Wednesday morning the calves were chased.....bad! These calves were all weaned and settled down nicely, but they were chased in all four directions and scared to death, with fences laid down in 13 places. Cops were calling about cattle on the hiway, really foggy out, and I was already 70 miles away in the semi.....no help from me......thank goodness for good neighbors. After I got home Wednesday evening, and the majority of the calves were back in and the perimiter fence was put up, sort of. Naturally, they got scared and broke out again! Got to deal with it again in the dark. Have been leaving a tractor run all night out with them, since this, and been treating alot of sick ones. One got a broken leg out of the deal, had to be shot. I think things are getting back to normal, but hope they don't get scared again by a big cat, or whatever it was. :x

 

[Yanuck]

she was sick this morning off and on but felt good enough to go and help preg check this afternoon, so hopefully its over! thats not good news with your calves Cal...hope your "kitty cat" goes away!

 

[Grassfarmer]

I'm amazed it costs over $400 bucks for a cut & wrap job on a beef. We deliver our fat calves to a USDA inspected meat processor about 80 miles away for our customers. They call in their order and pay $180 for custom cut & wrap. That price is all inclusive. The only thing that costs a little more is if they want per-made hamburger patties which are an extra 25 cent a pound. These guys have been butchering beef for years and do great work. It's clean, wrapped well for longer freezer life and most importantly, I KNOW my clients get my beef! On a side note, I saw an ad last week for custom fed Piedmontese beef for $4.00 a pound hanging weight! :shock: It must be nice to get 2400 bucks a calf! :roll: Same people had an ad on the website down four ads selling angus beef for $2.00 dollars a pound hanging weight. Both ad's were almost word for word about how great the beef was, low in fat, high in taste, ect! From the pictures they had two steers in 4 panels and belly deep sh@! and looked like yer typical "rancher" in the city with 5 acres! :roll:

It's great how there seems to be a market for beef at different price levels - there is a long established organic producer I know that charges $4.50/lb hanging weight - and I've heard lots of people say the beef is tough. It wouldn't surprise me as I've seen market weight cattle being fed their in the winter that didn't look to be carrying enough cover to kill. They have a touch of the wilds too - seen them upside down a few times in the alley at the processors, that's got to help the tenderness :shock:
The processors are so scarce up here they got to up their charges through the BSE period and they just keep on raising the prices. We certainly couldn't do the $2/lb beef with our processing costs and I think plenty customers would pay $4 if the product was good. We charge around the $3 mark and find we can grow our market quickly at that price.

 

[hillsdown]

New rules coming in your / our local abattoirs will not be able to stay afloat.


Contact your local rep provincial and federal and start net working. One more thing they have to shut the Ag industry down..

ALL CANADIANS TAKE NOTE, ESSPECIALLY ALBERTANS,,BSE HIT US THE HARDEST.........

 

[Northern Rancher]

BSE hit Alberta the hardest please tell me how it was any rosier in Saskatchewan?

 

[Silver]

I'm amazed it costs over $400 bucks for a cut & wrap job on a beef. We deliver our fat calves to a USDA inspected meat processor about 80 miles away for our customers. They call in their order and pay $180 for custom cut & wrap. That price is all inclusive. The only thing that costs a little more is if they want per-made hamburger patties which are an extra 25 cent a pound. These guys have been butchering beef for years and do great work. It's clean, wrapped well for longer freezer life and most importantly, I KNOW my clients get my beef! On a side note, I saw an ad last week for custom fed Piedmontese beef for $4.00 a pound hanging weight! :shock: It must be nice to get 2400 bucks a calf! :roll: Same people had an ad on the website down four ads selling angus beef for $2.00 dollars a pound hanging weight. Both ad's were almost word for word about how great the beef was, low in fat, high in taste, ect! From the pictures they had two steers in 4 panels and belly deep sh@! and looked like yer typical "rancher" in the city with 5 acres! :roll:

It's great how there seems to be a market for beef at different price levels - there is a long established organic producer I know that charges $4.50/lb hanging weight - and I've heard lots of people say the beef is tough. It wouldn't surprise me as I've seen market weight cattle being fed their in the winter that didn't look to be carrying enough cover to kill. They have a touch of the wilds too - seen them upside down a few times in the alley at the processors, that's got to help the tenderness :shock:
The processors are so scarce up here they got to up their charges through the BSE period and they just keep on raising the prices. We certainly couldn't do the $2/lb beef with our processing costs and I think plenty customers would pay $4 if the product was good. We charge around the $3 mark and find we can grow our market quickly at that price.

I'm starting to think the $1 per pound hanging weight isn't enough, I may have to change it for next year. Mind you, we only ever sell dry cows (not yrlgs) to eat that have fattened on grass so it still pencils out better than selling them as d1's at the barn.

 

[Grassfarmer]

I'm amazed it costs over $400 bucks for a cut & wrap job on a beef. We deliver our fat calves to a USDA inspected meat processor about 80 miles away for our customers. They call in their order and pay $180 for custom cut & wrap. That price is all inclusive. The only thing that costs a little more is if they want per-made hamburger patties which are an extra 25 cent a pound. These guys have been butchering beef for years and do great work. It's clean, wrapped well for longer freezer life and most importantly, I KNOW my clients get my beef! On a side note, I saw an ad last week for custom fed Piedmontese beef for $4.00 a pound hanging weight! :shock: It must be nice to get 2400 bucks a calf! :roll: Same people had an ad on the website down four ads selling angus beef for $2.00 dollars a pound hanging weight. Both ad's were almost word for word about how great the beef was, low in fat, high in taste, ect! From the pictures they had two steers in 4 panels and belly deep sh@! and looked like yer typical "rancher" in the city with 5 acres! :roll:

It's great how there seems to be a market for beef at different price levels - there is a long established organic producer I know that charges $4.50/lb hanging weight - and I've heard lots of people say the beef is tough. It wouldn't surprise me as I've seen market weight cattle being fed their in the winter that didn't look to be carrying enough cover to kill. They have a touch of the wilds too - seen them upside down a few times in the alley at the processors, that's got to help the tenderness :shock:
The processors are so scarce up here they got to up their charges through the BSE period and they just keep on raising the prices. We certainly couldn't do the $2/lb beef with our processing costs and I think plenty customers would pay $4 if the product was good. We charge around the $3 mark and find we can grow our market quickly at that price.

I'm starting to think the $1 per pound hanging weight isn't enough, I may have to change it for next year. Mind you, we only ever sell dry cows (not yrlgs) to eat that have fattened on grass so it still pencils out better than selling them as d1's at the barn.

Last year's average retail Canadian beef price equated to $4/lb hanging weight by my calculations. I assume this was for all beef sold - UTMs and cull cows Lot's of these good cows are going the same way as the young animals, don't think for a minute it's all being ground. Now tell me why CCA and all our provincial cattle producer groups start any speech nowadays by saying we must feel sorry for the packers too - they are having as tough a time of it as producers. :roll:

 

[burnt]

BSE hit Alberta the hardest please tell me how it was any rosier in Saskatchewan?

. . . or Ontario? I had just received a load of yearling breeding heifers @ $1.41/lbs from Alberta on May the 20th, 2003 and when we unloaded them they had dropped in value by 1/2 on the news of the Alberta cow!!!

I still wrote the check for $1.41/lb. to the seller in Alberta.

So things haven't been that rosy in the east either.

 

[Anonymous]

I was perusing one of the websites the other day that said Canfax was reporting that in 1999 the producer received 24% share of the retail beef price-- and that now 10 years later that percentage is 16%...

By simply restoring the 16% share producers get today back to the 24% they got in 1999 producers would earn $550 more per fed animal than they do now. This is where the missing money goes that is bankrupting ranchers - imagine distributing $550 per animal back through the chain to feedlot operators and ranchers. We wont be greedy - let the feedlots keep $250 and let ranchers keep $300 extra on every calf or feeder animal sold - would make quite a difference to economics wouldn't it?

I doubt if it differs much down in the states either with our continuing loss of competition....