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["Lynn Wigglesworth" <lynnw1366 AT hotmail.com>]

> When you have nine or so (you've told me how you get the steer calves from 
> dairy farms), do they all become ready for butchering about the same time. 
> Do you sell them through a 'sale pen' (livestock auction) , OR, do you 
> sale them live and have them delivered live to the butcher, you gives the 
> meat to >the customer?  I'm conffused about the logistics
I sell directly to customers as halves, quarters, and individual cuts. I try 
to wait until I have at least a quarter cow sold before I have one 
butchered, because I don't have a lot of freezer space (one cow takes 2 
full-sized freezers). Any that isn't sold as halves/quarters I sell through 
my farm stand as individual cuts.

I can't get the high prices here that some people can for pasture-raised 
meat, but even at supermarket prices, there's a lot of profit in 
pasture-raised. I have about $100 in hay cost (if I've held them over the 
winter) plus about $300 for hauling/butchering per cow...if I sell it in 
individual cuts, I can gross over $1200, less if I sell bulk. I haven't been 
to a livestock auction in years, but 1,000 pound beef cows used to go for 
$250-300.

So far I can only do 2 or 3 per year, but as I increase the number of cattle 
and customers, I can do more (up to maybe 15-20 if my business ever grows 
that much). I don't do steers; I do bulls...I think they stay leaner. I also 
want them for breeding, and I try to get rid of them before they get too 
'bullish'. One good thing about keeping them 'on the hoof' is that I can 
hold them up to 2 years until I'm ready to have them butchered.

Lynn Wigglesworth
Tioga Co. PA