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[bob ford <bobford79 AT yahoo.com>]

Dom you run an ad in the paper to sell the quarters, halves, etc or is it 
just word of mouth?  Does the butcher have the trailer, etc. to pick them up 
to take to be slaughtered and butchered and to you have to rent trailer, etc? 
 Large animals require some kind of equipment?

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--- On Fri, 12/5/08, Lynn Wigglesworth <lynnw1366 AT hotmail.com> wrote:

> From: Lynn Wigglesworth <lynnw1366 AT hotmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Homestead] You think they won't 
> taxyourhomestead...............
> To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
> Date: Friday, December 5, 2008, 7:55 AM
> > 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 
> 
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