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  • From: "Lynn Wigglesworth" <lynnw1366 AT hotmail.com>
  • To: <homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] You think they won't taxyourhomestead...............
  • Date: Fri, 5 Dec 2008 10:15:35 -0500

I run an ad, and I have a lot of repeat customers. I hire a livestock 'hauler' to take them to the butcher. I'm required to have the whole process done by a USDA butcher if I want to sell individual cuts of meat. My butcher does a great job; he wanted to get into selling pasture-raised beef himself, so he learned about hanging times and temperatures on my meat (pasture-raised doesn't have as much fat, so is best hung at a slightly higher temperature for 2 weeks).

Lynn Wigglesworth

----- Original Message ----- From: "bob ford" <bobford79 AT yahoo.com>
To: <homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Friday, December 05, 2008 10:07 AM
Subject: Re: [Homestead] You think they won't taxyourhomestead...............


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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