Current Price of Beef on the Hoof

Ownership A LIVE Animal

Buying grass fed beef on the hoof, a total, side, or quarter can be the most economical way of getting this meat merely the procedure creates a lot of questions. Many people are moving abroad from "mass produced beef" to what is believed to be the healthier choice of grass fed beefiness and they are looking for the best price indicate for this product. Those interested in purchasing a side of grass fed beef or a whole animal find that information technology can be very confusing the commencement fourth dimension.

The cost to a family to purchase a whole live beast tin can be quite a cash outlay fifty-fifty though it is price constructive in the long run. A family unit has to consider how much beef they swallow in a year at grocery store prices and so summate how much freezer infinite they need to agree a whole animal. In one case you've arrived at this figure, and then the family needs to store effectually for a producer of grass fed beefiness, usually found in their local area, a processing facility, how to go the animal to the facility, and how to decide what type of cuts of meat they want.

There are two types of processing facilities. If you own the animal, you have the right to have it candy wherever you like. If you buy meat already candy, it must have been processed at a USDA inspected facility to be available for resale to the public.

Because of the big initial expense or the large volume of meat to exist consumed in a yr, many pocket-size ranches will sell their cattle as shares or pct (%) of the live animal. This is customarily done as halves or quarters and necessitates several families to become in together or for the producer to discover buyers for portions of a live animal. Since share purchasing is based on a live animal, the share cost will be based on the actual weight of the animal (either on the hoof or hanging weight).

This brings up questions near the cost of the live brute in relation to the weight of the beef during all the stages of processing. Depending on the rancher where you purchase your beef, the price of the beef will be based on the live weight of the animal, or the weight of the meat from one of the following stages of processing:

DRY Aged Beef

When beef is dry out aged information technology enhances the tenderness and flavour of the meat. The number of days to hang earlier the meat is cutting is usually x - 14 days. Longer is e'er better but of course there is a limit depending on the environmental atmospheric condition in the cooler, discuss this with your butcher.

HOOF WEIGHT (LIVE WEIGHT)

The weight of the beast earlier processing. This is the least ordinarily used method since most ranchers practise not have scales. (Notation: Schaefer Ranch does have calibrated scales). This weight measurement may also calculate "Draw" or "Shrink" which is the corporeality of weight the creature looses through bodily elimination from when they are stressed during the handling and transportation to the processing facility.

HANGING WEIGHT (ON THE RAIL WEIGHT)

This refers to the weight of the beast equally information technology hangs in the butcher's cooler. This is the weight once the head, hide, feet, organs and blood are removed. Almost all butchers base the processing fees on the amount of hanging weight. It is the price the butcher gets to cutting, wrap and freeze the meat for the consumer.

DRESS Percentage

This is another term used in the process from a alive animal to hanging weight. Information technology refers to the hanging weight of the carcass every bit a percentage of the live weight. Clothes percentages range from 50% to 66% of the live weight. This number varies based on the breed and class of cattle. For example, perhaps an Angus will have a thinner, lighter hibernate than some other breed, or an animal with large horns may weigh more than polled (hornless) cattle. You will most likely wind upward with a dress percent around sixty%.

PACKAGED WEIGHT (Cut & WRAP YIELD)

A carcass can vary profoundly but a good average for this yield is 76% and refers to the cutting, packaging and labeling of meat that you will put in your freezer. When the carcass is processed into the named cuts of meat, there is some loss where these cuts are deboned and fat is trimmed abroad. This yield will too depend on the types of cuts you tell your butcher that you want. Grass fed beef will usually take a college percent yield a college pct yield than grain fed beef since there is excess fat in grain fed beefiness that has to be trimmed away.

Alive WEIGHT X DRESS PERCENTAGE WEIGHT X CARCASS YIELD = CUT & WRAP YIELD

one thousand LB STEER X 60% X 76% = 456 LBS OF CUT & WRAPPED MEAT

Storage Considerations

• You lot will need virtually three cubic anxiety of freezer space for every 100 lbs. of meat.
• Breast freezers will minimize the amount of cold air let out when you open the hat. It's best to employ one with no defrost cycle. The thaw and freeze cycles of a frost-costless freezer will crusade freezer fire of the meat.

TALK WITH YOUR BUTCHER

There are diverse areas from each section of the beefiness that accept overlapping cuts and so you must choose one or the other. The butcher will need your name, phone number, rancher'southward name and size of the share yous have purchased. Be sure to ask about hanging weight and processing fees. Betoken your family size and talk about how many cuts per package, tenderizing and your preferences from each primal section. You are probably buying enough beef for your family for a year and information technology can exist a sizable expense and so y'all want it done to your satisfaction.

Main Things To Consider

• Size of your share for a half or quarter.
• Number of steaks per package.
• Thickness of steaks.
• Size / thickness of roasts.
• Weight of ground beefiness packages.
• Organ meat (heart, liver, toung).
• Tenderizing.
• Number of days to hang.
• Special cuts (tomahawk ribeye, flat-iron steak, etc.).
• Wrap and package: butcher paper or vacuum sealed.

WHAT Volition THE MEAT Price TO PROCESS?

When y'all buy a caput of cattle from us, we tin can give you the weight of the animal selected. Nosotros can also give you an estimate of what the hanging weight will be. If y'all are buying a share of an animal, your cost to usa will be a per centum of the live weight when information technology is loaded on the trailer at the ranch. Once your share is processed, you will pick upwardly your meat at the butcher'due south facility and pay the butcher for the cut & wrap fee. This cut and wrap fee volition besides include fees based on your percent of the animal such as the kill fee and sometimes a os disposal fee, and also fees for additional hanging time, grinding for hamburger, or patties and products like summertime sausage.

When you lot talk to your butcher about the cuts of meat and thickness of each, be sure to ask what are all of their fees. Most processing facilities will have a price sheet available. Currently, kill fees are $55 - $65 and hamburger is effectually $.25/lb. for the trimming and grinding, and more if you have information technology fabricated into patties. There are also fees for tenderizing, which is not usually necessary for properly aged grass fed beef.

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Source: http://www.schaefergrassfedbeef.com/onthehoof.php

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