Steer on the hoof ...

[Guest guest]

Here is the " selling a steer " from the other side, the seller. This is probably

" hoof weight " so there would be more waste, but they are also talking

prime beef in the last link, and " used " milk cows in the one before. At auction

a grass-fed-only beef tends to be cheaper, because it isn't likely to

be " prime " in terms of marbelling. The " skinny " animals and ones not grain

fattened yet

tend to be the cheaper ones.

I've only been to an auction once, but it was a blast. 20 rabbits went

as a group to a 12-year old kid, who " won " them for 25 cents each

(I guess rabbits weren't desirable at the time).

If you pay $1.65/lb on the hoof, that makes maybe 3.00-5.00 lb

in the freezer. Which isn't bad, esp. if half of it is steak. But that

is a pretty high price, you can probably get it for less. The 615 lb

steer went for about $500 tho ... which would stock your freezer

quite nicely.

One of the Ferengi laws of acquisition: " Only fools pay retail " . :--)

Try Googling " beef auction " and your state ...

-- Heidi

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/snohomishcountynews/2001826301_madcow31n0.\

html

Only four or five Snohomish County ranchers depend on beef cattle for a living,

said Labish, the Snohomish County Cattlemen's president. The rest are hobby

farmers who sell meat by the cow, either by having animals custom-slaughtered or

by letting buyers take the animals to a slaughterhouse.

Even larger-scale farmer Steele, who owns Forest Cattle and splits his

time between Monroe and Eastern Washington, said he makes most of his local

profits by selling organic or grass-fed beef. He has about 1,500 head of cattle.

Snohomish County agriculture is changing, in part through county and state

programs designed to make it viable by encouraging farmers to seek niche markets

and local customers to buy local food. The mad-cow scare could be a boon to that

" buy local " campaign, incoming County Executive Reardon said.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0122/p03s01-usec.html

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3888453/

TOPPENISH, Wash. - Fewer cattle made it to the auction block at the Toppenish

Livestock Commission, but the prices they drew made cattlemen smile for the

first time since word broke that mad cow disease had been detected in the state.

Only about 100 cows were sold Monday, with the market high 61 cents a pound for

a 1,850-pound cow. That was only 2 cents down from a 63-cents-per-pound high for

slaughter cows in late December, said Top, co-owner of the Yakima

Valley-based auction

......

A 615-pound steer brought the highest price at $89.50 per 100 pounds -- about

$10 less per 100 pounds than what it would have sold for during the last Tulia

auction on Dec. 22, the day before the Washington state mad cow case surfaced.

http://www.sptimes.com/2002/03/26/Citrus/Teen_finds_success_at.shtml

The price slowly climbed from $1.20 per pound. Again and again Rooks worked the

crowd, as he had done for 23 previous youths and would do for the 29 to come.

" Sold at 1.65, " barked Rooks. That 1,250 pounds at $1.65 equals $2,062.50. For

the buyers, anything over 1,250 pounds is a bonus. For the kids, anything left

after paying off their bills is profit. It can be expensive to raise a steer.

Arien's break-even point was $1.34 per pound.

In Friday's Youth Steer Showmanship competition, Arien was eliminated early. But

she wasn't upset. Instead she took to the stands to root for her friend.

-- Heidi