Highlanders

The cost per pound for processing varies A LOT around the Nation and even from region to region within States. One benefit to Southern IL is we have good number of Type 1 and 2 packing plants a total of 7 within a hour drive of me. The price per pound for processing based on hanging weight ranges from .75 cents per pound up to $1.89 per pound for Custom processing (NOT FOR SALE) and from .90 cents per pound to $2.10 per pound for HACCP processing (Can Be Sold). Hot topic in a small to mid size farm to fork producer forum I participate in is how expensive processing has gotten over the last 2 years and how long it takes to get a animal in to be processed. The plant I use..... right now if I wanted to schedule a hog or a steer the earliest I could get it in would be the last week of June. So you need to figure additional time on the feed or pasture into the equation now days.

Animal cost also varies. Bucket Calves and Feeder Calves are expensive to buy and have been since mid 2020. Pre Rona you could buy Holstein bull/steer bucket calves for $35-$50 per head and Weans for $100-$125. That is more like $225 for buckets and $350-$400 for weans now days. The small herd of Low Line Arberdeens I bought a month or so back consisted of a 2 year old registered bull, two three year old registered cows (Both confirmed carrying calves from the bull) and a unregistered 1 year of heifer. I got lucky and picked them up for $1000 per head because I bought all of them that the guy had. It did not hurt that his wife and kids were demanding that he get rid of them and refused to eat any beef from the steers he had processed. Lowline Arberdeens are also a bit of a oddball breed. Basically a small black angus that are a little bit taller than mid size dexters and a lot meatier and longer than a Dexter. I called the breeding farm in MO that the guy bought them from to see what buying the same cattle from them would cost me. The Bull $3700, the two proven cows $2000 per and the heifer calf $1500-$1800. Have hit a couple of the Auction barns over the last year and the price of even generic cattle is way up there. Seen some total crap skin and bones walk through that were going for for $700-$800 FOR CANNER CUTTERS and DOG FOOD Quality. No way to sugar coat it, getting into cattle right now short of finding a very good deal is going to be VERY EXPENSIVE just to buy a few animals.

Feed Cost if you have to buy in the hay and grain it is also going to be expensive. Corn Prices are way up and round bales I bought for $50 per in 2019 cost $100 now. It was cheaper for me to buy the hay in than to pull my hay equipment out and bale my own, I baled my own last summer Several years back I dedicated 40 acres to a Corn/Bean Rotation and do it on a 2/3 1/3 crop lease with a friend and average 2600bu (145,600 pounds) of corn per year going into my grain bank at the elevator. Spot price on Corn RIGHT NOW this minute is $5.88 per BU that translates to very high feed prices if you are buying in. I generally won't do back to back Corn........ very happy I did back to back corn in 2021 Beans year me and Matt just trade my beans for a equal value of his corn to put in my bank.

The breed of cattle matters in the final cost factor for example it cost around 18% more to finish a Holstein steer than it does to finish a Angus Steer. Highlanders, Dexters, Galloways, Arberdeens and Devons on the other hand are much lower cost to to finish than the larger breeds, In the case of Highlanders and Dexters I swear you can put them on a pasture with nothing but dirt and thistle and they will grow

So in the end here is what is cost me to raise cattle per pound in the Freezer Holsteins $1.79 Angus $1.62 Dexter $1.11 Hereford $1.73. I raised some Highlanders once, nothing really for or against them and they made Beef Comparable to the Dexters guess my only things against them is the long hair and finding replacement bulls and cows within a 150 mile radius here is not practical. Which is something else to consider if you start a small herd. The Bulls are going to get old and long in the dick and have to be replaced. Cows eventually peter out and need replaced as well, I typically keep a bull for 6-7 years and keep brood cows working for 10-12. The bulls either go to the rendering plant and the spent cows get turned into whole beef burger. And I am not joking about the bulls getting long in the dick, a bulls keeps growing and eventually gets to the point that it can hurt the cows or risk taking damage and not being functional for breeding purposes. Nothing more useless than a bull with a broken dick!

Been talking with others on the forum I spoke of while typing this. Getting other folks around the Countrys price per pound. The NE/ New England must be brutal...... two people from that area report $4.65 and $4.90 per pound. Florida Reports $3.35 give or take. SD Reports $1.80 Average. KS, IA, NE, are all in the $1.40-$2 range. A Candian somewhere on the Eat Side reports $3.10 (Sloth probably has better insights there) AZ Comes back $3.70 Oregon East Side $2.90 Oregon West Side $3.60. So yeah all over the map, in my thread there I ask for Custom Personal use prices NOT HACCP Commercial prices. Was hoping TX, Northern IL. MI and CA would have responded but they have not yet. Would share a link but it is a private and closed trade forum for farm to fork producer.direct marketers. And the Admins take about 6 weeks to vet and approve a membership request.

The biggest benefit to raising your own meats is you know everything about it and what went in to it. Short of that finding a farmer that uses practices that you agree with and that sells at a reasonable price is probably the better option for the vast majority of people. The cost of putting in a 3 or 4 strand barbed wire fence or a woven wire topped with a strand of barbed or electric alone will give you nightmares for months.........Everyone always forgets the cost of the fence LOL

 

Thanks for all the valuable info I have a small piece of property surrounded by National Forest Ans loaded with feral hogs looks like pork will be going in the freezer. those I can butcher myself

 

Just be sure to cook them wild ones to 165 in the center... Those Trich Werms ain't nothing to play with

 

Sorry SIR , Expect a call after text
I'll post the Convo after , Been there and saw the hurt !
Sloth ```````````````