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Dec 2, 2009, 5:08am

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AuthorTopic: Commercial Dexters (Read 421 times)
cjsfarm
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Re: Commercial Dexters
« Reply #15 on Oct 31, 2009, 6:31am »
The steers I sold were Feb calves. Our steers are as follows: 50# @ birth, 350# at 6-7 months. 700-800# @ 24 months. All are grass fed only. We don't butcher steers until 24 months, the weight at 18 months averages about 100# less. The steers are sold for $1 a # live weight and yield 54-59% hanging weight. We keep a complete record on each steer. The carcass will produce about 200-225# of freezer meat. We sell the hamburger for $3 a # and the steaks and rib roasts for $8 a #. We don't have any other roasts cut and have found the rib steaks aren't popular. Everyone complains the rib steaks are tough outside the ribeye. The rib roasts are very popular. We sell more steers by the package than we do by the side. We have studied the beef market in our area for many years, with dexters, if we take the premium we can get on a dexter heifer over a grade beef heifer and add it to the lower price we receive for a steer. because of lower weight, then take into account that your herd averages 50% of each. We make about the same raising dexters as we would any beef breed. The monkey in the wrench will be if our price for heifers drops then we won't be profitable. Hope this helps, sounds like gobley goog when I read it.
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Honeycreek Dexters
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Re: Commercial Dexters
« Reply #16 on Nov 1, 2009, 9:56pm »
CJS the 16 steer calves @ ~ 350, would you care to say how much pasture they were on. And were they on the cows all of that time? Or did you maybe wean them at 4 mos?
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cjsfarm
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Re: Commercial Dexters
« Reply #17 on Nov 2, 2009, 6:42pm »
We run our dexters calves with the herd until 4 months. Hard to say on amount of pasture as we run on about 600 acres, but I would guess 16 steer calves could run on 10 acres of good pasture and not get hungry.
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Olga
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Re: Commercial Dexters
« Reply #18 on Nov 10, 2009, 5:37pm »
On our way back from the 2007 AGM in Sprinfield, we met a restaurant owner at a gas station. He was extremely interested in heritage natural beef and asked me to pass his contact info on to the association. He was hoping to find several MO breeders in his area that would go in together to have a custom processing plant. He didn't want any other meat to be processed with the hormone-free grass-fed Dexter meat. He was willing to pay premium prices.
It's true that a venture like that is a big one with lots of responsibility and a big investment needed to begin with. But it's an idea for those of you who have the acrage to run a large herd. A small processing plant could provide a steady supply of very fresh choice cuts for the upscale restaurant-type and on-site private sales of lower-end cuts and ground beef would be a certain hit with the locals.
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Re: Commercial Dexters
« Reply #19 on Nov 11, 2009, 10:24am »
Olga, If anything ever happened with this, in Missouri, I'd like to know about it. We have a pretty good processor near us but you never know....
Where in Missouri was this guy? Near Springfield or more east?
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Re: Commercial Dexters
« Reply #20 on Nov 11, 2009, 1:07pm »
It seems that this fellow may have a clue. I say that because he says "producers from this area" and that is one of the major factors in a successful packing facility, locating where the beef is. Trucking cost you know.
One of the best ways to achieve this type of facility is to buy a plant already in use but going down hill due to marketing factors or management issues. There is one like this in Minn. It is a family operation and it is very successful in the Niche market, not a big player in the grand scheme of beef packing but they make a good living for there family.
Another factor is that the company sells branded meats. When you put your name on it you seem to take more care of the finished product. If you just own the plant and don't have a stake in the beef you don't care if you loose 3 or 4 hundred dollars on each animal thru the door because you make your profit from the producers and they are the ones loosing the dollars. So it helps if the owners/partners are actually producers of beef.
There was a good article on this very subject in The Grass Farmer, Stockman some time back.
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