Beef prices

   / Beef prices #1  

TheMan419

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So we have a friend who raises a few cattle at a time to eventually make into meat.

They slaughter and process on their own.

They are getting ready to slaughter one. What is a reasonable price for ground beef? I have never bought this way before. Always from a super market or farmers market.

Any way to know what the fat ratio will be?

We want to stock the freezer. Much happier to spend the $$ with a friend but also do not really know what we are doing in this regard.

Any advice?
 
   / Beef prices #2  
So we have a friend who raises a few cattle at a time to eventually make into meat.

They slaughter and process on their own.

They are getting ready to slaughter one. What is a reasonable price for ground beef? I have never bought this way before. Always from a super market or farmers market.

Any way to know what the fat ratio will be?

We want to stock the freezer. Much happier to spend the $$ with a friend but also do not really know what we are doing in this regard.

Any advice?

When I slaughter (and supply my kids with meat :)) one usually around this neck of the woods sell like a quarter/half/whole steer. As far as fat content the butcher is in control of that :confused3:
 
   / Beef prices #3  
Yes, the butcher is in control of the fat, I assume you mean on the hamburger. Other cuts you can trim if you do not like what is packaged but it does add to the weight. I do not know what the going price would be to buy this way.
 
   / Beef prices #4  
We've been purchasing beef from a local farmer for several years now. He calls us when he is going to have a few cows butchered and asks what we want. He arranges a processor, who calls us to come and pick up our order. We write a check to the farmer and the processor.

In the end, the all in price per pound ends up around ground beef price at the store. This includes the more expensive cuts such as steaks and roasts. We also usually get the heart and liver thrown in since no one seems to want these cuts. My wife uses those cuts to make dog food and dog treats! (I also like beef heart meat!)
 
   / Beef prices #5  
So we have a friend who raises a few cattle at a time to eventually make into meat.

They slaughter and process on their own.

They are getting ready to slaughter one. What is a reasonable price for ground beef? I have never bought this way before. Always from a super market or farmers market.

Any way to know what the fat ratio will be?

We want to stock the freezer. Much happier to spend the $$ with a friend but also do not really know what we are doing in this regard.

Any advice?

We have friends that raise beef cattle near Walkerton. We buy some from them every year. It always comes out to around $4.00 per pound after processing. Doesn't matter if it's hamburger, stew meat, roast, tail, steaks, etc... he charges the same per pound based on what it cost him to raise the animal that year. They have it processed at Martin's in Wakarusa.

With that said....

Hamburger is $2.39 a pound at Lowry's in Buchanan in 10# increments.
Weekly Specials | Lowerys Meat and Grocery | Southwest Michigans Premiere Meat Market
 
   / Beef prices #6  
Hamburger is going for $6.00 to $7.00 per pound depending on quantity,
hanging beef is $3.00 pound hanging plus any processing and packaging.
 
   / Beef prices #7  
We've found that the meat at Lowry's is fine. We buy rib eye when it's on sale. Have to buy the whole rib eye. It's usually 20ish pounds. They'll cut it any thickness you want. Last time is was around $3.79 a pound. So an about $80 chunk of meat got us about 22 steaks. My friends can't touch that price raising it themselves once you have to pay to have it processed.
 
   / Beef prices #9  
We have friends that raise beef cattle near Walkerton. We buy some from them every year. It always comes out to around $4.00 per pound after processing. Doesn't matter if it's hamburger, stew meat, roast, tail, steaks, etc... he charges the same per pound based on what it cost him to raise the animal that year. They have it processed at Martin's in Wakarusa.

With that said....

Hamburger is $2.39 a pound at Lowry's in Buchanan in 10# increments.
Weekly Specials | Lowerys Meat and Grocery | Southwest Michigans Premiere Meat Market

I saw this after I posted,
that is quite the bargain.
Up here just the processing varies from $0.73 to over $1.20 per pound of hanging weight.
 
 
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