In past years we have split the purchase of a steer for beef with friends and every time I always talked about raising my own so this year I finally pulled the trigger.  I did not grow up on a farm but I have a few friends and family that have raised livestock.  My exposure to what they have is what gave me the confidence to do this.  Basically I knew just enough to be dangerous.

I put the plan into motion by calling one of my good friends who raises beef cattle. He and his family have a 3rd generation farm.  The best part of that is I can call anytime and he answers my stupid questions. This was very important for me and I recommend the same if you plan on attempting what I did. The phone calls started early summer and by the time we were ready enough to take delivery it was mid summer.  I made arrangements for some land and my friend delivered them and we unloaded the trailer. This went really smooth mostly because there were experienced people in charge.

The pasture they were in was mostly clover in the upper field and fescue in the lower one with a running spring for water.  We fed a little bit of grain on a fairly regular basis to get them trained to come to the pen and used to being around us.  They were all pretty nervous at first but by the end all but one of them would come up and wait for me to dump the feed bag.  By October here it was still pretty warm and there was still a lot of grass on the ground, we put out some hay but they didn't care.  As it started to cool down in November we added more hay and started increasing the grain.  We increased the grain a little every few days until we took them to the processor in early December.

As we approached our slaughter date I borrowed a trailer and made a plan to deliver them the day before our appointment.  It was good that I allowed for the extra day because our load out plan was not as brilliant as I would have hoped.  They weren't interested in being in the pen near the trailer. Their lack of cooperation lasted for several hours and after some help we finally we got them loaded and delivered.  Most important lessons learned here are that you need help, a good pen (strong panels secured to the ground), and good fences.  Without these things they can and will go wherever they want and can easily hurt grown men in the process.

Most of my friends are from the school of thought that you must grain finish for good marbling and good steaks.  I am of mixed opinion on this because I really like everything I read about the health benefits of grass fed beef however I do like a nice steak and I must regrettably admit that grain finished beef produces better steaks. Last year I bought a grass fed steer that never had any grain, he was in a big pasture, and was finished on grass.  At the same time one of my good friends bought a big fat steer that was finished in a pen on lots and lots of grain.  We had them processed on the same day at the same processor, the only difference was that he had his steaks cut at 1 1/4" and mine were 3/4"-1".  The thickness was another advantage that his had in our grass vs grain grill competition but it wasn't all the reason he won.  Whatever your preference farm raised is waaayyy better than grocery store beef.  In all honesty the hamburger (ground beef) is the biggest reason to buy one from the farm.  You can usually go to the store or a meat shop and buy a nice good steak but its really hard to get ground beef from the store that isn't mediocre at best.

All in all I'm glad I made the decision to do this and I wish I would have sooner.  We are actually discussing buying a few cows in addition to steers this time around and keeping them over next winter.  We kept a 1/2 of 1 steer for ourselves and were fortunate that by just putting out the word to some friends and family we were able to sell halves and quarters of all the rest.

Important things I learned-

1) If you are planning to butcher in the fall (like most everyone else) keep in mind the processors get booked up very quickly.  I don't know about other states but here in Missouri many of them close down in November for deer season as well.  
2) Shop around for your feed.  Buying from the mill can save $3-$4/bag.
3) We averaged 2lb/day of gain which was good but most of the reading I did online promised higher numbers.  
4) A proper pen with good gates is worth its weight steel.
5) Good fences aren't really that expensive if you build them yourself and are worth every penny.  I am rebuilding the fences on my land this year.  We have already cleared the fence rows now we just have to build the

Grove

Factoring all costs, how much per pound finished?

A hot wire can do a great deal to save fences, as horses and cattle will lean, scratch and poke their heads through fences to get at the green grass on the other side or just to make a nuisance of themselves.

The dang things love COB (or any grain) and can get pretty pushy if they see you carrying a bucket they associate with grain.  This also means they will follow you into the bowels of Mount Doom, if you are carrying a bucket.

Which also means if you are a 7 yr old kid wanting to climb Grandpa's willow tree in the pasture, don't use a bucket as a step stool unless you want to be surrounded.

This

First time equipment costs aside, it cost us about same as store prices, but the meat was superior.

Corn fed antibiotic free FTW.

Imagine me a city boy that may not know the difference between a heifer and a Hereford, what equipment is there?

 

Thank you for an interesting and informative post.



I am also interested in some of the mathematics involved.  

It has been a couple of years for me, but we used to buy young steers for about 550-600 dollars, then graze them and feed them COB the last few weeks before butchering.  Feed was about 12-14.00 per 50lb bag.  Add in a salt lick.  Add in transportation and processing (about 40-50 cents per pound hanging weight...figure about 800 pounds or so for a whole beef or 400 for a side (half).  Wind up with slightly less than half the hanging weight for packed meat, say 400 lbs to make the math easy.  Generally works out to between 3 and 4 bucks a pound.  More expensive if you lose an animal to sickness or injury.

By the time you factor in land requirements, fencing, automatic watering systems or heated insulated tanks so they don't freeze up in the winter...it is cheaper to just buy the cuts you want at the store.

If you skipped the grain and just grass fed them, did the processing yourself, and sold a beef or two to friends to defray the costs...you could probably save some money if you don't factor in your labor.

Home raised beef quality is good, but I've done it, and am not certain I could pick it out in a blind side by side taste test next to grocery store beef.

It is a good thing for kids to be involved with.

Initial cost for 5 steers was $5100 and they had a total weight of 3600.  Appox $1.42/lb live weight  Average of 720/lbs each.
Cost of feed, mineral supplements, and salt was just shy of $700.  After talking to a few guys and reading online I don't think salt blocks or mineral licks really work. Bagged is more expensive but I think it works better.
Our original plans were to get them at about 600-650 and grow them to 900-950 but we got started late and they were bigger than expected. We grew them to an average of about 975lbs each.  Range was 850lbs-1100lbs.  
The deal I made with the buyers early was based on an estimated price around 900lbs so everybody got more than what they actually paid. I didn't want to raise everyone's price because I kept them longer than expected due to the processors closing for deer season, especially since I was warned about this by a few different people. Our hanging weights were 486, 533, 544, 579, and 622. The 622 was split in 1/4s and those guys all paid the higher 1/4 price.  One of them weighed the packaged meat from his 1/4 when he got home and it was 123lbs. Processing prices ranged from $248-$320 and totaled $1457.59

We sold 1/4s for $350-$390, 1/2s for $675-$700, and one person bought a whole for $1360.  The deal ended up losing about $300 but we kept the smallest one for ourselves including the processing.  If I would have sold them at market price based on actual live weights it would have been about a break even and we get free meat. I was more concerned about everyone else being happy so they participate in the future.  These people all took a chance by committing knowing this was a first time and so far everyone except one person is happy.  The unhappy was my friends employees family and they were upset there was more steak and roasts than burger (yes I said that right).  Our solution to that was offering to trade our burger for their steaks and roasts.  

All it all I'm glad I did it. We learned a lot, had a great time, and have good beef in the freezer. I was told early on that it wasn't a money maker because beef is so high right now that the cost of calves just makes it prohibitive.  For all you guys that used to buy calves or even beef for slaughter you are in for a rude awakening if you haven't checked prices in the last few years. Our future plans are to buy some cows and AI them so we can raise our own steers.

Grove

Thank you for the details.

most any good butcher should be willing to do a cut sheet
and you have your customers each fill out their own cut sheet, so they get the cuts they want, packaged the way they want.   When we buy our 1/4, we turn a lot of the roasts and odd cuts into ground beef.  

BTW, good post, it's all about paying tuition, you just have to learn how to do it, it's not really "profitable" so to say, but some day the information and knowledge may become priceless.

Thanks for the info, very interesting.

These people didn't even give a hard commitment until after they were at the processor and paid with a postdated check.  They were "splitting" their 1/4 with somebody else and wanted to give away ground beef not roasts and steaks.  I don't have people with less than a half call the processor with cutting instructions, it makes it easier on the processor to only deal with one or two people per animal and they are much happier with me because of it.

Grove

These were Angus but I think the next time around we are going to try Belted Galloways.  Look them up they are from the same region.  Supposedly their double layer fur keeps them warmer in the winter and they consume less hay.  They also have higher yield because they don't have the fat layer around the carcass.

Grove

ETA
4.5 is really pushing it unless you have awesome pasture.  Plan on supplementing with grain and hay.  You will do much better with 2 than 1.  They are herd animals and pairs do better that one alone.

It amazes me how much money people are willing to invest in beef cattle without doing their homework.  That includes 99% of people who do it professionally.  Grass fed beef can be amazing to terrible.  Which outcome you achieve is totally predictable.  If you raise a breed that does well on grass.  Understand and do mob grazing right.  Then know what supplements will help tenderize the beef when properly butchered.  You will end up with an amazing product.  Beef breeds that will do well on Grass include Highland (although they are athletic escape artists), Lowline Angus, Dexter (Dual purpose Beef & Milk) and Miniture Hereford. Those are all small frame cattle. Kit Pharo specializes in production size cattle that will do the complete cycle on grass.  He has haters but he also has a line of repeat customers willing to pay a substantial premium.  For Mob Grazzing 101 just research "Greg Judy" on You Tube.  Good Books include Greg Judy's books, Salad Bar Beef and Grass Fed Cattle.  I've been around cattle since I was a kid including working on a midwest corn and cattle operation.  Grass fed done wrong is generic sale barn feeder cattle, left to over graze a pasture and then butchered wrong but not getting the proper supplements and being chilled too fast.

you must be the only one proffesional enough to raise cattle

Not trying to "poo" on the way you did it, just giving me experiences.

My parents and my brothers have been buying beef/hogs from friends for years. Ever since I was young that is the way we did it. Through teenage years when we were in 4H it was our own animals after the fair, and then back to buying again.

Just to clarify some terminology here: 1/4 of beef is where you pick a front or hind quarter. A front will end up with more burger than roasts/steaks. A hind will be the opposite. What a lot of people do is "half of a half". Where 1/2 (side of beef) is split equally between 2 people. It's often best if the 2 people know each-other at minimum but that isn't a necessicity as long as they realize that they aren't going to be getting the exact same amount of each cut right down to the oz. What they do is take the cut-sheet from each individual and then cut out each section to return the best product for each person according to their cut-sheet. Each butcher's way of doing this will differ. It helps if each persons cut-sheet is similar but that isn't always the case.

How a typical beef purchase will go in my family.
#1 1 person says, "Hey, I've got about 3-4 months of beef left, does anybody have anything that will be ready in the next couple months?
#2 Everybody speaks up with how much they would like (normally 1/2 or half of 1/2) and then makes the request to the person with the beef.
#3 Person with the beef comes back with "yes, I can satisfy that" or they "modify" it to what will work for them. For example, say between my parents and brothers we want 1 full beef and a half of 1/2. The friend that owns the cattle wants 1/2 for himself. He can come back and say, ok, I'll take 1/2 and half of 1/2, or he will say, make it three halves and we've got a deal.
#4 he will tells us when the cattle go in andwe each call the shop indivdually and tell them what we want on the cut sheet.
#5 They call and we pick up the beef and pay for it. And pay friend that owned the cattle for our share according to live-weight on the day the beef went to the butcher shop.

My cost has ALWAYS been cheaper than the store Typically 1/2 beef will cost me ~$4/lb. Figure I can buy super cheap ground beef for $2-3/lb and steaks for $8+/lb I'm way ahead of store-bought and it's much better.

Noboby gets "fixed price despite the weight" pricing. You each individually pay market price for your share and you pay your bill at the butcher shop (each cut-sheet will be billed depending on what the butcher does and most butcher shops have different pricing for different services.

SigOwner-  I understand what you are saying and what I did was group people together who wanted similar cuts. Some were new to getting beef processed and wouldn't have know the answers to most of the questions anyways. The ones with large family's that wanted 4 steaks to a package and big roasts were together and the single guys who wanted 1lb burger and 1 1/2" steaks were matched up. The processor we use is over an hour away and since not everyone knew the other people they were matched up I went and picked all of them up and we met at my house to split it up.

Our kitchen has a large island that we dump everything out on while we drink a few beers and shoot the proverbial shit. It is a good chance for people who haven't done this before to see how other people get theirs cut and have a little fun at the same time.  Everything is split evenly until it gets down to the odds and ends and then those guys pick/trade/arm wrestle/paper rock scissors out the last few.  It usually ends up with ribeyes, roasts, a brisket, and a fillet left or something to that effect.  They get to decide what they want instead of a high school kid at the processor throwing stuff in random boxes. Sometimes people have their favorites and things they aren't crazy about and they will trade those around as well. If one guy can't make it then somebody is elected to be his stand in (usually somebody who has an idea what he wants) and we make sure to give him a bonus of the heart, tail, and tongue from all the animals.  If its a good friend sometimes we even switch the label from say an arm roast and the heart.  It's a shitty surprise to come home to a crock pot with a heart in it if you weren't paying attention but it is funny and hopefully makes people show up.

We have been doing it this way for a while and it has been well received. Everyone knows and sees that its a fair split and several people have told me they really like it because of that. The processor deals with less phone calls and a only 1 pickup.  I have a small enclosed trailer and a couple of us make the journey down to pick it up.  We even help them load it.

Grove

fenced in area
access to grass/hay/stalks some sort of forage
feed (grain) to put on the weight if desired
lots of  un-frozen water
shelter (or spend more for feed) in extreme weather
A way to corral them (fence panels/ area you can cordon off) and a way to haul them (trailer/pen in a truck i.e. stock racks)
Vet if problems arise (but a lot can be home-medicated)
Ability to check on them
tractor is optional, you can feed with a bale spear/bale bed on a pickup, but a tractor makes it easier to feed bales in rings, etc

They are kinda like raising children, they eat a lot, break shit or get in trouble if you don't watch them, and are a major investment.  

Former neighbor had some cows.  Started off with one milk cow then a milk cow and its calf and then another milk cow and eventually another calf.  The young ones were considered dinner table fair when they weighed enough.



I learned a lot just being around it and I highly recomend anyone new to this just asking around and seeing if someone could use a bit of help for some instruction.



All that muscle can let a cow jump over a fence if it feels it should try that.  I forget what the vet was wanting to do to the young cow but the young cow got all wound up and jumped itself over the stall door and back out into the field.  Vet knew it could happen, I wondered if it could happen, owner was surprised.  



Working with big animals is not something to take lightly.  Lots of folks get hurt by horses and cows and other livestock all the time.



If you have some people with past experience who can come help you, that sounds reasonable.  It sounds like the original poster had a mix of experience for this first go round and it went ok.



Biggest thing with animals is to not expect to get rich or wind up with free meat.  You can come out ahead but an animal getting sick or hurt can really change those accounting numbers around.

Thanks for the write up.  My great uncles all raised cattle for beef.  On your fences, my uncles were renowned for their fence repair. These guys could be found on hoarders and pickets today if they were still alive.

The number one item to fix a knocked down portion of fence?  An old metal set of a box spring mattress!!

I can ride through the county back home and can pick out what land used to be theirs by looking for the rusted box spring fence sections

I get bull calves for 20-30.00 and raise them for 16-20 before they go to the butcher.

My costs are as follows

Calf                   30.00
Milk replacer      75.00
Grain and hay  1140.00 (cost per month 60.00 x 19 months)
Butcher P/U        50.00
Rendering           40.00
cut and wrap     214.50   (.39 a lb cut and wrap our steers bring us an average of 550 lbs of meat)

Works out to 2.81 lb  of course if we send them in in 16 months it get down to about 2.45 lb

 

 

Losses can be real and do hurt the bottom line I lost 9 calves this year because I used a new supplier and they bag fed them at birth instead of letting them feed off mama. when they bag feed them they put a tube down their throat and if the person doing it doesn't go slow enough or the tube goes in wrong they get milk in their lungs as well and this ends up killing them.we had 3 survive this year needless to say I am looking for a new supplier.


We get them anywhere from 2 days old to a week old. This last summer was the first year we have lost any in the 6 years we have been raising our own.

 

I prefer a Jersey/Holstein cross over a full breed Jersey or Holstein calf. If I can not get a cross I go with a Jersey they just seem to have a better flavor and are more easily handled.

With a Jersey/Holstein mix you get a heavier meatier cow.

Holsteins take no longer to feed out than Jerseys but we had one jersey/Holstein mix that we sent in at 16 months that was 1300 live weight and we wound up with 630 lbs of meat from it.

I currently have 3 Jersey steers that were scheduled to go into the butcher in March but we had to push that out to July because they would not have been anywhere near ready to go because of the cold winter we are having.

I also have 3 Jersey/Holstein crosses that will be going to the butcher a year from March or sooner depending on how they do over the summer.

As far as taste difference I doubt you could scientifically find a difference in taste but I believe the ones we have raised have a taste far above any store or restaurant meat.

Which ever breed you decide on Make damn sure you castrate it, there is nothing like a young bull reaching maturity and having to deal with it.

If you have kids do not allow them to play with the calves as when they get older they will still want to play and when they get past a couple of hundred pounds they have no idea of their strength and they will hurt you or your kids playing around.

Grove, I don't know if I missed it, but how many acres were these 5 on? I did see where you said clover and fescue. Did you do any rotational grazing? How much freezer space does a cow take up?

They were grazing between two different pastures, one was an open 11 acre field of mostly clover and the other was about 5-8 acres of fescue in a creek bottom with some woods.  My 5 actually shared this with 9 others for a couple months but we moved 7 of them off to another field around September.  

We did rotate them but not really with any sort of logic or system.  This time around I plan to do it a little differently.  

A half or side of beef takes 7-9 cubic feet of freezer space.  

Grove

Ok so crazy question here.  Why don't I ever hear of people butchering their own cows?  Seems to me a big expense is paying for the butcher so do that at home.   My first deer I  sent to the butcher for terrible venison, I will never send another deer to a butcher. Couldn't you use a tractor to lift it off the ground or a cable and pulleys to lift it off the ground.  Sure its a lot bigger job than a deer which is the extent of my experience.   Is it much more difficult or cumbersome than an elk?

Takes a lot of time and effort to butcher large cows. There is a lot of money that you would have to spend in equipment if you did it yourself.

You don't need a bunch of equipment, but it helps.  A way to hang the beef up for butchering helps, like a tractor or a block and tackle.  Knives and sharpener, a hand saw (or band saw/power saw), running water and a working surface, meat grinder,  and wrap/butcher paper/vacuum bags.

We hang our beef for 14 days at the processor.  I don't have the space to hang it much less keep it the proper temp for that long.

Grove

Main reasons I have heard from people about paying someone to butcher the cow is hanging as just mentioned or dealing with the mess.



Now someone who wants to mess with homesteading and really get into making use of the meat and hide might be asking why the mess is such a concern.



Growing up I had a buddy in the country and his dad would raise a few pigs and someone else would raise a cow and basically they would help each other with butchering everything up when the time came.



They bartered things out so each got half a cow and a pig or two when all was said and done.  They had a tractor and had grown up around that sort of thing so it was not a big deal to them.



I grew up in the burbs.  First time I saw a couple buckets of pig skin and a pig head sitting on top I grinned but as I thought about all the work involved I understood why they shared the load.

biere that is what I was thinking.  Take on the task together with a couple friends.  The mess would be a lot to deal with  But Im sure we could find a field to put it in to attract some coyotes.  I may just try butchering.  Ill have to research more of course but it sounds interesting.....and Im one cheap sob

One of the orphaned calves we raised in Montana;he never got to nurse at all and it was bitter cold and snowing when we got him.I was REALLY surprised he loved through the first night..He was pretty tame ...MOST of the time. (he did get me cornered in a stall once and he wouldn't let me out and he was beginning to get pretty serious.I had to call my wife to rescue me.)

[URL=[URL=http://s85.photobucket.com/user/DanaHillen/media/P10100041.jpg.html]

Tag. I got 10 acres of pasture I want to do something with beside mow every autumn.

plant alfalfa and sell hay...

Time for another round of cattle. This time around I bought cows and calves.  I got 7 Angus cows that are all bred back and  5 of them have calves that are a few months old.  My plan is to sell the heifers and keep the steers to raise for beef again.

Grove