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Thinking Seriously About Buying a Beef Critter on the Hoof.

Happy Hapgood

Happy Hapgood

somebody shut me the fark up.

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What with the price of beef and all I have a friend with about 3 acres out back of his house. I was thinking I would buy a calf and stick out there. I would have to learn what's required to get it fat. How long it would take etc.

To any of you Ranchers or folks in the know, Is it worth raising one cow for beef and is 3 acres enough?

Thanks in advance.
 
I would think by the time you bought supplies, meds & vet visits (if needed), gas to and fro, time at the property caring for the animal, time spent researching care/diet, slaughter and processing, etc, you would be well above the cost of just buying a store's beef with a one-off cow.

Plus, it would only net you 2 briskets :wink:

I could be way off, just seems like you would need economy of scale if price savings is your goal.
 
$5 a pound ain't bad if I could get the grade of the critter to prime. The steaks alone would be worth it of course it's like with any other critter, what you feed it determines it's quality for harvest.
 
Not sure I believe the 430#'s for a 1000# steer. I had one done this spring and got 60%, keep in mind though a lot of that is hamburger. Also 3 acres is not enough pasture for a steer. Not sure what kind of pasture you guys have down there but I'd want at least 6. Cows tend to trample as much as they eat.
 
You may be better off finding a local rancher to buy from. You still have some homework to do, but you can get some mighty fine beef at a decent price. some that I have researched, will even let you choose a breed and even the type of feed.

As others have said, raising a single animal may get pretty spendy when all is considered.

KC
 
Thanks Norm. What if it's diet was supplemented with corn as required. Would 3 acres be enough then?

On edit I see your from IA. Lot's of beef and good farm land up there. This would be some lowland swamp but not wet.
 
Toast said:
Thanks Norm. What if it's diet was supplemented with corn as required. Would 3 acres be enough then?
Click to expand...


With supplemental feed three acres is more than enough. But that feed =$. I looked into raising some pigs last spring(not the same critter though)and it's cheaper to buy full grown.
 
Yep 3 acres would be enough but you'll need to be able to store hay and grain. If you can do that I'd say it's doable. I'd fence off half of the pasture and rotate from one to the other when it's eaten down. One thing you have over us is no winter weather to deal with. You'll get faster weight gain with milder weather.
 
Another consideration is storage. If you already have the freezer and space for it, no big deal, but if you have to buy a freezer or rent a locker, then you have monthly electric and or storage fees. Many years ago we bought a half of beef, it was a good product at a good price, but we didn't count the storage. We rented a locker, I don't recall the monthly fee back then, this was back in the '70s, I think it was 15-20 bucks a month, not real cheap at that time.. When all was said and done, we didn't really think it was worth it. I also remember having a lot of cuts that took quite some time to use up, as they weren't the typical popular cuts. I think it took us about a year to use it all. Maybe if it had been really good prime beef it may have been different. Just some more for thought.

KC
 
Norm said:
Yep 3 acres would be enough but you'll need to be able to store hay and grain. If you can do that I'd say it's doable. I'd fence off half of the pasture and rotate from one to the other when it's eaten down. One thing you have over us is no winter weather to deal with. You'll get faster weight gain with milder weather.
Click to expand...

That's good news. It is already fence off as my friend had 2 horses out there some years ago. Not sure why the fence is there though but it's gated. :thumb:
 
code3rrt said:
Another consideration is storage. If you already have the freezer and space for it, no big deal, but if you have to buy a freezer or rent a locker, then you have monthly electric and or storage fees. Many years ago we bought a half of beef, it was a good product at a good price, but we didn't count the storage. We rented a locker, I don't recall the monthly fee back then, this was back in the '70s, I think it was 15-20 bucks a month, not real cheap at that time.. When all was said and done, we didn't really think it was worth it. I also remember having a lot of cuts that took quite some time to use up, as they weren't the typical popular cuts. I think it took us about a year to use it all. Maybe if it had been really good prime beef it may have been different. Just some more for thought.

KC
Click to expand...

This would be a joint venture with anywhere from 3-6 invested. It's my understanding that hamburger is the way to go on the unpopular cuts. Now as peeps pointed out, only two briskets. May have to draw straws. :becky:
 
Do it, went together with several friends and bought into raising several calves . My friend had 22 plus acers ok . He wanted to let his three boys get involved with taking care of the calves , feeding , water etc . Worked out real good . Almost free range , kicked in for feed, antibiotics etc. Processor cheaper than grocery store.
 
IF your not into raising yourself one. Like others said see if you can find someone to go in halves with you. We did it this year and we got a good turn out. Even if your getting say $5 bucks a pound for beef that's not bad especially considering how much beef steaks are per pound. Raising a calf would be good past time and a fun experience.
 
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