What Does It Cost To Have A Whole Cow Butchered? 

$1.552 per pound for processing & packaging is unstainable. Have you considered ranch to plate by custom processing with live animal share?

That’s all awesome. Good luck to you!

My Dad was a lifelong beef rancher, degree in animal husbandry from SMSU Spfd Missouri (now MSU?) and he thought so too until I convinced him to try this grass finished beef out here in WA state where I moved to. He couldn’t believe it. He was 67. Blew him away he loved it. It’s beefier. It’s really in how the finishing beef are handled and the good forage it’s on as well as the breed. Marbling is just the usda’s current grading - the tenderness actually comes from microscopic fat. There’s several breeds one is - sorry I can’t remember exactly but - Piedmont(?) - animal never really marbles but is top shelf tender. Looking into finding some weaned calves with that breed in the mix as I get back into raising our own again not just buying neighbor’s grass fed. Try a really good grass finished out!

how did you find the rancher to lease from you?

​@@geofflask around at the sale barn. People know people and maybe there's even a bulletin board

I don't want my gov't subsidizing cheap food with labor from prison, but I would like to see prisons grow their own food and do highway trimming an litter pickup. I agree...it should help with rehabilitation for sure! Give a man a purpose and he won't have time for mischief!

I went on a carnivore diet and I felt great but I looked horrible because I am 67 and a little fat fills out those wrinkles! I have never weighed over 170 and I am 5"11' then one year ago my wife came to America and boy can those Ukrainian women cook and there went the carnivore diet!

You're paying your dad $10 per lb finished? Cost me about $1-1.50 per lb at the butcher

My cows will not let me rub all over their face. Even the tamer ones

​@@JamesG1126lmao

do you disagree that his method leads to healthier cows?

Accurate picture. If you make people fat, sick, and have heart attacks, does that make you a bad person?

You can. 1/4, 1/2, or whole doesn't require government interference.

Personally , I would never trust the USDA, FDa, or CDC. As of April 30th this year, all pork and beef will recieves an MNRA vaccine before butchering.

the way it works is: - you buy a live animal from the rancher - you give your cut instructions to the butcher - you get steaks/ground beef/etc. in packages labelled "not for sale" in this way you can get around the usda requirement

Yeah i was figuring he was going to go thru the cost from buying, feeding the hay during winter, water supply, total cost for 18 to 32 months. How would you add land cost or grass seed cost into it. So now we know processing is going to run around $700. Yeah what would be your avg sales cost? Then you can figure what your profit is for 2 years, or per cow. How does the cost for equipment figure into it? Depreciation, cost to run or maintain/ fix.

I'd re-think the butchering yourself...beef needs to hang and age...butchering a 1200lb animal is a major undertaking

@@StoneyRidgeFarmer its not my first rodeo :) I do know the challenges and have a chiller big enough I butcher a few animals already just not on that scale deer sheep etc. Like I said I have a big family so it won't be an issue what I would like to do though is try well aged hung beef which isn't so available these days.

2-3 times a day.....interesting. We move 2 times per day in summer and keep them on a paddock for 2-3 days in winter. if you're moving 3 times per day, you may wanna consider larger paddocks to save you that time, just a thought buddy...but your climate is much different from mine I'm sure

@@StoneyRidgeFarmer We originally used huge paddocks and moved them every 2 or 3 days but I got fat and lazy. Moving the cows is the only exercise I get so moving them is more for my health then theirs. In the winter they are in the same paddock until thaw because clearing 4' to 8' snow to bring them hay daily would be impossible.

When a steer is about 1000 lbs, at around 18-26 months. We don’t have any steers that size right now but by October we probably will

Calf? My friend....I can and will butcher beef on the channel at some point, however if I sell my beef I have to process the animal in a USDA inspected facility....99% of folks wouldn't take this on....aging the beef 15 days or so in a walk in cooler is the costly part of this

@@StoneyRidgeFarmer do you also sell 1/4, 1/2, whole custom exempt? You sell to customer, customer gives cut instructions to butcher, and customer receives steaks/ground/etc. in packaging labelled "not for sale".

No that’s the beauty of it if done properly. Cornell Extension has some good general articles. Parasites not bacteria are commonly the real issues with small scale livestock. A healthy immune system can usually balance good and bad bacteria which is normal on healthy pasture in low stress environments. Rotational grazing with alternative species breaks the parasites’ life cycle. Just read up to be sure on what animals follow which (the leaders) and healthy timelines, for best regenerative practices for follow up sowing etc - also very specific to your area is important. You might reach out to your local university extension for their specific recommendations. Good luck!

No antibiotics approved for chickens

don't buy it and you won't have to eat it my friend...nobody is gonna force lab raised meat on you.....this I can guarantee!

Scary stories bad guys tell children. Look up "straw man argument"

lol...yessir. That thumbnail is a south polled bull....we're breeding them into the herd now

Ban saw works great

typically we only use net wrap bales....those can be stored outside...it's not long term, but in the short term they are just fine...I have a video out on this...I think it's called "why small farms fail" a $40k barn to save $50 per year on hay doesn't make good sense in most cases

Thatch roofs are made out of straw and they're waterproff

'mercuns... Not used to people telling the truth, huh?

My friend....you are talking about butchering an 1200lb animal.....you need to hang and age the beef...you need meat cutting band saws, vacuum sealers, freezers, walk in coolers, a hoist or tractor to raise the animal....we're talking about $40k worth of infrastructure.....and you can't sell the beef legally because it's not USDA inspected. Anybody can butcher a cow....but buddy...it takes alot of equipment to get it done right.

@@StoneyRidgeFarmer it takes pros only a few hours to dismantle and cut up beef from nose to tail with surgical precision - it is a skill but not worth 200/hr