| The Number 1 shocker… People gasp “One half a cow cost how much?” Let’s break this down… |
| For us, who is building their herd, we have to buy steers. We buy steers at 3 months old for $500. For the example this steer was bought 12/2/2023. Our cows stay on pasture 24/7 their entire life. They are given handfuls of grain daily to keep them friendly to humans. Thankfully we have an abundance of impressively high-quality pasture grass and seldom have to feed hay. Keep in mind going forward while learning, a round bale of hay costs $60 and lasts 6 cows one week. (But we will leave out the hay cost for the below example.) We prefer to process a cow between 12-15 months old, and we strive for a live weight of 1100-1300 pounds. Our cows are grain-finished…this means the grain is poured to them twice a day for the last 90 days, or more, before processing. The grain we feed (found on our website) is $13.00/50 lb bag. Let’s use real numbers: 14 months of feeding: Cost to farmer at this point: $500 + $1268.10 = $1,768.10 Live Weight: The cow is weighed upon arriving at the processor…1298 pounds Live weight cost to consumer: $2.66 x 1298 lbs = $3,452.68 Dress Weight: The dress weight is 766 pounds. USDA processing cost to consumer: $1.10 x 766 lbs = $842.60 Processors harvest fee = $70 Freezer Beef Cost: $3,452.68 + $842.60 + $70.00 = $4,365.28 1/2 cow (198.688 lbs take home meat): $2,182.64 1/4 cow (99.344 lbs take home meat): $1,091.32 This comes out to $10.98/lb of each cut of meat across the board! That’s $10.98/lb for filet mignon, and ribeye, and roasts, and ground beef…and everything! How does the farmer fair? 5 dewormings: $27.58 Transportation costs: $54.23 Total cost to raise cow for freezer beef: $1,849.91 Farmer Profits: $3,452.68 – $1,849.91 = $1,602.77 But what is left out? Labor costs of taking care of these animals Land costs Fence costs Mineral costs Vet visits Equipment costs Risks Doing all this in all the extreme weather conditions year-round and in the dark of the night Buying freezer beef is not about saving money. It is about QUALITY…knowing where your beef comes from, knowing what the cow ate, knowing the farmer, knowing the cow was humanely raised. And it is about supporting the small farmer and their family. Having a peace of mind about your health has value! When you buy beef from the grocery store you know nothing about it, it is mystery meat. Watch the documentary Food, Inc. If you care about your health, it will scare you; and open your eyes to the hidden atrocities of the broken food supply chain. Cheap food comes with a hidden cost that is detrimental to your health! SO WHY DO FARMERS DO IT? For their own family’s health and to pass the health along to others. But the number 1 reason is because it is a way of life they love…it is a forgotten way of life that needs preserving for the faint hope it can be reborn again to the magnitude it once was. |
Broken Plow Farm 