$600 butcher job

[livemusic]

Talking about a calf. I have a friend who lives near Austin and raises 'organic' grass-fed beef. He first complained and now he seems to be okay with it... a new state-of-the-art butcher shop (slaughter house, whatever they call it these days) that charged him $600 to butcher a calf which gave him about 200 lbs of meat. He adds "but they hired the best of the best butchers, they know what they are doing." Anyway, I am curious what others think because this seems way high to me.

 Mind you, down there, they get away with high prices on lots of things. But just wondering if it seems super high or not. He sells his beef and gets super high prices. Like triple what you see in your nice grocery store. But I promise the average dude or country folk like me isn't his customer, it's young, affluent buyers who don't raise eyebrows at $48/lb steak. Maybe there are enough young, affluent hobby 'ranchers' who this shop caters to. I guess one way to look at it is it's 'only' $3/lb for the butcher.

Then again, there's deer processing. Down here, just a few years ago, you could get it done for $60/deer, now it's way more than that. Double or more. And I will admit that I hear over and over about such and such processor and they are the highest around but they must do good work because they are busy. But, I have heard some negatives. Yet, they rock on.

[TroyC]

Friend of mine mentioned last season in central Georgia deer processing was upward of 150.00. Was 60.00 or so few years ago. Seems to me the processing cost more that the product is worth. Of course, by the time you factor in food plots, taxes, bullets, etc, that venison cost a lot more than filet.............

[gspren]

Around here some butchers are as much as $120 for basic deer cutting but the Amish butcher I use is $90. thats skin, cut, wrap, and freeze, no extra for burger but sausage, bologna, hot dogs, etc can run the cost way up. I don't hunt to save money. That price is the same for a 60 lb doe or a 140 lb buck so I will cut up a small one myself.

[LeeB]

The butcher I use charges $0.80 a pound live weight. finished yield is about 62% of live weight. A 1200 lb. calve would cost $960 to process and yield about 780 lbs. of finished meat.

[scsmith42]

I think that for the $600 Austin butcher shop, if they can get it by providing top quality service to well heeled clients, then more power to them.

As long as there are more affordable options for the rest of us,  I don't begrudge them for making an excellent profit from those who pay it as a "choice", rather than a "necessity". 

[livemusic]

The butcher I use charges $0.80 a pound live weight. finished yield is about 62% of live weight. A 1200 lb. calve would cost $960 to process and yield about 780 lbs. of finished meat.

His $600 would be $258 at your place, which is just about exactly what I was thinking his butcher job was 'worth.' Of course, it's worth what the market will pay and he is paying it, so, that's that!

EDIT: I see that someone was posting same time as me and we agree that it's capitalism but I was just wondering about the price, seemed awful high. Of course, his $48/lb steak is high, I wouldn't pay it!

[JD Guy]

Having been on the receiving end of some really shoddy jobs of processing some of our livestock in the past I'm  very happy to find one who does good work and is reliable. For that I don't mind paying some premium but there is a limit where it becomes unprofitable.

When you get back the packaged meat and can't even tell what it is and your pork chops are 1" on one side then 1/4" on the other it is more than maddening. When you take particularly good care of your animals and house and feed them properly then the processor ruins the whole animal(s) it makes it unfit for consumption or to sell.

Once burned twice shy !

[rusticretreater]

I have purchased a side of beef of locally raised grass fed beef for a couple of years now.

According to my documentation from last year, the hanging weight for the full beef was 510 lbs.  Costs were $90 slaughter, $459 to process for a total of $549 of which I paid for half.

[barbender]

Lee, are your numbers for live weight or hanging weight? I've always used hanging weight will be about 2/3 of live weight, and finished product will be 2/3 of hanging weight.

[Mooseherder]

There's a shortage of facilities that process Meat animals.  If you have animals that you're raising for yourself or for sale, getting on a list to Butcher has long waiting lists.  For the processer, they deal with one customer twice.  At drop off and pickup.  Not counting the time to process.  A whole side can be processed in 4 hours by a skilled butcher and many sooner depending on cut lists.  There's many hidden costs and regulations to deal with.  The electricity bill for a large walk in is?

[livemusic]

FWIW, a couple of years ago I read an article that said there is a shortage of butchers; kids do not want to go into it as a profession. Now, what are we going to do without butchers?

I know that in my local small grocery store chain, there is a never-ending turnover of butchers; they don't stay but a few months and they're gone. I don't know if they just got a better job or what but it's very different from my upbringing over 50 years ago and beyond, lol. We had the same butchers in our two grocery stores for decades.

[Southside]

For beef I pay $93.31 for killing, processing, and disposal.  It would save me $8.31 if I wanted the feet, guts, etc back.  After that it's $1.30 / lb hanging weight for cut, package, and freezing.  Smoked or value added products such as meat loaf add to that price, but that's for a top notch, USDA inspected facility that does all of our beef and pork.  

[Resonator]

Interesting side note in 2019 one of the meatless "burger" companies touted that they would take over the market for beef and have huge success. Initially their stock was selling for over $100 a share. Fast forward to now, their stock has crashed by 97% and selling for under $10. Apparently consumers demand beef, and are willing to pay for the taste of real beef.

[barbender]

There's a part of the population that is infatuated with making things into something that they're not...the only way you can turn plant matter into beef, is the way we've all seen demonstrated by cattle🤷 

[thecfarm]

The local supermarkets here don't really cut up the meat. I have not seen a chunk of beef walking by the window for years.

[Mooseherder]

The Meat customer at a typical grocery store is under-served with lack of selection on the Beef Category,  

The store wouldn't be allowed to process a side from the outside these days.

[WV Sawmiller]

   I'm probably out of touch but that sounds high to me.

   My son had one butchered last year but I don't know what he paid for cutting and wrapping. He did not raise it he just bought it and paid based on hanging weight. He shot 2 nice bucks Tuesday and Wednesday before Thanksgiving and paid a friend $100 each to process them. I think he just field dressed them and the other guy did all the rest. The man told he he can do a deer in about 30 minutes. I'll ask him later this week how much he paid for the beef and how he liked the deer; 

    I do my own deer and processed 2 this year. I know I am slow but I know the quality I am getting. I probably could be a little less picky on the meat I'm grinding for sausage and such.

[SawyerTed]

Our local meat processing outfit charges $100 to kill , gut, skin and hang.  For cutting and packaging they get $1.15/pound.  Grinding, cubing and other additional processing costs extra.  

For deer they require the meat to be deboned (a CWD precaution) so having them process deer isn't worth the cost. 

[barbender]

 I've always deboned deer. Actually, I've deboned quite a few hogs too, just for the lack of a meat saw.