Cost of Beef

d williams said:

Linked to castle Howell all meat sold in brains pubs killing in maesteg suits heifers out of Herefords let me know if you want me to find out contact details need to be fed certain feed through winnastay for a certain time their looking for a stake to be the same taste size in every Pub

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Poorbuthappy said:

So the answer is get out??

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Walterp said:

Next question.

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Poorbuthappy said:

Walter if you increase your productivity at a greater rate than increasing your input costs then you have cut your cost of production of a kilo of beef.
This is what I am talking about in cutting costs - not just cutting input costs which may or may not be part of that.

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Walterp said:

Yes please, that'd suit us very well indeed.

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Walterp said:

The answer is that if a beef herd doesn't have the scale and productivity to make a reasonable profit at present prices and costs, then it should seek increased scale, increased productivity or an exit. (Reason: 'cos I doubt the present price/cost ratio is likely to improve much in the medium term).

Next question.

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Walterp said:

We've baled before, stacking 'em on top of a base layer of grass silage bales in the field away from buildings and had no problems at all, so we'd repeat that if necessary. But we were at an open day in Dale last month where the farmer stacked his bales in the yard but baited thoroughly, and he seemed pretty confident - although I'd be not at all confident about that.

Use very little straw, nearly all cubicles, with only steers and grannies on loose-housing, so we'd not get too hung up on straw. Previous experience suggests that it'd be better to grow more grass and forget trying to save a few quid on bought in straw, when combining alone is £25 an acre - that's nearly our total straw bill for the Winter.

Same with barley, always had losses in storage, can't justify a better shed to store grain when it can be bought in for not far off what it cost to grow it in a wet, diseasey climate on land that is better-suited to grass. We can grow first-class grass almost all year round, why would we want to grow a third class crop of barley?

The roots have to be on the place that is sheep-tacked, at least for the next few years. Unavoidable, sadly.

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nacnud said:

Furthermore... Talking from a Scottish perspective with an Angus bias, I'm really disappointed in QMS once again failing to protect the hard work done to establish our brand.

The scotch beef logo is widely renowned as the mark of quality, whether the quality exists is another matter as I mentioned in the previous post, but nevertheless it's a brand which Scottish producer's levies have paid for and have worked hard to earn. The move to allow cattle which aren't Scottish to carry the scotch logo (& earn the premium) if they are slaughtered in Scotland is ludicrous. Surely if there is a shortfall in numbers (we all know why that is) then the increase in demand (&price) should be passed on to remaining Scottish producers who pay the levies to maintain the brand?

I'm also disappointed in the way that Angus sired dairy cattle are being used to fill up the 000s of Angus cattle Tesco demand every week with their native breed scheme. Similar to the above, the Aberdeen Angus brand is well known, but by flooding the market with beef, possibly of a lower quality, certainly much leaner with fewer marbling, surely we are shooting ourselves in the foot long term; by diluting the quality in the brand and disappointing the customer which expects a marbled steak.

Perhaps I have got the wrong end of the stick, but the way I see it, if there is a great demand for a product, it's price should rise, thus encouraging its producers to make more. I don't see how filling the demand with lower quality meat and sticking an Angus sticker on it is going to benefit anyone in the long term apart from dairy farmers.

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silverfox said:

You can get combining done for £25/acre!.That's cheap.

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chipsngravy said:

Interesting on for you,

I do Angus beef boxes now and again and always keep track of supermarket prices. Looking at my records for supermarket premium range beef prices this time last year to this year 2014 and they are up an average of £2.80pkg ish across all prime cuts like steaks and joins from jan 2013.

Funny how are beef prices have not gone up at the same % rate

What was dead weight price back in Jan 2013 ??????

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Hilly said:

What about none prime cuts ?

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aangus said:

i have heard 3.77 this week and still talking it down for next week

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Farmeraduk said:

I just saw this thread on google, sadly its 6 years on in 2020 and finished price is done a bit on 2014. landlord still wants a rent increase along with all the other costs going up. If AHDB tell me to be more efficient or the consultant says to diversify i will ask them to go back to 2014 wages. How can farming work if we don't get a fair price?

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jock t said:

I said to my wife at the weekend I was going to book cattle to ABP for the beginning of January, she asked what the price was and I thought we’d probably get £3.75 a kg base price. She went to the butchers in the afternoon and came home to report mince was selling at £12.80 a kg. Now if my bullock kills at 380kg I get £1425, if they minced the whole carcass it would sell for £4864! Now I know our butcher is expensive and the supermarket is cheaper but even if you half the price they aren’t mincing it all.
when we put a beast in the freezer it cost less than £500 to kill, hang and butcher. Someone in the line is making a killing but it’s certainly not the farmer.

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