Cost of Beef

[Hilly]

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.

Oh the irony .

 

[jock t]

To be fair, if your bullock killed at 380kg, only about 2/3 of that would make it into the mincer.
So 253kg of mince at £12.80/kg is £3238.
Still a good mark up, but not quite what you're suggesting.
Also, majority of mince will be sold for a lot less than that.

they are never going to mince a whole carcass, I was just trying to highlight the price difference using the cheeper cuts. Still an £1813 uplift, I don’t know how they’ll feed their family’s this Christmas!

 

[Raider112]

they are never going to mince a whole carcass, I was just trying to highlight the price difference using the cheeper cuts. Still an £1813 uplift, I don’t know how they’ll feed their family’s this Christmas!

I think he was allowing for bone etc. rather than other cuts.

 

[Northeastfarmer]

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.

You’ve only just realised we get bulled?

 

[Hilly]

If you willingly deal with that company you should never ever complain about the price .

 

[Old Tip]

To be fair, if your bullock killed at 380kg, only about 2/3 of that would make it into the mincer.
So 253kg of mince at £12.80/kg is £3238.
Still a good mark up, but not quite what you're suggesting.
Also, majority of mince will be sold for a lot less than that.

Be less than 2/3 in most cases by the time it’s boned and trimmed.
On ours it costs £100 to kill a beast and then another £25 to hang it add £300 to cut and pack it. Then there’s packaging and carriage costs at approx £250 so your beast is standing the butcher £2k when it goes over the counter. That’s not including his and his staffs time, rates and rent on the building, waste etc etc. Always looks easy from the other side of the fence, not saying he’s not making more profit than you but it’s no where near your calculations

 

[Stw88]

Recently had a pure galloway bullock cut up. He was 304kg hung up. Got 200kg of saleable meat back packaged up. Worked it out on what I sell it for the total amount of meat came to £2200. ( that’s at my prices not butchers prices) minus the £450 to get him killed and packaged. Better than the mart but the previous one didnt yield as much even tho he was the same weight. But it all depends on how there cut and who’s doing it.

 

[Old Tip]

Recently had a pure galloway bullock cut up. He was 304kg hung up. Got 200kg of saleable meat back packaged up. Worked it out on what I sell it for the total amount of meat came to £2200. ( that’s at my prices not butchers prices) minus the £450 to get him killed and packaged. Better than the mart but the previous one didnt yield as much even tho he was the same weight. But it all depends on how there cut and who’s doing it.

I do think it’s best way for cattle or sheep that don’t sell well in a mart, be hard to make much out of a fancy limmy or blue and the meat wouldn’t be as good either