Category Archives: grass fed beef

by | March 26, 2013

Cattle Profits: a breakdown

Cattle Profits (or at least our model)

Start up cost was $1200 per bred heifer and we purchased 3

First year feed costs were about $400

Lost rent per month   $210

Semen (30 Units)  $300

English: Murray Grey cows and calves, Walcha, NSW

English: Murray Grey cows and calves, Walcha, NSW (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

So our net cost at one year is $6820

Our costs at the two year point are $9340

At the two year point, we expect to receive approximately $2400 in revenue (two bull calves at $1 per pound and 1200 pound finishing weight).  We also will have a fourth heifer to breed at that point and hopefully 3 more calves on the ground.  If we reverse this year and have two heifers and one bull calve next year, we will have one more to sell at the three year point and 4 calves on the ground.  We will also have another $1200 in revenue at that point (which is actually a net loss for that year).  At this point we are continuing to build the breeding herd, so these loses are actually captured in the value of the cows themselves. Perhaps I will get this into some sort of graph form, as I should organize this better.

Year one  Costs (Rounded) $7000

Year one assets: 3 calves on the ground and three cows bred back.

Year One revenue : $0

Year two total costs $9500 (rounded)

Year two assets:  Three brood cows (bred back) One heifer calve (bred) and three more calves on the ground

Year two profits (sell two finished bull calves at 1200 pounds for $1 per pound) $2400 ($3600)  (beef price is $1.30 per pound and possibly headed higher)  We also sold $1500 worth of hay in the Spring due to our low stocking density.

So year two net loss in cash is $5600 ($4400)  (but we have assets of approximately $6600):  Four bred cows at $1200 each, plus the 3 additional calves on the ground.

Year three costs add $2520 (lost rent) to get to roughly $8200

Year three assets four cows (bred back) two heifers bred and four calves.

Year three profit $1200 ($1800) (I assumed two heifers and one bull in the second calf crop since the first calf crop was 2 bulls and one heifer).

So our net loses are now at $7000 ($5200) in hard cash.  But our assets are improving at $7200 in bred cattle and the four calves on the ground of about $2400.  This makes our total assets above our loses at this point.  Also keep in mind that I am figuring in no feed costs since we grass feed and do our hay on the half.  I am also not figuring in any loses.

Year four is where I truly think we are getting ahead, but it may be year five.

Year four costs add another $2520 in lost farm rent that takes us close to $9500 ($7700) in costs or losses.

Year four we sell two bull calves and keep two heifers so profit is once again $2400. ($3600)

This makes our losses, which are perceived losses, around $7100 ($3500)

Assets would include 6 broodcows, two more bred heifers, two more bull calves to finish and 6 calves.  Our assets will be more than losses at this point.  If needed, we can start to sell cows to capture back some of our losses.  Assets total about $9800 in bred animals and perhaps $2400 in the calves.

So at the end of year four, we are -$7100……..hmm this seems hard to swallow.  I guess the encouraging thing here is that we are only calculating the price per pound of beef to be $1.00.  I believe that current market price is actually $1.30/ lb.  If we can get the value to $1.50 per pound due to the grassfed aspect, we can recapture more of this loss at a faster rate.  I am going to edit above by putting the $1.50 per pound figure alongside the $1.00/lb figures to emphasize this point.  Looking inside the parenthesis above, increasing the value of beef from $1.00/lb to $1.50/lb cuts our loses in half at year four.

Year 5:  Another $2520 in lost rent.  Selling 2 more calves for beef nets $2400 ($3600).  So our overall loses are now either $7200 or ($2400).  Assets: 8 broodcows, 3 bred heifers, 8 calves and 3 yearling calves to finish.  This totals around $18,000 in assets.

Year 6: Another $2520 in lost rent. Able to sell 3 calves at $3600 ($5400).  Loses overall are now $6100 or $600.  Assets are increasing rapidly now.  These include 11 bred cows, 4 bred heifers, 4 yearling steers to sell and 11 calves.

Year 7:  Another $2520 in lost rent.  Selling 4 calves this year at $4800 ($7200).  Overall losses are coming down quickly now at $4800 (gains of $6600).  Assests are 15 brood cows, 5 bred heifers, 6 yearling steers to market and 15 calves.

I would keep up the illustration, but it is likely boring at this point.

I will do another post looking at the value to be added to this be purchasing an additional cow to produce calves quicker.

I also noted that I have failed to include the cost of purchasing additional semen.  I purposely did not figure other costs simply to keep it simple.

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by | January 20, 2013

Intensive Grazing

Intensive Grazing

 

We plan to raise our animals in order to achieve the best end product. One of the ways to do this is to use what God normally provides to the animals in their natural setting.

 

Pastures ~ HFF ~ Happy Fence Friday

Pastures ~ HFF ~ Happy Fence Friday (Photo credit: Chickens in the Trees (vns2009))

The main method that we are focusing on is pastured-based management.  In order to achieve this, we will utilize the pasture most effectively, which we believe is through intensive grazing. We have not officially launched our intensive grazing strategy, as we have more land than animals at the moment, but we have plans to begin once the animal to acre ratio is reached.
Our first step in this process is to upgrade the current pasture and the available forages. The saying that you are what you eat applies to:
1) Those of us eating the final product
2) The animals that are eating the plants and thus producing the final product
3) The plants.

 

So what is the basis of this system? The answer is the soil. The soil is perhaps the most important aspect of any operation as better soil equals better plant production (whether talking about hay, corn, soybeans, or simply pasture/ forages).  We are trying to implement organic, or natural, methods to our farming operation.  This is what we feel is the best method for the soil and for what we would like to accomplish.

 

Soil profile 236x288 38.76 KB. Units are inches.

Soil profile 236×288 38.76 KB. Units are inches. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

The soils is an intricate ecosystem made up of living, non-living and other materials.  The plants use the soil to convert sunlight (photosynthesis) and the soil nutrients into plant growth.  This plant growth is ultimately what feed either us directly or the animals that we eventually either consume or collect a byproduct (think milk and eggs).  The soil also has a substructure to it, which allows for water movement, air, and nutrient uptake.  
So our first step is going to need to be to test the soil and try to build the nutrients that are contained in the soil.  This may be the focus of this blog for a small amount of time. We will talk about the process and provide as many details as we can.

 

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by | November 26, 2012

Grass fed beef hamburgers

Grass Fed Beef Hamburgers

Our recipe for grass fed beef hamburgers:

We start with the fundamental basics of well raised grass fed beef.

We then form the patties and add the following ingredients:  powdered onion, black pepper, a touch of salt and some worcestershire sauce.

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The meat needs to be seared briefly on both sides at first.  This helps to seal in the juices.  This is one of the differences with grass fed beef versus traditional beef.  We then turn the heat down to low in order to slowly finish the process.

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Notice how the meat is not dripping with greasy fat and that the fire underneath does not kick up.  This is due to the lower fat content.

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A closer look at the picture above does demonstrate that there is some fat and flavor in there.  Look at how the meat is shining on the top and appears to be “wet.”

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Above is the finished product, well almost……

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Sorry for the blurry picture, but here is the finished product on our plate.  Coupling the Burger with a nice side of fries and green beans, which are naturally grown.

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by | November 16, 2012

Homesteading Series Part 3: Animals

HOMESTEADING SERIES

PART THREE

ANIMALS

At this point in your homesteading plan, you may be ready to start planning for and thinking about animals.  (I probably start here rather than with plants, since animals are my profession and plants are my hobby).  You will ultimately assess your own needs, wants, desires and capabilities.  I will go through a few types common farm animals and give what I see as the pros and cons.  I will take this moment to push for heritage breed animals (see where the farm name is derived from?).  By using heritage breeds, you are able to preserve the past and also capitalize on some of their better traits, such as having dual purpose animals. Heritage breed animals may benefit you as well by being more likely to mother their young better than some of the more popular breeds on large farms nowadays.  For instance, a heritage chicken is much more likely to “go broody” than a factory leghorn would.

CHICKENS:  I have already written a post about why you should start with chickens, but I will lay out my thoughts again here.  First of all, Chickens are rather inexpensive to obtain.  We purchased our first six pullets (who were 17 weeks old and about to start laying) for $5 per bird.  So we were out about $30.  The second reason is that I feel chickens are very adaptable.  You can make a small chicken tractor or use an old outbuilding (like we did) and the chickens will do just fine.  Third, chickens are small.  This means that they don’t need a lot of space.  Fourth, chickens are easy to feed.  We feed our table scraps to the girls.  We are also fortunate to be able to purchase organic all mash at a local elevator fairly easily.  Fifth, Chickens provide a very nutritious product…..eggs.  Wait until you crack open your first farm fresh egg, especially if the chickens have access to grass and fields.   The yolk is almost orange, it is so dark.

A chicken. I'm not sure what breed.

Buff Orrpington (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The nutritional components of free range chicken eggs is incredible, nearly unbelievable in scope.  Sixth, chicken are fun to watch.  Seventh, you are unlikely to get hurt very badly by a chicken.  Eighth, a chicken that is no longer laying is still good for something……the pot.  You can make your own chicken stock, chicken foot broth, and many other stews and soups with the “retired” old girls.  (A side note:  we utilize Delaware Chickens as they are docile, go broody, produce eggs well, are dual purpose, and we think they are pretty)  (Other heritage breeds to consider are Buff Orrpingtons, Barred Plymouth Rock, Buckeyes, and many others)

Goats.  perhaps second on my list would be a dairy goat.  Though goats can be very frustrating because they do try to eat everything, goats are still rather small and readily available.

Nigerian Dwarf dairy goat, show clip, in milk

Nigerian Dwarf dairy goat, show clip, in milk (Photo credit: Wikipedia)e

A decent dairy goat will probably cost you between $75 and $200 depending on age, breed, and time of year.  A nice thing about dairy goats is that they can produce a decent amount of milk.  When allowed to go out on pasture, they are good at cleaning up brush and unwanted plants, since they are more of a foraging animal and less of a grazer.  A downside to this is that various weeds can change the flavor of the milk.  Another good reason to consider a dairy goat is that the milk tends to be easier for some people to digest.  I believe that this is because the fat droplets are smaller than that of a dairy cow (or is it the protein droplets, I can’t remember at the moment)  We do not currently have a goat, so I am uncertain of a specific breed recommendation.  (we like the San Clemente Island Goat, but simply because they are very rare and are very cute)

Pigs:  Again unchartered water for us at the moment.  We are considering pigs for their versatility.  We are looking into pastured pork, so out focus is on breeds that do well in a foraging and pasture based management system.  Once again, pigs are reasonably priced.  Another good argument for pigs is their varied diet.  These are yet another animal that you can feed table scraps.  My understanding is that fencing pigs is not to difficult.  They apparently train to electric fencing very easily.  I have read that pigs will train uickly to two hot wires.  One at about 9 inches off the ground and another at about 30 inches off the ground.  They will train so well in fact, that it is hard to get them to cross an area that previously had a fence across it.  Most articles I have found simply use polywire or another form of electrified temporary fencing like those used in rotational grazing systems.  (We like Tamworth and Gloucestershire Old Spots for pig breeds.  Red Wattles get an honorary mention)

Sheep:  I suppose sheep are in the fold here too.  Sheep are again easy to obtain and not too expensive.

High sheeps

High sheeps (Photo credit: Bertoz)

Uses for the sheep would be meat and wool.  We do not have sheep at the moment, as we do not see spinning our own wool.  Sheep are grazers, so now we are starting to look at more infrastructure.  They will likely need a barn, a yard and fencing.  This adds to the cost of them of course.  (We have yet to select a breed, though I am intrigued by the Romeldale breed.

Cattle:  I would recommend a good dual purpose breed, but you could have a dairy cow and beef cows.  Most true homesteads likely have a good old dairy cow on hand.  A dairy cow will likely cost about $1500 or so, depending on age, breed and quality.  Some decent cow can be purchase through sale barns for less money, but beware that the farmer is likely selling her through the sale barn for a reason.  Cattle require feed and infrastructure as well.  You will need a tie stall or other location for milking.  You will need fencing for the pasture, or else be ready to push a lot of hay and grain around.  (We think the the Red Poll cow is the perfect breed for this, as they are good foragers. grazers and they are dual purpose)  (Other breeds to consider would be Milking Devon, Shorthorn, Kerry, and Dexter)

I also recommend a good old farm dog.  They are great companions, good for security and even can help with some of the round up of the critters if trained to do so.  They can also be helpful with pests, such as the infamous “whistle pig” ( A.K.A. Groundhog.)

Hopefully I have touched on the main animals for homesteading.  If I have left any pertinent ones out, please let me know.  I am sure that some are fond of Llamas for guard animals protecting their flock of sheep.  Some may like Alpacas for the hair production.  I suppose that I left turkeys out as well.  They have their place too, just not at the top of my list.  Their place, to me, is on the thanksgiving table.

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by | November 9, 2012

Investment Cattle

Investment Cattle

So, it appears that the stock market went down significantly today, the day after the Presidential election.  Do not take that as my thoughts on why, just a fact that today is the day after the election and the market went down by over 2%.  There could be many reasons for this.

  1. Investors could be upset by the bitter partisanship and all of the negativity of this past election
  2. Investors could be scared of potentially two more years of gridlock with a House of Representatives that is controlled by one party, while the Senate and White House are controlled by another.
  3. Some other global event or financial news could have precipitated  a sell off
  4. Investors (think big business and the middle class, upper middle class, and upper class) could be in disagreement of the agenda of the winning candidates.
  5. I am certain that there could be other reasons, as I am no financial guru.

So, what to do if you have money to invest or if you want to try to carve out a place for the future or a future market.  Many will tell you to hang in there with the stock market, as it has a history of continuing to go up if you are in it long enough.  Some will tell you to shift your assets to gold, silver or other commodities.  I, on the other hand, will tell you to shift your assets into land and cattle.  Why?  I am glad that you asked.

Land Investment:  We may discuss the value of land at some point, but let me say that land gives you options.  It gives you flexibility, as well as an asset.

Cattle Investment:  I believe that investing in cattle is a solid move.  While it is true that the overall cattle price has not changed much in a few years, I believe that prices are poised to make a move.  Let me first state that I am discussing merely the brood cow for a cow-calf operation.  While there is some to be said for beef production, I will not focus there as far as cattle investment dollars.

I believe that investing in heifers and cows is a very solid investment.  This is particularly true if you already have some land to raise them on.  A pregnant brood cow can be purchased for around $1200.  This value is actually at the approximate value of that same cow in beef prices.  The benefit to buying a bred cow is that you have in essence purchased two cows (assuming no death loss).  The calf that is born, should produce a return on your original investment in approximately 18 – 24 months.  The value of the first calf will likely be comparable to the original price that you have paid for the bred heifer or cow.  In the meantime, that cow should produce roughly one calf a year.  So at the 18 month point, you would essentially have $1800 in value between the two calves, let alone the value of the original purchase…

Once the calf reaches market size, there will be some profit (on the surface).  I say it that way as I have not figured in any costs such as feed and land and other potential investment opportunities.  I figure that in the end there is about $300 per calf in profit from birth to slaughter.  This profit can typically be achieved $100 at a time at various stages.  First there is selling the calf after weaning.  Second, the calf can be sold after the transition phase or when ready for the finishing phase (600 pounds of body weight).  Finally, the last stage of gain is at the time of processing, which is around the $1200 pound point.

I feel that ultimate profit can be achieved through grass finishing.  This reduces hard feed costs.  The downside is that it requires more land per cow-calf unit.  When calculating profits, the fact that the land could be rented has to be considered.  I will use our numbers.  We were able to lease our field, pasture, and barn for $210 per month.  This past year, we essentially did our hay on the half.  This eliminated hard feed costs going into this upcoming winter.

Our breakdown to this point is as follows:

  1. $3600 in original purchase of three bred heifers.
  2. $300 for hay during last winter.
  3. $300 in semen costs
  4. 12 months in lost farm rent = $2520
The current profit rate is therefore negative at this time.  Now let’s assume that we are able to sell our cattle at this time next year for $1200 each at finishing (hopefully more with a grass fed program, but I am trying to keep the numbers as close as possible).  We have two bull calves that we can sell, so a total of $2400.  WE also will be retaining the one heifer calf in order to grow the herd.  So the calves will cancel out the first year in lost farm rent.  Next year we should be able to raise 3 more calves, so assuming that we have 2 to sell and one to keep we will be at a point that we are about $4000 in the negative, but we would have 3 cows, one bred heifer and one weanling heifer.  The following year we till get four calves on the ground and have an additional heifer to breed.  It is at this point that we should begin to see a good return on our investment.  As I type I think I will price out our costs and projections in another post, but this should give you an idea of at least one farm’s profits and costs.

 

 

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by | October 19, 2012

A sample Craigslist ad for Grass Fed Beef

Sample AD for Grass Fed Beef.

English: Diagram of cuts of beef, highlighting...

English: Diagram of cuts of beef, highlighting the sirloin. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

All Natural Grass Fed Black Angus Beef for sale. All animals on this farm are fed with hay only. No Corn, no feed, no antibiotics, no hormones, no pink slime.

It’s your body, eat healthy!

This package includes 2 T-Bone steaks, 2 Sirloin steaks, 4 cubed steaks, 1 roast, 18 hamburger patties, and 3 – 1 lb 10 oz packages of hamburger for $100. (18-20 lbs total)

These are the common British cuts of beef. Bas...

These are the common British cuts of beef. Based on Image:Beef cuts.svg (american cuts of beef); See also Image:Beef parts HE.svg (Hebrew version) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I saw this ad today on our local Craigslist site.  I was wondering how that compares to a “traditional” cow in terms of pricing.  That is $5.00 per pound for 20 pounds of beef.  This does include processing.

 

 

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by | October 16, 2012

Making Hay

Making hay

His is a great time for us at Heritage Breeds Farm as we get our fifth cutting of hay in.  I counted ten large round bales in the field.  That is a good yield and we are happy to get more feed into the barn for the winter.

These are two videos that we took today.  The second is simply collecting the hay into the bin where it is rolled into large round bales that are produced in the first video.    This is mostly alfalfa with a small amount of grass.
We feed a grass based program.  We feel that this is the best way to raise the best nutritional final beef product.

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by | October 8, 2012

The 8 Cruelest Foods You eat

Ironically I found the following article describing the 8 cruelest foods you eat. http://health.yahoo.net/articles/nutrition/photos/8-cruelest-foods-you-eat#0

I am not certain on the origin of the article, nor the intent behind its writing; but I could make a guess.  However, that is a discussion for another time and place.  The article was one of those pop ups or featured articles that caught my eye on the way to checking my e-mail.

So why bring it up?  Well, it fits into the discussion of animal rights versus animal welfare.  It also highlights some of the things that we strive for here at Heritage Breeds Farms.  The article discusses some things that we do not produce and that are more rare meals or things considered delicacies.  It cites things such as Lobster, duck liver and shark fin soup.  Those are not typically things that are produced on a typical farm within the United States or farms in other countries around the world.

The article also cites the atrocities associated with raising beef, eggs, veal, and pork.  While we are mainly concerned with the final product, we also feel that they manner in which the animals are treated is important as well.  We have written many article regarding alternative ways to raise animals to produce these products.  We also try to stress the quality of the final product for the end consumer.

Here are a few ways that these desired products can be produced in a healthier manner:

1)  Veal:  Several state have outlawed the use of veal crates.  This is a method where the calf is confined to a small crate (or tethered on a short rope or chain).  Two ways to raise these calves are group housing or pasture-raised veal.

2)  Pork:  We believe that pasture raised pork is superior to grain fed, intensively raised pork.  By allowing the pigs to be out on the pasture, they are able to forage and root for various nutrients.  This allows the pigs to act more naturally.

3)  Beef:  We have many places where we discuss the benefits of pasture-raised and grass fed beef.  These animals are allowed to roam freely and eat a natural diet, versus the more typical grain fed beef that tends to be confined.  We raise our animals on pasture more for the benefits of the final product than the way that the animals are treated, but allowing them a more natural setting benefits the animals as well.

4)  Eggs:  The concern is about hens being kept in small cages.  The article suggests buying cage free and organic, but I recommend free range chickens and eggs from free range chickens.

One further note, we stress buying local.  It is important to support your local farmers market.  We also recommend buying your meat and other products as directly from the farm as possible.  This way you can visit the place where the products are produced and evaluate the farm for yourself.

A few of our articles are listed below.  You may also search the website for pasture veal and pastured pork.

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by | September 11, 2012

Research reveals that grass fed beef is better for people and the environment

Grass Fed Beef Benefits

 

Grass fed beef seems to be a hot topic.  There are many benefits to grass fed beef.  While researching the yopic, I stumble across the article that is highlighted below.  This is a very interesting article that I happened to stumble upon among my blog reading.  It brings up interesting

English: The carbon footprint as it is underst...

carbon footprint (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

points that grass fed beef programs have a lower carbon footprint than other methods of farming.  The other interesting thing is that organic practices lower that footprint even further.

We would like to try to take things a bit further by trying to eliminate some of the machinery in our gardening.  Unfortunately, we are unable to totally eliminate the use of machinery all together.

We may look into horses for farming at some point in the future.  That sounds like enjoyable work.

Thanks to the author for the article!

Research reveals that grass-fed beef is better for people and the environment.

 

While it seems that grass fed beef and organic practices seem to go hand in hand, organic practices are not a requirement for raising grass fed beef.  Moving past the environmental impact, grass fed beef has been shown to be beneficial to the humans that consume it as well.  Grass fed beef is higher in omega three fatty acids than traditional beef.  Grass fed beef also boasts a leaner product, with some good CLA ratios.  Grass fed beef is also much lower in saturated fats than conventional beef.  The largest hurdles for grass fed beef are overcoming the thought that grass fed beef is not a tasty as conventional beef and the production scale, since grass fed beef requires more land than a feedlot operation.

Eye fillet of grass-fed beef.

Eye fillet of grass-fed beef. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We encourage everybody to consider grass fed beef and to look into its benefits.

Please check out some of the relevant articles and search our site for more about the benefits of grass fed beef.

Until Next Time!

 

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by | August 6, 2012

Red Poll Cattle Breeding Project, Continued

Today marks the 28th day since our cows were bred by artificial insemination.  Unfortunately, we have not been able to check them yet, as today is the first day that it is possible to detect the pregnancies by ultrasound.  We will probably ultrasound them later in the week.  So far, the good news is that none of the cows showed an obvious heat.  There were a few times where one or two of them were bawling, but they seemed to stop once we fed them some hay and corn stalks.

 

Once again, signs of heat are bawling, increased walking, jumping, standing to be mounted and vaginal discharge (first bloody then clear).   There are a lot of synchronization protocols and breeding systems out there.  We elected to take advantage of my veterinary skills and go with a combination of palpation and lutalyse.  Below are some of our articles that discuss the saga as it has unfolded.

 

Until Next Time!

English: frozen bovine semen Deutsch: gefroren...

English: frozen bovine semen Deutsch: gefrorenes Rindersperma (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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