You lose 35 to 40% just from live weight to carcass weight. Guts, hide, etc., don't eat too good.

The big difference is the quality of meat and animal you're getting. We feed ours to how we like them to taste, plus no vaccinations, chemicals in feed etc. . Its high quality meat that we just can't get done.

I've butchered a few calves and every time I did i felt like i was getting ripped off.


Purchase of the calf, the slaughter fee then the butcher fee and the end result didn't add up. Meat was ok but not excellent


If I had a decent herd of cattle then it might make sense but imo if your buying a calf planning to have it butchered the juice isn't worth the squeeze

I set a kill date back in May for Jan 27, 2021. It was 1st available.
I got to thinking that I may wanna set another for my daughter’s show steer in the event she doesnt make the sale. So, 2 weeks after setting my 1st kill date, I set another and it is set for May 24, 2021.
Both of these dates were 1st available. I cant imagine what they are now.

I have an appointment for 3 steers next June 10th in Munster. In April ill be selling wholes or half steers on here . If interested in a 1/4 beef you'll have to find someone to split the half with because each half has to be cut the same. If interested PM me.

Is this affecting the deer processing?

I don’t think so

This is true. Plus you get a ton of cuts and hamburger you probably won’t use in a couple years.
But where is the OP located. We have been able to get cut dates at a couple of places out this way.

I read somewhere a while back about a processor not taking deer this year, but I can`t remember where.

I'm hearing same thing in central Texas. Booked out 'til at least Q3 2021, and that was a month or so ago, so maybe into 2022 by now.

We do 100% grass fed and finished animals on our place. If you are just looking for cheap meat, then having a beef custom processed may not be for you, especially a grass fed and finished animal. You can get them finished much sooner and off to the packer much sooner on grain, but like Brad said, it comes back to quality of the meat for us. No hormones, and raised on quality grass with very little, if any, chemical. 100% grass with a natural grain free supplement to get get thru the winter.

Sale barn prices are so it and miss, there is no way i would be giving my investment away like that.

I have 3 dates for steers for next year in Mineola and may be adding a few cows if they have poor results this month. I will have a few shares of beef available for next year, so without trying to hijack the OP, PM me if you want more info. I will be making a separate post in the Trading Post section when it gets closer to time.

According to the folks at Ray's in Breckenridge, any plant that does domestics isn't cutting wildlife this year. At all. Several wildlife processors in the area have stopped taking any animals because they don't have the room to store them. Ray's has got more business than they know what to do with right now, lead times for them are about three weeks. It's never been that long in 20 years of taking deer to them.

Different strokes for different folks. I just got an email about Omaha steaks in route.

Must be nice having a rich son in law.

my processor has quit taking deer at the moment. Busiest year he has ever had

Most of the local butchers around here have contracts in place and wont accept any other live cows.

Good to hear the locals are busy, hope it stays that way allowing locals to grow and we become less dependent on the large processors.

Use to do a yearling every year in Smithville Tx. ( Smithville Food Lockers) $65 kill fee and .70 cents a pound for cuts of your choice. Vacumn packed and the best ever. Went to get one done (September) as I still have a few head out at the old ranchito i sold and it was a 6 month wait. Booked up till March..

Six months ago it was a six month wait around here. Hate to see what the wait is now I have a nephew that keeps kill dates so he keeps me supplied with beef.

Hunt county.

This sounds like an excellent business opportunity for some of you young energetic entrepreneurs!

My brother says there's too much waste to have a live beef butchered, just sell it at auction and go to the market and buy some beef.




The problem is you can’t just go to any market and get quality meat. The meat that most stores sell has Not been aged. They kill it, cool it and process. The only thing they age is the steaks. Even hamburger doesn’t taste as good if it isn’t aged. As far as waist most processors will do as much as you want. I have a friend that goes and picks up his head and hide they day they kill it. That is why we do our own.

I'm getting a quarter beef delivered next weekend, and already booked my next kill date over a year out. Back log is mind boggling. Thankfully our ranch saw it coming and got ahead of it with our 2021 projections. Everything produced at the BAR73 now is sold as custom beef. People that didn't see this coming are screwed.

Yelp. JBS has been terrible for everyones pocket book except the local smaller slaughter guys

I have always enjoyed processing critters. I'd take a stab at it myself. Probably will in a few years now that we have a place.