Direct marketing and selling Shorthorn beef a few essential practical guidelines By Tim Riley Are you thinking about direct marketing your own Shorthorn beef? The following article considers what you may need to do and offers a few essential practical guidelines. The content is informed by some of our Beef Shorthorn herd owners who are already marketing their own beef and responding to a growing market for native breed beef with good provenance.
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reeders who direct market their beef stand to improve returns on carcasses and so keep a greater part of the profit that would normally go to markets, buyers, meat processors and retail outlets. The additional return on a carcass can approximate from £500 up to £1,500 per carcass, however it does require investment in both time and resources. Here are some of the experiences of herds to help others that want to get a better profit margin against their cattle. 1, do your arithmetic on which cuts and how many can be produced from a carcass. A good proportion will inevitably end up as mince or burgers but essentially you are aiming for the sum of the parts to give a comparative improved return over selling the beast on the hoof. 2, be sure you have customers to sell to and don’t make assumptions that people showing interest is the same as people paying you. Internet selling can work - Facebook/Instagram/Website, but if you are only producing a small number
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of carcasses a year then demand can fall off as people expect goods to be sent to them when they press the purchase button. If the goods aren’t ready, customers lose confidence in you. A very common observation was that demand is high but meeting it can be difficult. 3, ensure you have hygienic handling and packing facilities. The same goes for transport if you are picking up carcasses and delivering meat. The Local Authorities, Food Standards Agency, and Food Standards Scotland will all advise on what is needed in term of compliance and legislative requirements. Some investment in the correct equipment may well be needed and this will be an additional cost against income. If you’ve read the above and are still excited to market direct, then the other decisions are down to you on what sort of meat do you intend selling and how does this fit with your broader agricultural enterprise? The most popular killing age is between 19 to 25 months dependent on how quickly an animal can reach the ideal finish
Beef Shorthorn Cattle Society Journal 2022
for your type of cattle, often between 350380kg deadweight. Grass fed systems may take longer with some animals going to 30 months. In calculating returns, remember that the size and the age of the animal, together with its condition and feeding regime will dictate its Killing Out % which will usually be between 50% and 55% of home weight. On the EUROP scale, aiming for R3-4/O+4 is popular. Different breeders use different approaches as regards heifer’s vs steers vs young bulls. All seem to work but killing age differs quite significantly; and some customers may be less keen on bulls. There is also a growing market for mature beef - cull cows at the end of their reproductive life. You may have seen the various
