Producer - Consumer Communication...???

[grassfarmer]

On beef cuts I read today in connection with the beef cutting class at Olds college that "although niche markets may want smaller steaks the trend overall is pointing toward a demand for larger animals that will provide enormous roasts and T-bones."
That really surprised me as we have heard for years now how all the single parent households and smaller families are leading to demand for smaller cuts.

Our own experience selling grassfed beef has been that many under 40 year old city consumers buy only steaks and have never cooked a roast of any size and don't know how to. Once you demonstrate how easy it is they love the roasts - should this be an area for BIC to look at? Country people by contrast are happy with roasts and also the hamburger. Neither set of customers were all that keen on T-bones when offered the option of NY steaks and tenderloin as an alternative. Maybe 1 in 5 picked the T-bones.

[grassfarmer]

grassfarmer, I agree with you regarding the lack of interest in cooking roasts. Time consuming is the reason I hear from many of the younger homemakers. They pick up the precooked roasts from the freezer in Superstore.....and what an expensive way to serve beef !!
In my family the T-Bone steaks are as popular as any of the other cuts....but the ladies do eat much smaller portions than the men. The younger folks like burgers vs steak.

[nerves]

well guys the time of year has alot more to do with what sells in our experience. From june till the end of August we can"t get enough steaks to supply demand does'nt matter what kind. From September on till now, we sell mostly roasts and such, and less steaks. If you watch the grocery stores the price of steaks will start to rise when barbeque season hits, and will drop in the fall. Your roast prices will climb in the fall and winter. It is alot like gasoline, demand will set the price. As far as the size of steaks, if small was popular than a good longhorn or dairy breed would fit the bill. Once these animals get the fat cover to marble well they have alot of trim or waste there is only so many steaks in a animal and the whole animal must sell not just steaks. Which is why I think the trend will be swinging towards more quality meat in the animal not just how big the steaks are.

[nerves]

Just recently picket up a side of beef of an 11 1/2 month old animal. The sides weighed 312 pounds and the steaks are a nice size.

A friend has an on farm meat sales business, and she even gets orders for chuck steak in BBQ season. She had been getting the chuck made into stew and hamburger but has a couple of customers that now will take all the chuck steaks she can supply.

As in everything else, to each his own when it comes to preference in beef cuts.....and who cares as long as people still like to eat BEEF !

[grassfarmer]

Nerves, we are getting off topic here but how many 4lb prime rib roasts would you expect to get off a well fattened mature cow weighing around 1450lbs?
Thank you.

[farmers_son]

I picked up on this comment that nerves made: "It is alot like gasoline, demand will set the price."

I wish it were so. Retail demand may somewhat influence the retail price but it certainly does not influence the price of live cattle at the producer level. The price Canadian producers receive for live cattle is not related to the retail price of beef in Canada or North America.

If supply and demand were driving the market we would not see imports of beef from the U.S. increase 84% at the same time as we are told there is an over supply of live cattle in Canada which the supply and demand advocates claim is the reason for our low live cattle prices. It just doesn't add up.

Supply and demand do not work to fairly distribute profits and returns in a non functioning market.

[nerves]

farmers-son I am refering to the world of direct marketing. We did alot last year (by our standards) and learned alot about the tricks of the trade. We feel we now have a plan and a direction that we will take us over the next ten or so years to complete. Last year in the parking lot of Canadian tire in Calgary and Red Deer we could not keep up to the steaks leaving. We were slaughtering 7 animals a week and needed to do about 12 to maybe keep up to demand. We sold 120 animals last year by the piece in a parking lot so for us the market was working fine, the cumsomers were fantastic no bounced cheques and a great attitude. In fact the phone kept ringing all winter. Grassfarmer I can't tell right off the top of my head I will have to look back into my notes most of the animals we had done were young(14 to 16 months) so they were put into steaks, not to many roasts. Most of our animals finished between 1300 and 1500 pounds and we got between 400 and 475 pounds of actual meat about 30 percent was hamburger. Not counting heart, liver, ox-tail and tonge, which by the way to our amazement were easy to sell. That course in Olds would have been an excellnt course to take but they did not run it last year. Grassfarmer maybe you would know if the course was to get filled or not.

[cowman]

The fact of the matter is the majority of our cattle leave the plant in a box to go into a basically generic market? For the packer it makes a lot more sense to end up with an 800 lb. carcass than a 600 pounder? Same cost to process but 200 lbs. more to spread that cost over?
And seeing how that packer is your customer, you had better give him what he wants or he will punish you for raising cattle that don't fit the system? I believe the hog industry is in to this in a big way? Every hog the same weight, finish, breed?
At the same time the feedlot knows what kind of cattle they need to make a buck? They really don't want a bunch of slow growing cattle that won't fit the packers needs! Oh sure they will buy these "off" cattle but will definitely factor in the higher costs through discounts!
So what do you do? You either grow what the market demands or you find another market! Pretty simple really...for every product there is a buyer and a seller...you just have to decide which market you can fit in and decide if you can make enough to bother doing it? For a lot of people that question is starting to make them realize that maybe quitting is easier?