selling direct

[grefer]

I am considering finishing some of my 2008 calf crop and selling direct to consumers.These calves will be able to be certified organic.I have a black angus herd.I am an hours drive from Saskatoon and hope to be able to build a customer base there for organic beef.I know some of you are alredy selling direct to consumer and would appretiate your opinion and suggestions.Is food saftey a problem when dealing direct?Are consumers willing to purchase by the 1/2 or 1/4 and if not what do you do with the cuts nobody wants?Is delivery necessary or will they come to you after the initial sale is made?Any other things you have dicovered that you didn't forsee?Thanks

[smcgrath76]

There are certainly others on this board with way more practical knowledge on this subject than myself.
Not sure how many calves you have but you may want to ease into it and build the market with a few calves this year and build up to your entire production selling direct.
Also, try to work on markets for off cuts. Contrary to the belief of many consumers not all beef comes off as t-bones and striploins.

[perfecho]

We only do a few....selling 1/4 pr family, which is usually just over 200lbs. Any lower end roasts/cuts are easier into hamburger.....the mainstay for today's busy households. I usually deliver, good time to get feedback, extra service, etc. Have had great reviews, people who do a little more gourmet cooking, seem to really appreciate the quality, freshness, etc.
We sell Gelbieh seedstock, so this is just "fool around" project for us to raise with 4-H calves...but I truly believe if someone(group)makes the effort in a true business sense, this type of marketing will be very vialble in the future. People with the means want to know where there food is coming from and know that it was raised ehtically and without hormones and medicated feeds! Good Luck!

[grassfarmer]

Echoing the comments of the earlier respondents - start small and build from there. There certainly is demand out there for this type of product/ service/ connection with producer.
Food safety needn't be an issue but it is something most customers are aware of. If you deliver it from the back of an old farm truck that might put some off. We borrow the slaughter plant's refrigerated delivery truck to deliver ours - looks better and it's all done legally that way. I do not sell anything less than 1/4s - I don't want to be running a butchers shop selling cuts year round. Selling once a year from a seasonal harvest suits us as we are all grassfed. For this reason delivery suits us best - we can pull into a central parking lot in Calgary or Edmonton and have all the people come pick up their beef, we usually stay for 2 hours and they will all have come and gone by then. I don't fancy looking for customers individual residences in the city.
The only real advertising we have done is through Jo Robinson's website eatwild.com where we are listed as a producer - this was a great deal, a one time payment to be listed and we sell half our beef to customers who found us this way.
Another thing that has worked well for us is rewarding a few pivotal customers who bring in their friends - we have a couple of customers who move about 4 or 5 quarters each, they pass on all the information and get their friends order forms back to us completed on time. We give them $50 cash in hand on delivery for their trouble and they are just delighted with that. I think I'm hiring a pretty good worker for $50 a year lol.