Starting a cattle ranch...

[AG student]

If i were to buy a ranch with some amount of acres and start a cattle ranch... How would i go about marketing the meat?

[ses]

You have to be jitting me! You are an AG student and you don't even know something basic like this?????? Must be striving for that BS degree.

[JRthe original]

If i were to buy a ranch with some amount of acres and start a cattle ranch... How would i go about marketing the meat?

I hope this question doesn't reflect the level of education you get at todays ag schools! LOL.
Seriously AG you need to determine the size of your operation and where are you getting the capital for it. That will tell you a lot about where you are gonna market those cattle. IF you only have 5 head you can market them as freezer beef. you willl not make much money butyou will market the beef. If you are running several hundred head the banker will marlket the cattle for you when he liquidates your herd. That simple.

[iadave]

Jees guys, cut the guy some slack. He might be an extremely good operator and get to liquidate himself.

[ballardn]

I am happy to see someone on here with youthful enthusiasm. You guys are just jaded and might give him , or her, the wrong idea. We are in the golden years of Ag. Of course the Golden years are not worth a Damn either.But someone is going to have to replace us someday and hope we can have someone want to buy our property.

[JRthe original]

Cut me some slack I am one of the young guns on here and I am pickin off the competition early! HE HE

[Iowa55]

So much potiential fun here ... so little time

[iadave]

Good point ballardn. Hey Ag student. Just buy a lot and a couple hundred head of cattle. Hire a farm manager to run it for you. Go live in the Cayman Islands on the profits!~

[iadave]

Ag Student, I guess you deserve a serious response. Depending on where your ranch is and your finances you will have a couple of options. If you are out west in range country you will probably raise calve to 400-600 lbs and sell them at the local auction barn to be hauled toward the grain areas to be fed. or you could ship them to Iowa to a sale barn for sale. Local papers I am sure advertise the sales. If you are close to a feed supply you could feed them to 1100 - 1300 lbs then call a packer in the area or sell them at the sale barn. A word of warning here. The packers don't have time to mess around with you unless you have some size. They quit talking to us 20 years ago. And as previously posted if you have 15 or 20 find a local butcher and sell them one at a time.

[nodaddy]

Thanks ia for giving the kid an answer. He is probably writing a paper about a theoretical situation.