jakeaggie84 said:
So im not in the ranching business, but would it be better for me and the ranchers to sell direct to the consumers? Anyone willing to butcher a cow for me and sell it to me for $3 per pound? Would that save me money and make more for the rancher? Cut out the middle man. Especially if we arent seeing the price drop at the grocery store yet?
It's more complicated than, I want to go next door and buy a steer from my neighbor. There is the finishing of the animal feed wise (most of the ranchers are selling animals to feed lots and stockers to do this), cost of processing (which must be done in USDA approved locations) and finding customers that want entire quarters of animals. Remember there are limited ribs, briskets, and steaks in an animal.
$3/# would depend on the harvestedable meat on the animal and the quality. If you want to pay a premium for a true grass fed steer, without the typical high protein alfalfa supplement feeding, that I drop off at your selected butcher it would be tempting. I highly doubt you would be a repeat customer, because it will taste terrible without being finished on corn or other high protein feeds.