GrassFed

Tools for Measuring Production

Grass-fed beef producers need to carefully track both production costs and cattle performance to determine whether their operations are truly profitable. With the number of variables between operations, this can be quite a challenge! Rising cattle prices can increase revenue, but higher feed, land, processing, and other input costs can quickly reduce margins. 

The Grass Fed Beef Decision Calculator, linked in the article below is an interactive spreadsheet developed by the Pasture Project. It allows producers to model different types of operations—including cow-calf, stocker, finishing, and direct-market businesses—and see how changes in cattle prices, feed costs, weight gain, processing costs, and selling prices affect profitability. Small changes in costs or animal performance can have a significant impact on profit. Having tools to measure production and profit are a huge asset when making overall management decisions for our cattle operation.

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Farm Management

The BEST Beef

We’ve been raising our own beef for years. Before that, we raised rabbit and chicken, and hunted deer to fill our freezer. It’s been so long since we had to purchase meat from the store, I forget how lucky we are. Especially now that we raise Dexter cattle.

I’m always pleasantly surprised when we get feedback from our beef customers. I take for granted that we get to eat beef this flavorful and tender on a regular basis. My all time favorite message from a new customer is this: “Your beef is fantastic. It tastes the way I remember beef tasting in my childhood.” Delicious beef, reminiscent of a slower time.

A new customer just a few weeks ago texted, “beef is awesome! Color and texture is amazing.” This is really a confirmation of our goal to improve tenderness. The flavor has always been top notch, and we’ve been refining tenderness and marbling with success! Being grass-fed only, this has taken a longer road to accomplish, but what satisfaction!

Another customer recently wrote, “Thank you!!! It’s literally the ONLY meat I trust eating myself or feeding my kids!!!” We are so grateful to be trusted in this way! Our little Dexter cows really make this possible, with their great foraging skills, and ability to convert that forage into flavorful, tender, and nutritious meat for our community.

Have you tried Dexter beef? If not, you really don’t know what you’re missing. But, don’t just take my word for it! Find a Dexter beef producer in your area. We can help with that. Head over to the Irish Dexter Cattlemen Marketplace to look for beef in your area. Keep checking back as we add more producers from across the US.

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Beef