Well I am here to tell you that a lot of those calves come off of winter wheat, they are fat and excellent butcher calves. Since selling my cows during the last drought, I buy 3 to 5 at one time and haul them straight to slaughter, keep one for us and sell the rest through several fruit stands and farmer's markets.

Store bought has always tasted bland to me I would like to know what they teat it with to remove the beef flavor.

the difference is aging. store bought doesn't get any. 12 hours in a cooler then cut up, put in boxes and loaded into a reefer. temp on that trailer is set at 10 below. its close to froze when you get to the warehouse.

I finished out a steer this spring, was feeding 25lbs of grain and free choice hay for 100 days. Had about $400 feed into him for just that time. Sold 1/2 to friends at 2.50 a lb hanging wt. (lower end of going rate in my area) and we kept the other half. Cut and wrap was 72 cents per lb. Next one will be grass finished, won’t have the feed expense and should be able to get more for him from the organic crowd.

Sell the whole thing if you grass finish and buy a good beef lol

It surprises me that many find grass fed beef not very good. We had some very good grass fed (basic ration), but our pastures were about 50-50 grass-legume or a bit more legume and we fed 4-5 lbs. of grain per day for 120 days. We did not get the huge rates of gain but were able to do 2.6 for the last year. Ours were about 18 months old when slaughtered at about 1300-1400 lbs.

Bryce

From what i see one of the local outfits selling branded grassfed beef consider corn silage a grass , which i guess it technically is .

Not sure what your point is. Cattle at that weight are not at market weight whether you choose to butcher one or not. Those cattle listed are "calves" ready to go to the feedlot and be finished. You can butcher a cow at any weight you want, but it has nothing to do with the beef industry. Those market reports are based on the beef industry.

Your definition of "grass fed" is different from others.
And honestly most "grass fed" people buy off of individuals is just from an open cow that needed culled and they wanted to make some extra money on. Your cattle are finished, most "grass fed" are far from it.

How much grain can you feed before it is not considered grass fed beef? Mine get about 20 lbs. a day but they have free choice grass hay.

I don't know and our grain amounts were to supplement good pasture and hay forage and not as a marketing tool. We found that giving them nearly the same amount of grain early in life developed the rumen faster and thus they seemed to be able to eat more grass and forage quicker. I would like to keep more clover going in our pastures instead of alfalfa but it does not hold up as well and the cattle prefer grazing clover over alfalfa. When we make baleage or hay than alfalfa consumption is good. Legumes keeps our yields up during the hotter portion of the summer and intakes better as well.

Bryce

As far as auction prices go, it's serious buyers only allowed in the local auction ring. So you can't really observe as an onlooker. The market reports in our farm newspaper say they're probably not accurate or complete because of the current crisis. Carry on, just my 2 cents.

Watched an auction in Iowa yesterday and good heavy finished 1400 pounders topped at 119.50.

I called local butcher shop that I normally use to see about a slot to bring in a steer. Booked solid into January already

The auctions around here had that posted on their website. BONDED BUYERS ONLY. they didnt enforce it , ive never seen the auction barns so packed with people

Two of my grandsons work on a combined cattle and row crop venture. Most of the cattle are calves they pasture and then feed out on contract. The cattle owned by the landowner is a cow calf operation. The calves are grass fed only. When big enough they are loaded into a trailer and taken to a processor where there are are USDA inspectors. They are butchered and boxed and sold as the organic grass fed beef they are. I prefer grain fed myself but this stuff is bringing a premium and demand is still high. They are making money in spite of the price manipulations by tyson excel cargill etc.