08/06/2026
This is a great breakdown of our cattle and meat we sell.
Beef. Not just any beef. THIS beef.
He is a commercial red angus born at Clear Creek on March 17, 2025.
On October 10th, 2025 he was weaned off his mama and learned how to eat at the bunk.
He left headquarters and came to our home on Thanksgiving Day, November 27th. He weighed 724 lbs.
Big Red AKA Doc weighed in at county fair on Sunday, July 26th, fully finished at 1,535 lbs.
Here is a quick breakdown of what that data provides us.
His daily rate of gain was 3.37 lbs per day. This is considered excellent by our standards. Some feedlots can push animals safely up to 4 lbs per day.
Why push them? Well, to get them into the food chain faster, and do so with a ration and labor and other resources that make sense, economically.
Doc was on feed for a total of 289 days beyond his wean date. The entire duration of his life was 16 months. This is the kind of math that cow/calf producers who work in tandem with backgrounding and finish feed lots like to see. These numbers have EVERYTHING to do with keeping the consumer supplied and helping all the entities who play a role be efficient and therefore, expect profitability, especially in today’s market.
On the hoof, his market value last week was $3,530.50. That is what YOU would have paid to buy him from our daughter, based on that day’s market price. Then, you would have taken him to a butcher and your cost there, varies, but I would do a quick estimate here locally of $1500.
So now you know, what it would cost you to bring home a whole beef for your family. That being said, his market price is a bit lower because he was discounted in a sense, as part of a lot of volume. If you are buying direct from a local beef producer, chances are you will pay a bit more.
Americans have a lot of opinions on what they call “expensive.”
I am not going to tell you how to define it. But I also hope you spend time considering the journey this girl and this steer took, over not only the 289 days of his life after he left his mama’s side, but also everything that led to his birth, his early days, and ALL the work done beyond putting feed in front of him.
To put it simply, he would cost your family of 5, $100 a week for a year, eating beef several times a week, that’s burger, roasts, steaks and MORE! Only you can decide your values, skills, and budget. My job is to do the best I can, to convince you that your American rancher is worthy of the above.
