Cornell Meat Price & Yield Calculator

Welcome!

Welcome to the Cornell Meat Price and Yield Calculator. This tool helps you set prices for each marketing channel in which you sell, to ensure you reach your PROFIT goals. To use the tool you will need to prepare two things in advance:

1) Choose one typical, representative animal from your herd and track the HCW, fees paid for processing, and WEIGH ALL THE CUTS received back from that animal.

2) You’ll need your current price list for meat cuts sold in the channel (ex., restaurants, farmers’ markets, grocery stores, etc…).

You will also need to know a base price for your animal. This is a price per pound hanging weight ($/lb. HCW) that your PRODUCTION operation needs to receive in order to be profitable and continue farming. Think of your farm as running multiple businesses. Each business sells to the next, and each business has other market options. To justify each business, you need to set pricing in order to keep each step profitable.

We can provide some help with the numbers, but the best results will come from your own numbers. If you haven’t weighed all the meat back from an animal, wait until you do, and please return to the site.

mc-business-graphicEach arrow on the diagram represents an opportunity for your farm to sell to some other buyer, be it a regional brand, auction, or another farm. If you choose to continue through the process, you should determine that base price. The price we need to start is where the production business sells to the marketing business.

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Channel and Species

For which marketing channel are you pricing? (choose one)
Are you creating prices for individual cuts of meat or by the hanging weight (whole, half, and quarter) for this channel? (choose one)
Which species are you pricing? (choose one)
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Calculate Cost of Production

The Cost of Production (COP) is the price your PRODUCTION operation needs to receive in order to BREAK EVEN.

What is your break-even cost of production per head?

Production Profit

How much would you like to profit above production cost? This is just for your production business, not marketing, that comes later.

You can enter this profit as a flat dollars/head or as a percent of COP.

Check out current market prices here

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Trucking and Delivery

You drive your livestock TO the processor, this cost should reflect your costs for mileage and the value of your time, but divide to reflect the cost for 1 HEAD only. You can use the Trucking Cost Helper to help calculate.

You drive to the processor to PICK UP the meat. Do you offer delivery to your customer? Consider your costs for mileage and the value of your time, but divide to reflect the cost for 1 HEAD only.

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Processing Costs

This weight should represent 1 typical, representative animal from your herd. It should be the one from which you weigh all the cuts and reflected on your invoice.
Do you have value-added products such as sausage, hot dogs, patties, smoking etc.?

Enter the costs of value-added processing: (These additional processing fees for products such as sausage, hot dogs, patties and smoking should be listed on your bill from the processor. You'll enter the number of pounds processed in a later step.)

Delete
Add another product
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Weights & Yield

Enter the cuts and actual pounds received for this same typical animal. Include all organs, soup bones, etc... if you plan to sell them.

Delete
Add Cut

Enter the number of pounds for additionally processed products:

Since you aren't pricing cuts and didn't enter any value added products, there isn't anything to do on this page.

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Building In a Profit

Review

Your actual % yield can't be calculated: Please supply the 'typical HCW' on the Weights & Yield 1 page

Your actual total retail yield 0 lbs.
Your actual % yield 0 %
Your calculated base price 0 /lb. HCW
 
Carcass value 0
Trucking & Delivery 0
Kill fee 0
Cut & wrap 0
Your total cost so far: 0 /head



Marketing Cost & Desired Profit

Consider the time you spend marketing one head in this channel. Figure the cost of your marketing labor. Then, add a profit above processing and marketing cost which is the profit to your marketing operation.

Enter labor cost and desired profit as a percent of total costs so far or labor cost and desired profit per head:
Labor cost
Labor cost
Desired profit
Desired profit

Help with markup

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Your Current Pricing


Please enter you current pricing for this channel. You will have a chance to revise the value(s) entered here.

If you are pricing products for the first time, please enter $1.00/lb. for all cuts.
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Current Pricing Analysis

Your current weighted average price: $0 /lb.
 
Total income from all cuts with current pricing: $0 /head
Based on costs, yields, and CURRENT pricing, you are exceeding your goal by: you are short of your goal by: $0 /head
Total income from the sale of one head with current pricing: $0 /head

Congratulations! You are meeting your goal. You can use the following page to tweak it as desired.

You are short of your goal. You can use the following page to revise your pricing to meet your goal.

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Your Revised Pricing

Adjust your REVISED pricing in $/pound. On the last page of this calculator, you'll be given the opportunity to have your values sent to you by email.

Short of your goal by
 
Exceeding your goal by
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Product lbs. Current Revised Total

Based on your costs and profit goals, your pricing should be: $0 / lb.

At the end, you'll be given the opportunity to have your values sent to you by email.

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Revised Pricing Analysis

Original Revised
Your weighted average price: $0 /lb. $0 /lb.
Total income from all cuts: $0 /head $0 /head
The difference above (or below) your goal: $0 /head $0 /head
Total income from the sale of one head: $0 /head $0 /head
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About Your Farm

Tell Us About Your Farm...

We’d like to learn a little about your farm. All your information will be kept confidential and we will only report averages from all users.

Marketing channels you use (check all that apply):
Species you raise for market and number of head you market per year.
About you and your farm.
How would you best describe your business (check all that apply):
Send an email with your values?
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Dressing Helper

Charts will be here but they don't make sense to me (Steve).

Close

Conclusion

Develop more pricing

If you created pricing for individual cuts, download a PDF of your Price List to provide to your customers:

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Base price per pound: $

Beef

Open the USDA report for a base price.
Scroll down to the “DRESSED DELIVERED BASIS – Beef Breeds” section, look at the “Steers” and “65-80% Choice” line and look over at the WTD AVG. PRICE or the high end of the range. Remember to move the decimal two places to the left, so “184” equals $1.84/lb. HCW, for example.

Pork

Open the USDA report for a base price:
Scroll down to the “Negotiated Purchase” section and look at the “Base Price Rng (range) or WTD AVG. Remember to move the decimal two places to the left, so “72” equals $0.72/lb. HCW, for example.

Sheep

Open the USDA report.
Scroll to the “formula purchases” section, carcass basis, choose the correct HCW range for your farm and then take a price. Remember to move the decimal as instructed above.

Price premium: A premium added to the base price for products with distinctly different qualities. Examples of premiums are below.

Certified Angus beef: $0.05/lb. HCW

Grain-finished, no antibiotics, no added hormones brands: $0.09-0.20/lb. HCW

100% grass-fed, grass-finished brands: $0.15-0.25/lb. HCW

Other reasons for premiums: Local, heritage breed, non-GMO feed, Certifications (Organic, Humane, etc…)

Your cost for truckingdelivering 1 head: $
Your cost for truckingdelivering 1 head: $

Mark-up is your profit per animal plus your pay for marketing efforts. This includes time spent at farmers’ markets, sales calls to buyers, or talking to freezer trade customers. It can be calculated as a % of total costs so far or as a flat $/head.  Note: Retail stores tend to mark-up meat by 35-40%. Time-intensive channels, like farmers’ markets, should have a high mark-up while channels that don’t take much time, such as freezer trade, can have a smaller mark-up.

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