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.
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.