Buying Kill/slaughter cows

[Allen89]

Hello,

I was trying to get some information as to how taking kill cows to the plants like JBS, Dressed Beef, FPL, and Tyson all works. Me and another guy are currently bull haulers, so we know how the sale barn end works, know how much a full load is, and know what most plants ask for as in the type of condition the Holsteins are in. What we don't understand is what are they paying for the cattle at the plant? Do they pay hanging weight or just per head when they come off the truck? Do you have a contract with them? How long is the wait on getting paid after selling them to them? We are mainly interested in getting into the Holsteins and Jerseys right now and then later on buying fats.

Thanks
Allen

 

[chippie]

You might want to talk to the plants that you want to sell to. They will tell you their requirements and such.
It is best to get the information straight from the people that you will be doing business with.

 

[Kingfisher]

I think what your going to figure out is that those buyers have fellows buying kills on a regular basis at the barns near them.

 

[kenny thomas]

I agree to talk to the plants about it. They pay on the rail and some of the plants are kinda slow to pay so you will need lots of cash to stay in business. FPL stopped buying market cows a month or more ago and only buys on the rail.
The price also usually changes daily so what they kill today may be worth more or less than tomorrow so stay current with the price.

 

[Bigfoot]

Years ago, I had a place for slaughter cows. You got paid on yield back then. Usually take about 3 weeks to get a check. Back then, it was hard to get in to. My dumb luck, I got in twice. I just had too much going to keep it running.

 

[NolanCountyAG]

The packer around here usually sends our check in 2-3 days

 

[Ojp6]

If you are talking about buying them and killing them out they generally grade them and pay you based on how they grade and carcass weight not live weight. The most important thing to learn is how a cow is going to grade and making sure you don't buy a bunch of full bellied cows that shrink too bad. It's a hard market to get into unless you have a bunch of money to play with. My dad used to buy some for JBS and for Cargill at different times and if somebody came in to try and buy cattle to kill out at the sale barn they had orders to not let them buy a thing that would make a dime.

 

[cowgirl8]

The one near us is paying 1.60 hanging weight. They send you a check and you get it within a week. We'll take limping cows there that would otherwise get docked heavily at the sale or might not hold up a long day at a sale.