Cost Of Raising Cows To Make Leather?

[dbusarow]

Leather is mainly from beef cattle. Steers are usually sold sometime in their second year. Around here calving is mainly Feb to March and September is common market time. So the steers are 1 1/2 years old. Then they go to a feed lot for finishing. Less than 2 years old total.

How much grass or grain does it take to turn a 100lb calf into a 1000lb steer?

Dan

[leatherwytch]

I doubt with tanning, feeding, vet costs, and everything else you will get a good return on your idea. Most people who farm have been or have family who have been farmers. They do know something about it. I am sure you will not come out further ahead because of it. You also have to worry about cougars, wolves etc. Some people put a mule or donkey on their land to keep wolves and coyotes away but that won't stop a cougar. If you have kids and you plan to slaughter this animal, anticipate that you will not be a big star in their lives and they will remember it forever. Remember farmers never take holidays unless they have someone who is coming by to check on things and make sure it has food and water, and something or someone hasn't killed or made off with it. Cattle rustling isn't what it was in the old west, but it still exists.

[Northmount]

Go to the slaughter houses and buy the hides. For the most part, they are a by-product. A small slaughter house, or abattoir may be happy to deal with you on small quantities. For the big operations, having to handle a few hides for you would just be a nuisance.

Cattle ranchers and feedlots make their money on the beef (meat), not on the hides.

By the way, the price of beef (on the hoof or in the supermarket) has recently doubled. That is due to so many ranchers and farmers reducing their herds several years ago due to BSE and the loss of foreign markets. It's now gone full cycle so there are fewer cattle and higher demand. Now it will take time to build the herds up for a few years until they can meet the demand, then the price will start to decline again. It's a familiar cycle that animal meat producers go through about every 5 to 10 years.

Tom

[cgleathercraft]

From the perspective of someone who grew up raising cattle and sheep. I wouldn't bother with doing it strictly for leather. As others have said it is a lot of work for no more leather you receive. Cattle costs in the US have skyrocketed over the past few years. Which is one of several reasons why Hermann Oak and several other tanneries are bumping up their prices. Everything costs more to raise a calf to market weight.

I plan to do something similar in the future but I'm not doing it for the leather. I'm doing it to be more self sufficient. Any leather I make from my own herd will be a by product and will cost much more per sq ft than what I can buy from a supplier.

One suggestion is to look for brain tanned deer hides and the price they fetch. Hunters get those as by products and a few take the time to work them up. There is a reason they get up to $25 sq ft. It's a lot of work and they didn't put anything into them besides a bullet, tags, and time.

[Denise]

We have paid between $50 and $80 to our local butcher for a raw hide straight off the animal, and those are big cow or bull hides. No profit in hides. They are strictly a by-product.