I have heard of butcher box, and in my local area farmers are trying to set up a box service to the main cities 3+ hours away.
Right now our grass raise grass finished is about $5.25 lb for a side of.beef. The weight of a side is about 400 lb and finished meat is around 275 lb after bones are done. So you actual cost per lb is around $7 lb.
Problem becomes with how the beef is processed lots now is wet aged, aged in wet vaccuum sealed bag, it’s complete scam as it allows for meat to retain alot of moisture and no trim. The taste is sub par at best. There is also problem with bse and pse it’s stress hormone in animals when slaughtering. Most plants have a 24 hour or less feed lot so animals just trucked in get slaughtered next day, and for dairy herds they add a pain killer into fèed before they ship so the cows don’t drop and can be used as food.
For me personally in past we took our animals to slaughter house 6 to 7 days before with feed, they get there they get watered and fed and on day 6 the stress markers are gone from meat then they are taken 3 at a time to the kill floor with buckets on head so they back up into kill stall and are stunned and killed with bucket on their heads they never see it coming.
We have changed to getting onsite slaughter and process, we walk the pig herd into the area night before they are watered onlt then led to kill floor in same way. It’s saves us shipping and animals from birth to death are all within our control. Pork cut and wrapped at the big city butcher shop can be as low as $2.35 a lb. We charge $5 lb carcass weight. Cut and wrap is $1.09 per lb carcass weight. Sausages are $3.25 per lb, hams and bacon are a $25 per pig price.
There are over seas buyers who have a rep that comes monthly to buy pork and air freight it to Asia as chilled pork not frozen. The other local farmers are lucky to get $3.25 a lb for thier pork.
The differences that make the money is type of pig
Feed given to pigs
How they are raised
Recently we have been approached by a large specialty food chain to supply pork but they wanted a deep discount, and more units. The shock when they where told no was priceless. Good animal husbandry can not be mass produced it takes human time and dedication. Farming is a life style I chose not a treadmill of growth that is soul sucking.
Like with all things it can be done well only to a certain point then when too big quality suffers. I know my animals are going to be killed and eaten, but I want thier time here to be enjoyable, with friends, places to roam and food to eat. We plant “gardens” for pigs to root through, we use their desire for food to help clear stumps and keep them interested, they have toys a stratcher post.
Our goal is to be up to demeter standards in 5 years. All food for all animals will come off our farm complete closed loop. Big ag could never do this only small local people who care about what they do because profit is not the first priorty to a shareholder but to the animams under our care and second the health and wellness being of our consumers.
So back to the meat question I think it is possible for butcher box to work but would look at these things, where meat comes from, where it is processed and distance between, if they use pink slime or finely texture ground beef additive. What kind of ageing they use. What type of cattle to get the cheapest meat per lb we use a cow called a lowline angus it weighs less per animal but more animals per acre and they have the biggest rib eyes. Plus they are much easier to handle.
Ask how long the life cycle of cows are to get to full size on grass raised grass finished takes 3 years, the fat will have a yellowish tinge to it and the meat a purple dark red color not red like in box stores that is food coloring.
Dry age hanging beef 14 days is 90 percent of the tenderness you do gain more with greater are but you lose way more in trim.