I don't know about "a lot of income". I have to have something to sell to have income. right now I am rebuilding the herd after some health issues caused me to sell down a few years ago.

I have always resisted processing heifers for my retail sale inventory. My plan is to start selling more breeding stock one I get up to my target herd size. Sell bred heifers and the occasional bull while just processing the non-bull candidate steers as beef to my best customers.

Just read some amazing heifer sale numbers in a post above. I would be mostly looking at supplying private treaty some stock to the many small start-up farms around here.

I have always considered my beef "hobby" as a tasty business. But when building a cow/calf herd income is very choppy and intermittent.

It's about time the cow calf folks get a little return even though at scale it is really more a labor of love than anything else. Definitely not a get rich quick endeavor as you know.