Food

Blood Legend · 08-31-2012, 08:17 PM

I cant find a whole lot of concrete rules regarding food.

There's either a brief word 'man eats 12lbs a day' or arbitration 'a ration is 6 bucks a meal'

I'm encountering an issue where a player of mine is looking to rent a really ****ty horse but the one he's looking at was purchased by a butcher.

It's a draft horse ($2000) that is on it's way out based on handwavium, how much would the butcher buy this horse for, and how much would he sell the meat for?

He is skilled enough to regularly get the maximum 70% of meat off the bone.

Turhan's Bey Company · 08-31-2012, 08:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blood Legend

It's a draft horse ($2000) that is on it's way out based on handwavium, how much would the butcher buy this horse for,

If the horse really can't do much work, then something less than the value of the meat he'd get from it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blood Legend

and how much would he sell the meat for?

Though the nominal cost of animal products is $8/lb., there could be other factors at work. If people don't like the idea of eating horse, there'll be a negative CF. If they prefer eating horse, then a positive one.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blood Legend

He is skilled enough to regularly get the maximum 70% of meat off the bone.

What's his skill level?

Blood Legend · 08-31-2012, 08:32 PM

8/lb sounds decent.

The capital they're in, this one particular butcher handles all the dying or dead horses from about 5 companies, so the people he buys from are accustomed to if not outright looking for horse meat. Where'd you find the 8/lb ruling? I've looked through 6 books.

The butcher's skill is about 20 with servant and apprentice help. He was born a butcher, all he's ever done is butcher, and he'll die a butcher, probably shortly.

Fred Brackin · 08-31-2012, 08:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blood Legend

. Where'd you find the 8/lb ruling? I've looked through 6 books.

The eccentruc pseudonym of TBC cleverly disguises Matt Rigsby who helped write Gurps:Low Tech and iit's pdf companions.

I'm guessing that one of those is where he got the figure.

Turhan's Bey Company · 08-31-2012, 10:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blood Legend

Where'd you find the 8/lb ruling?

The low tech issue of Pyramid. #33, I think.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blood Legend

The butcher's skill is about 20 with servant and apprentice help.

Yeah, he could do it.

Blood Legend · 09-01-2012, 02:27 AM

Branch question; at that skill, what's stopping the man from buying up horses just to chop them up? Draft horse 2000 bucks; meat, about 12,000.

jacobmuller · 09-01-2012, 03:15 AM

I'd ask what does he have to pay as wages, waste disposal, maintenance, his own labour value (cost of living?)... And supply vs demand - may be just nobody would buy that much meat?

Anders · 09-01-2012, 04:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blood Legend

Branch question; at that skill, what's stopping the man from buying up horses just to chop them up? Draft horse 2000 bucks; meat, about 12,000.

Supply and demand. He'll soon find that people charge more for the few horses who are still alive. And there's only so many recipes for horse beef.

starslayer · 09-01-2012, 09:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blood Legend

Branch question; at that skill, what's stopping the man from buying up horses just to chop them up? Draft horse 2000 bucks; meat, about 12,000.

I'm not sure where your getting those numbers?

An 'average' horse weighs about 1100 lbs (So some particularly stout breed might weigh 1500), but by no means is all of that 'meat', hoof, brain, organ, bone, skin, offal, sinew- all of that stuff a butcher would have to remove; and probably accounts for more then 70% of the horses weight.

So assuming a 1500lbs draft horse, a skilled butcher to not end up with a lot of waste; it's a $2000 investment in the horse for a sale of $3600 in meat, minus supplies, staff, disposal, and cost of the space (lets eyeball that at $600), the butcher makes $1000 for however much time it takes to completely butcher a horse (likely a long time).

Dalillama · 09-01-2012, 10:30 AM

70% sounds about right, actually, assuming you're taking every last bit of edible meat off of it. In my experience buying beef by the side, you get about 60% of the hang weight in meat, and that excludes some of the organs and other bits that fastidious Americans usually won't eat; if you're selling those too, you could probably squeeze out another 5-10%. I think that there's an overestimation of how much you can sell meat from a draft horse for, though, at least in a historical context. Typically, a draft horse isn't butchered until it's at the end of its working life, which means that you're getting very tough, gamy meat off of one. Usually that's meat for pet food or the very poor, and sold at quite cheap rates. As I understand it, in places where horse is a favored food of some people, those horses are raised for that purpose, rather than being sent to the butcher to get a last bit of profit off a workhorse.

08-31-2012, 08:17 PM	#1
Blood Legend Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: The Fine Line Between Black and White	Food I cant find a whole lot of concrete rules regarding food. There's either a brief word 'man eats 12lbs a day' or arbitration 'a ration is 6 bucks a meal' I'm encountering an issue where a player of mine is looking to rent a really ****ty horse but the one he's looking at was purchased by a butcher. It's a draft horse ($2000) that is on it's way out based on handwavium, how much would the butcher buy this horse for, and how much would he sell the meat for? He is skilled enough to regularly get the maximum 70% of meat off the bone. __________________ . ( )( ) -This is The Overlord Bunny o(O.o)o -Master of Bunnies O('')('') -And Destroyer of the Hasenpfeffer "This is the sort of relatively small error that destroys planetary probes." ~Bruno

09-01-2012, 02:27 AM	#6
Blood Legend Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: The Fine Line Between Black and White	Re: Food Branch question; at that skill, what's stopping the man from buying up horses just to chop them up? Draft horse 2000 bucks; meat, about 12,000. __________________ . ( )( ) -This is The Overlord Bunny o(O.o)o -Master of Bunnies O('')('') -And Destroyer of the Hasenpfeffer "This is the sort of relatively small error that destroys planetary probes." ~Bruno

09-01-2012, 03:15 AM	#7
jacobmuller Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Not in your time zone:D	Re: Food I'd ask what does he have to pay as wages, waste disposal, maintenance, his own labour value (cost of living?)... And supply vs demand - may be just nobody would buy that much meat? __________________ "Sanity is a bourgeois meme." Exegeek PS sorry I'm a Parthian shootist: shiftwork + out of country = not here when you are:/ It's all in the reflexes

09-01-2012, 10:30 AM	#10
Dalillama Join Date: Nov 2004	Re: Food 70% sounds about right, actually, assuming you're taking every last bit of edible meat off of it. In my experience buying beef by the side, you get about 60% of the hang weight in meat, and that excludes some of the organs and other bits that fastidious Americans usually won't eat; if you're selling those too, you could probably squeeze out another 5-10%. I think that there's an overestimation of how much you can sell meat from a draft horse for, though, at least in a historical context. Typically, a draft horse isn't butchered until it's at the end of its working life, which means that you're getting very tough, gamy meat off of one. Usually that's meat for pet food or the very poor, and sold at quite cheap rates. As I understand it, in places where horse is a favored food of some people, those horses are raised for that purpose, rather than being sent to the butcher to get a last bit of profit off a workhorse.

08-31-2012, 08:32 PM	#3
Blood Legend Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: The Fine Line Between Black and White	Re: Food 8/lb sounds decent. The capital they're in, this one particular butcher handles all the dying or dead horses from about 5 companies, so the people he buys from are accustomed to if not outright looking for horse meat. Where'd you find the 8/lb ruling? I've looked through 6 books. The butcher's skill is about 20 with servant and apprentice help. He was born a butcher, all he's ever done is butcher, and he'll die a butcher, probably shortly. __________________ . ( )( ) -This is The Overlord Bunny o(O.o)o -Master of Bunnies O('')('') -And Destroyer of the Hasenpfeffer "This is the sort of relatively small error that destroys planetary probes." ~Bruno Last edited by Blood Legend; 08-31-2012 at 08:43 PM.