We have friends that sell individual cuts at a couple of farmers markets and sell whole, half , and quarter (which is really a half of a half).  They have to haul an extra hour to get to a slaughterhouse that is inspected for retail cuts.  Some of the best cuts sell for $18, most between 7 and 12, and burger for 6.  They sell the bones and organ meat for 3 to 5.  While they enjoy the markets and have a pretty loyal following, the real value of it is promotion to sell halves and quarters.  Eighteen dollars a pound for a steak sounds good, but the extra effort and expense of the markets probably takes all of the extra and maybe some more.  The reality of the market is that any time someone figures out a way to capture a premium, it's pretty likely that within a few years there will be enough competition to negate most of it.  Suppliers and consumers switch what they sell and what they buy all of the time.  The biggest danger is waiting too long to respond to what the market is telling you.  Look at all of the tobacco and dairy farmers who wish they had gotten out ten years earlier instead of watching their assets decline in value while they got older and more tired.