Our 2013 sale results

[Nesikep]

Well, the calves are off... here is what it looked like for us


6 steer calves, avg 615, $1.54
2 steer calves, avg 523, $1.57
1 oneball bull calf, 715, $1.38

2 heifer calves, avg 460, $1.455
3 heifer calves, avg 543, $1.44
1 heifer calf, 620 lb, $1.365

I think they lost a fair bit of weight, and I may have estimated a little high, but I thought the group of 6 steers were darned close to 700, because they weren't looking much different than the 715lb stag... they were pretty hollow when they went through the ring, but I guess buyers don't like paying for hay either, so it probably works out there.

There were a lot of hereford calves at the sale, they didn't do well at all, they ranged from 300 to 500 lbs, and they were barely making $1.25

I have a vid of the auction I'll post on friday, it's not letting me take if off my camera right now

 

[BryanM]

Nesikep

I would love to see some pics of sales calves or your herd? Do you ai or do you have a bull? thanks looks like you did pretty well

 

[a7 livestock]

Did you take your cattle to the yard the night before the sale or that morning, if they are overnight cattle I'll usually pay a little more bc they've already shrunk

 

[Nesikep]

I took them in the night before, so yes,they certainly did shrink, and they were weaned the day before that

If you want to see pictures, look at some of my other threads, they're scattered around here, and there's lots of pictures, you can probably click on my username to the right and view all my posts to find more recent ones (though I did just post some pictures that weren't of my cattle)... We have a Gelbvieh bull right now

 

[Nesikep]

OK, here's the vid I promised... it'll be live about 5 minutes after I post this...

[youtube]Y6q2_PGinW0[/youtube]

 

[a7 livestock]

I'd probably hang myself if I had to buy cattle from that auctioneer, so slow.

 

[BC]

What is up with the continual backing up on the opening bid? I also noticed that the buyers seemed to be slow bidding the auctioneer.

 

[Nesikep]

They always are... I liked this cattle handler better than some of the others... some of them would always be in such a rush to close the door it would hit a calf every time, and this guy was a lot calmer... I liked how the 6 steers lined up all in a row to look at the buyers.

 

[Bigfoot]

It was interesting to watch that sale. It ran a little over 5 minutes. I'll have to time 5 minutes worth of our sale this week. I'm guessing that well in excess of 100 head could sell in 5 minutes. I may be wrong. You would have to sit there all day to put together a group.

 

[Nesikep]

we're small fish, there were guys there with 40 head in each weight group so you put a liner load together a lot faster with them. We're finally getting a bit known with the buyers and auctioneer (after 21 years), so our calves are no longer the first to go through in the morning when no one is in the seats to buy, or last at night when all the trucks are already full

 

[BC]

If you want to see a fast sale, tune into Buffalo, TX on DV Auctions on Saturday afternoon. http://www.dvauction.com/
The auctioneer there is fast and clear. I saw him fill in at Emory, TX a couple of weeks ago. They were averaging over 360 head an hour (that is one at a time as we don't sell many groups or deals here in East Texas).

 

[denvermartinfarms]

Around here most sales run about 300hd an hour with a mix of groups and singles. The one sale here that co mingles and has alot loads brought in sells 500 to 1000 an hour and runs up to 10 and 12k head some sales. Wonder how many days it would take that guy to sell 10000 head.

 

[Nesikep]

Around here they run about 2000/day on a big day... things have really changed in the last 20 years as 2000 would have been a quite ordinary sale, but a lot of ranches just do hay now, and there are no little guys left.

 

[3waycross]

If you want to see a fast sale, tune into Buffalo, TX on DV Auctions on Saturday afternoon. http://www.dvauction.com/
The auctioneer there is fast and clear. I saw him fill in at Emory, TX a couple of weeks ago. They were averaging over 360 head an hour (that is one at a time as we don't sell many groups or deals here in East Texas).

A calf every 10 seconds?

 

[denvermartinfarms]

If you want to see a fast sale, tune into Buffalo, TX on DV Auctions on Saturday afternoon. http://www.dvauction.com/
The auctioneer there is fast and clear. I saw him fill in at Emory, TX a couple of weeks ago. They were averaging over 360 head an hour (that is one at a time as we don't sell many groups or deals here in East Texas).

A calf every 10 seconds?

I've watched that sale he's talking about and it's about as fast as they get, I haven't timed it, but I can't see how they can get all the bids that quick.

 

[BC]

If you want to see a fast sale, tune into Buffalo, TX on DV Auctions on Saturday afternoon. http://www.dvauction.com/
The auctioneer there is fast and clear. I saw him fill in at Emory, TX a couple of weeks ago. They were averaging over 360 head an hour (that is one at a time as we don't sell many groups or deals here in East Texas).

A calf every 10 seconds?

I've watched that sale he's talking about and it's about as fast as they get, I haven't timed it, but I can't see how they can get all the bids that quick.

I timed the auctioneer (Joe Don Pogue) at Emory that day with the stop watch on my cell phone.

3 minutes, 8 seconds – 20 calves
3 minutes, 15 seconds – 20 calves
3 minutes, 16 seconds – 20 calves
3 minutes, 16 seconds – 20 calves
3 minutes, 15 seconds – 20 calves

That was 16 minutes and 10 seconds to sell 100 calves - one at a time. He is not their regular auctioneer, but filled in when the regular one had a kidney stone attack the morning of the sale. They normally run close to 300 head an hour on calves.

Denver, that guy doesn't miss many bids. When he does, it was somebody trying to slow bid or get in just as he is selling out. What makes him so good is his phenomenal memory. Once you charge off a few calves on the same order, he has got you down.

 

[Nesikep]

How do they get them in the pen one at a time that quick and weighed?

 

[BC]

How do they get them in the pen one at a time that quick and weighed?

Well for one thing most of the sale rings are not as big as the sale you showed. Most have two doors coming into the ring - a small one for singles and a larger door for the occasional groups and weak cows. The singles chute will hold 4 to 6 cows or 7 -8 calves depending on size. A round tub feeds the chute. The cattle leave the ring and go to the scale. Nearly all the sales have gone to digital scales. Emory is not on the Internet, but the sale at Buffalo, TX is similar in speed. It is on Saturday afternoons. You can watch it on DV Auctions - http://www.dvauction.com/

The average herd size in East Texas was 31 head before the drought. We don't have the big strings of uniform cattle to sort up and sell in groups. The barns weren't built with a lot of small pens to keep individual producer's animals separate. If a producer has a big group, the sale barns will try to segregate them and run them one behind another.

 

[Nesikep]

I wouldn't have thought the average herd size in texas was probably about what it is here