Sale barn to craigslist

[dwilliams35]

Money laundering? Buy an animal with full paperwork as a business expense, then sell it for unrecorded cash on the next day.

 

[Hereford2]

I don't mind buying a calf from someone who just bought it at the sale barn, If they tell me they bought there. I don't like it when a person claims they didn't buy them from the barn and did, if I catch someone, I won't buy from them again...

 

[Rafter S]

I think it is a southern thing Dave. I have never seen them here in the midwest either. The barn operators would put a stop to it quickly.

I've never seen it in southeast Texas either.

 

[tex452]

I never had that problem, been a lot of years and a lot of barns.

 

[puzzled in oregon]

Money laundering? Buy an animal with full paperwork as a business expense, then sell it for unrecorded cash on the next day.

Don't forget to claim it died.

 

[Lucky]

Lots of cattle traders buy cattle from salebarns, herd sellouts, downsizers, or where ever they can every day around here. They advertise them on craigslist or cattlerange. I haven't bought cattle from an individual in several years but I always ask how long have the cattle been together. They generally say 6-9 months this is always a sign of a cattle trader. I don't see anything wrong with it.

I went to look at a set of cows several years ago and there was 2 trucks backed up to a set of covered loading pens. They were offloading one truck and pulling the salebarn stickers off before loading them on the other truck. I ask what the deal was and the man just said "trying to make a dollar" and smiled.

 

[Travlr]

I'd bring 'em home and put them in the corral to cool off/acclimate, stickers still on... and the neighbors from all over would show up to take a look. They all knew what the deal was and where they came from. They knew I worked with the vets and trusted that I was buying for a reason, and they had good results.

 

[Stonewall Joe]

I don't think this kind of trading is as bad as it once was. Craig's List just makes it more obvious and easier for the non professional.
Local stockyards once had whole sections devoted to the traders. Trash barrels by the working chutes were filled with used sales tags, fingernail polish remover and empty black spray paint cans.
There was a kind of honor among thieves at work but woe to the innocent.
Who can forget the parade of "pinhookers" that approached your truck when you got in line to unload.
The cattle business has always had a hard edge that attracts this kind of activity.
Buyer Beware remains good advise even today.

haven't heard that term n a while

 

[greybeard]

I've never seen it in southeast Texas either.

I saw them at Livingston as recently as 2015-2016. I didn't know there was a term for them until just a few years before that tho.

 

[Warren Allison]

We usually had one that went to the sales around here every week. We just called him old man Jones. He had his own pen at the barns, and any he bought from you, he unloaded them and out them in hiw name, paid for them to be run through the vet( back then they all had to be Bangs tested). He stood just inside of the drive right by where you unloaded. He would come up and talk to you, ask you what you had . You might tell him you wanted $500 a head. If he thought they would bring more than thatm, he;d tell you he would cive you $500 right now. If he thought $500 might be the top they would bring he would offer you say $475. He was always pretty damned close. He told me he tries to make $20 a head. Very fair of him...you would always do better selling to him at $475 rather than waiting all day and half the night to see if got $500 minus the commission. No sale barn owner around would have run him off, but they might run YOU off if you gave him any sh*t.
I first met him in the early 70's going to the sale with my grandfather, Jones had a grandson ny age that was there every sale to help him. I hung around with him most all day, and Mr. Jones would talk to us and tel us about each load he looked at....why he bought them...why he didn't.. what he thought they would bring in the sale. If there were some head cattle, I would go in and watch them sell a lot of times. The old man was never more than a few bucks off, give or take. Never met a rancher or breeder that knew cattle better than Jones.

 

[Allenw]

Warren, that was a massive amount of free education that gentleman gave you. Most don't realize what you can learn from someone like that.

 

[tex452]

Warren, that was a massive amount of free education that gentleman gave you. Most don't realize what you can learn from someone like that.

I wish I could learn. Lol.

 

[FlyingLSimmentals]

When we sell babies at the sale barn (most of the time it's a twin) or a cow that can't take care of calf or died during birth. We keep them make sure they get the colostrum and usually bottle them a few weeks. I stay with them at sale barn and talk to anyone who looks at them. That way they know the situation, what they are, and that they're healthy. They'll bring more money but you'll have ones who want to buy them before the sale kicks off.

 

[Rafter S]

When we sell babies at the sale barn (most of the time it's a twin) or a cow that can't take care of calf or died during birth. We keep them make sure they get the colostrum and usually bottle them a few weeks. I stay with them at sale barn and talk to anyone who looks at them. That way they know the situation, what they are, and that they're healthy. They'll bring more money but you'll have ones who want to buy them before the sale kicks off.

I generally try to find a young person who's willing to put in a little work and give the calf to him or her in that situation. I remember receiving a few like that 45 or so years ago.

 

[libertygarden]

Last July I put 5 calves on CL. Never got an inquiry. So I took them to the barn and got more money after commissions than what I was asking on CL.

 

[FlyingLSimmentals]

I generally try to find a young person who's willing to put in a little work and give the calf to him or her in that situation. I remember receiving a few like that 45 or so years ago.

Have offered them that way as well and have taken care of some and just kept and fed them myself.