Will the feed yard pay for small groups with data?

[alabama]

Will the feed yard pay for small groups with data?

Small producers often are producing some of the better-conditioned cattle but they have to sell them at the local sale barn, as they don't have a full load. I sometimes take 5 or 6 calves to the sale barn after weaning or yearling weights as I don't think they are the best for breeding stock. I have all the info on the cattle such as birth date, weaning date and vaccinations. I also know what they have been fed. I also test my calves for BVD so the buyer should be willing to pay more knowing that the calf is not a PI calf.
When they go to the stockyard, they come through the sale ring just like any other calf. What can I do to alert the buyers that the calves are preconditioned and should have more value that a calf weaned on the truck on the way to the sale?
I take a few 5 weight calves at weaning and a few 9 to 10 weight calves at yearling weights.

I would like to see the stockyards mount a screen above the sale ring to post info on the calf as it comes through the ring. An ID tag in the calf could trace to the database in the stockyard computer with all my data on each calf displayed.
How can we make this work such that the stockyard and afford to install and use it?
Can we sell calves just as fast with this sort of system?
Will the buyers trust the data?
Will the buyers pay for a calf that has this data if only 4 or 5 are run through at a time?

 

[Howdyjabo]

You need a bigger group--
our stockyard will sell as a group with added information given - but its usually 15 or more head. I don't see much premium even then. Unless you can get a whole load the same its not worth paying that much more for individuals to mix in with others that haven't got a background.

 

[Howdyjabo]

Your value is not in the commercial market--
need to find a private market to realize it or get into a specialized sale with like animals.

 

[MikeC]

Put them in the "Pasture to Rail" program. They will take 1-100.

 

[dun]

Around here the better salebarns have special preconditioned sales usually about once a month. The calves generally bring a nickle to a dime more per pound

dun

 

[VAStocker]

I'm not familiar with Alabama Cattlemen's Assoc. but here in Virginia our cattlemen's assoc. offers a quilty assurance program. The way it works is lets say it takes 8 farmers to produce a trailer load of calves your calves are grouped with very similar calves to make the group. The only thing is the calves that are on this trailer will all meet very tight guidelines the sire has been performance tested all vacinations were given per label with injection site recorded on a form along with experation dates and serial numbers from the bottles vacinations came from. Not all memberships require the calves to be EID but the high end sales all calves must be. Along with all of this calf must be weaned for at least 45 days and broke to feed bunk and watering station. Now for the improved profit these calves brought sometimes $25 more per 100 than calves that were graded and sold in the sale ring. The association groups the cattle on a fact sheet and faxes it to feed lots that are signed up for there news letter and then the buyer faxes back a bid on this group. After the sale you and the other 7 farmers will bring your cattle to a livestock market that is central for all of the salers and the cattle are weighed and picked up.

 

[auctionboy]

This is not what the auction is about. If you want to advertise and get more money sell them independently. I guess you could talk to the buyers.

 

[alabama]

We sure have many helpful suggestions here. And we have many of these sorts of program in Alabama. However, the point I was trying to discuss dealt more with the improvement of the current stockyard sales. Can we offer the info that the better-feed yards want on calves as they come through the stockyard? And will the buyers pay for that type of information.

 

[mitchwi]

Some of the yards I go to in Minnesota, have a TV screen on the back wall, so you can see as the group comes in, that lists, a range for birthdates, what type's of vacc and dates, and whether they were given by producer, or vet, when they were weaned, implants if any and type, when they were castrated and by what method. There is a noticeable difference in prices.... so if two groups of calves came in one had info and the other had nothing, but they looked comparable, buyers do pay for the additional work.

If there is other info, like breeding or what not, the auctioneer tends to mention that also, but that is not a guarantee.

Maybe things you are looking for will come in time, just as some of this info has....

Michele

 

[alabama]

Some of the yards I go to in Minnesota, have a TV screen on the back wall, so you can see as the group comes in, that lists, a range for birthdates, what type's of vacc and dates, and whether they were given by producer, or vet, when they were weaned, implants if any and type, when they were castrated and by what method. There is a noticeable difference in prices.... so if two groups of calves came in one had info and the other had nothing, but they looked comparable, buyers do pay for the additional work.

If there is other info, like breeding or what not, the auctioneer tends to mention that also, but that is not a guarantee.

Maybe things you are looking for will come in time, just as some of this info has....

Michele

As soon as the buyers demand it or the stockyard can make money from it I think we will see it. And once one stockyard in the area has it I think the others will follow.

 

[auctionboy]

A cheap way to do this on your own would be to make 50 copies of your info and leave it where people get there numbers or in the coffee shop, or for buyers put them where they sit. Make some flyers and people will take notice.

 

[MrBilly]

We began this year placing EID, Angus Source, tags in cattle taken to the local sale barn. The barn people pen them separately as a group and then they inform the buyers who we have spoken to in the past that these are our cattle. We have had too few to know whether we are getting any extra $, but we are gaining exposure and hopefully down the line we will have the numbers.

Billy

 

[alabama]

We began this year placing EID, Angus Source, tags in cattle taken to the local sale barn. The barn people pen them separately as a group and then they inform the buyers who we have spoken to in the past that these are our cattle. We have had too few to know whether we are getting any extra $, but we are gaining exposure and hopefully down the line we will have the numbers.

Billy

"EID, Angus Source" as understand it only provides age of the calf and that it is sired by an angus bull. Can it do more?