DRB
Well-known member
this isn't new to some of you, but Saturday in a televised auction on RFD an Angus cow sold for $100,000.00...i only watched for a few minutes...maybe others sold higher...
$100,000.00 cow
- Thread starter DRB
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blacksnake
Well-known member
There were several that sold for $100,000+ in the Wehrman sale. I think the top one was $160,000 but I didn't watch all of the sale.
[email protected]
Active member
Are you talking about the Weirman Angus sale? If you are there were several that sold over 100,000 I just watched the first 10 lots the highest was 205,000 for a heifer. There was a calf still on the cow sold for 175,000 I think and a pregnancy sold for 185,000. I wouldnt know what to do if my cattle sold anywhere near those prices! I think I spelled the farm name right but not for sure.
Ricker
Well-known member
Why would they pay that for a cow? I understand bulls going for high prices sometimes but a cow?. Seriously, for what purpose? I am not being smart just want to learn.
Ricker":1hps9v2e said:
I didn't see the sale, but people pay high prices for cows for different reasons. They may be starting out and want to get their name before the public; they may want a particular cow to flush as the basis of their herd;
or they may be beginners and not know any better.Why people pay $100,000 or more for cattle.
1. If they are buying a bull, they are either looking at a high risk investment opportunity based on possible future semen sales; or they have a large herd (and an established large sale) that lets them make a much safer investment which combines future semen sales possibilities with the opportunity to sell several thousand calves at even a slight premium out of that special bull calf, assuming he fulfills his promise once the numbers from his progeny start coming in.
2. Some people buy big money cows because they have an established operation with a successful sale, and therefore they have the strong likelihood of selling their customers enough future calves, pregnancies, flushes, or embyros out of that highly promoted cow to not only get back their investment over time, but also to perhaps even make a profit, as scary as that sounds.
3. If you are talking Angus cattle, sometimes the simplest explanation has nothing to do with any real money making plan at all. Sometimes the buyers are part of the 20 or so high end operations in the Angus business who are funded by people who got very rich from other businesses or inheritances, and who basically spend huge money at each other's sales "just because they can". Many times those deals are nothing more than rich folk showing off while they play with their "toy" cattle farm. More often than not, the high dollar buyer is in "the club" so he knows that over the next year or two the seller will return the favor by spending roughly the same amount of money at his sale. These guys don't live in the same world as the rest of us, as they don't seem to have any problem with the huge losses that eventually get realized after a few years of just trading big money at these sales, nor do they seem to care if a few "newbies" get caught up in their game and end up getting hurt pretty badly when they don't end up qualifying to be in "the club" However, I do understand that the sale managers who handle the sales these people put on for each other do pretty well.
1. If they are buying a bull, they are either looking at a high risk investment opportunity based on possible future semen sales; or they have a large herd (and an established large sale) that lets them make a much safer investment which combines future semen sales possibilities with the opportunity to sell several thousand calves at even a slight premium out of that special bull calf, assuming he fulfills his promise once the numbers from his progeny start coming in.
2. Some people buy big money cows because they have an established operation with a successful sale, and therefore they have the strong likelihood of selling their customers enough future calves, pregnancies, flushes, or embyros out of that highly promoted cow to not only get back their investment over time, but also to perhaps even make a profit, as scary as that sounds.
3. If you are talking Angus cattle, sometimes the simplest explanation has nothing to do with any real money making plan at all. Sometimes the buyers are part of the 20 or so high end operations in the Angus business who are funded by people who got very rich from other businesses or inheritances, and who basically spend huge money at each other's sales "just because they can". Many times those deals are nothing more than rich folk showing off while they play with their "toy" cattle farm. More often than not, the high dollar buyer is in "the club" so he knows that over the next year or two the seller will return the favor by spending roughly the same amount of money at his sale. These guys don't live in the same world as the rest of us, as they don't seem to have any problem with the huge losses that eventually get realized after a few years of just trading big money at these sales, nor do they seem to care if a few "newbies" get caught up in their game and end up getting hurt pretty badly when they don't end up qualifying to be in "the club" However, I do understand that the sale managers who handle the sales these people put on for each other do pretty well.
Third Row
Well-known member
I think we have a winner with #3.
Ranch A buying a heifer for $50k from Ranch B who then buys a heifer for $55k from Ranch A is nothing new.
Ranch A buying a heifer for $50k from Ranch B who then buys a heifer for $55k from Ranch A is nothing new.
Third Row
Well-known member
And then Ranch A has a dispersal sale only to come back two years later with a couple donor cows they 'forgot' to sell.
It's the circle of life.
It's the circle of life.
A "circle" may not be the best visual aid for what really happens in many of these big money deals. I wonder what picture would be drawn by a guy who pays $100,000 for a donor cow planning to build a herd from her and then finds out that she was so burned out from all her prior flushes that she only has a calf or two left in her before she won't even settle? What about the new guy who spends that kind of money because he thinks that is really what the market is for all these cattle; and then has his own production sale in a few years and finds out that the market when he is selling instead of buying averages about $2,000/head in a good year?
Third Row
Well-known member
I'm not sure exactly how it feels but I saw a guy palpate a bunch of cows with no lube yesterday. I have a feeling it would be something like what those cows felt.
rkm
Well-known member
It would seem to me that before anybody spends $100,000 they would know something about the business and the people they are dealing with. I don't know, but I bet more money is lost on cheap cows than expensive ones.
Third Row
Well-known member
Exactly, he knows that the person he buys a $100k heifer from is going to buy at his sale too.
I agree that most of the people who spend huge money at these sales don't get hurt. The real problem I see is that these high dollar deals create a false market that results in people without the deep pockets or the expertise to know how things really work actually paying much more than what the market really would justify for the animal. Although you can't protect dummies from themselves, I do think people getting hurt in that fashion hurts the business long term. In addition, I think these kinds of ridiculous top end numbers scare some people away from the purebred business. The facts are that 99% of the purebred business never even smells the air near the numbers promoted in those types of deals; but how do get that truth out. I guess I would change my tune if one of these money guys landed at my place in a helicopter and offered me $50,000 to $100,000 for one of my cows with no strings attached; but somehow I suspect that "Alabama" and I live in the same world. Merry Christmas to all
blacksnake
Well-known member
I think a lot of it also has to do with the anticipated sales of the offspring. It looks good in the ads when the description says dam was $100,000 cow. Thats seems to automatically increase that $1500 heifer to a $40-50K heifer. Just for fun, I have gone to a couple of the high end sales and by looks, pedigree, and EPDs, I couldn't see that much difference in animals from some of the normal purebred sales. Except for price of course.
ollie'
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ALL the high dollar sales I have ever been close enough to the deal to know what was going on ,was real money and had profit as a goal. I have never been part of ,or real close to, a 100K cow but I know of several bull transactions and they all wanted to make money....and lastly , there is a difference in a 100K cow and a 2K cow, whether you can personally see the difference or not.blacksnake":2l85tr4v said:
Sure, they all want to make money (except the people trading dollars). The question is how many people jump in and pay that kind of money and actually have the ability, connections, and deep pockets that it takes to play that deal all the way out and make it work. It is kind of like playing blackjack in Vegas. A few people do win big money; but all the rest just don't talk about it.
