A peek. What the buyers don't like.

[callmefence]

Took some calves over capital livestock today. They bring in stockers from here to Georgia daily. Anyways they called me to a side gate as they were unloading several pots at the front. Slipped my calves in between. I go in the scale room. A older buyer that stays home has been inspecting and over seeing the sorting. He leaves his (punch list) on the scale. You can sort it out but on the bottom is what he's pulling out and docking.
These are all cattle bought at auction by other buyers and trucked in.

 

[bird dog]

Thats an interesting place when they are busy. You can learn a lot just by watching them sort.

 

[Dixie2542]

Interesting. I knew about the pink noses, long tails, narrow bodied and short... in my area you have to add anything non-black or has a little ear to the list. Just about anything they can dock you for, they will.

 

[Buck Randall]

Lee G. had a "terrible terrible" day.

 

[Peace]

Lee G. had a "terrible terrible" day.

I'm laughing, but that guy is probably a good buyer. It looks like he has buyers for a whole range of cattle, from the high end to the low end and makes money on whatever he can get...you know, the one man's trash is another man's treasure thing

 

[tburkepa]

Might be a stupid question as I'm fairly new to the beef business coming in from the dairy side, but what does the pink nose or the long tail mean? Thanks in advance for any info.

 

[kenny thomas]

Pink nose normally means full Charolais which usually finishes bigger and don't fit in with the other calves.
Long tail is just that, as a calf gets older it's tail gets longer. A 400 lb calf with a long tail shows it has not grown very well.
The tail can be trimmed so it's not as obvious but a good buyer can still tell.

 

[moses388]

Pink nose normally means full Charolais which usually finishes bigger and don't fit in with the other calves.
Long tail is just that, as a calf gets older it's tail gets longer. A 400 lb calf with a long tail shows it has not grown very well.
The tail can be trimmed so it's not as obvious but a good buyer can still tell.

Agree, but I don't like it. There are many breeds of cattle and sale barns lump everything into 1) black 2)red or 3)Charolais. White Shorthorns have a pink nose, too.

There are 2 colors of cattle - black and red. Looking at the nose is a quick way to determine which. There are a number of genetic factors (e.g. dilution) that result in all the other colors.

 

[J+ Cattle]

What do they do there? Buy cattle and sort to put together uniform load lots for the feedlots?

 

[callmefence]

What do they do there? Buy cattle and sort to put together uniform load lots for the feedlots?

Close. They run stocker calves on around 30,000 acres of improved pasture. They put together orders of stocker calves to resell both to rancher's and feedlots. They will take calves over 700 pounds but dock them that big. They like stockers in the 4-500 pound range. They also do preconditioned deals. I can order say 100 head of 400 pound black #1 steers. . They'll deliver them worked and vaccinated. . And buy them right back in a few months. They have buyers at just about every cowsale in Texas/ Oklahoma and on to the east coast. Supposed to be the biggest stocker calf operation in the country.
I can take calves there 6 days a week and leave in 30 minutes with a check.
And it's always fair enough imo.

 

[tburkepa]

Thanks for the information everyone. Learn something new everyday!

 

[bird dog]

Here is an idea of what they do.
https://cllnet.com/cattle-for-sale/

I agree with fence, they are very fair if you want to deliver your own calves and save a sale barn commission. They base their price to pay you on the averages of the previous days auction prices from all their buyers. Last time I sold some I ask the young man weighing mine how long they would be on their yard. He said they had a lot of orders and mine would ship out in a matter of hours.
Their cattle pots head out ever morning to the farthest sale barn on their route and pick up calves on the way back every afternoon & evening.

 

[J+ Cattle]

It looks like even expert buyers end up with some plain #2s from time to time

 

[Dave]

Nothing wrong with #2 calves. You can make good money on them. One or two #2's in a group of #1's will stand out. But a whole lot of even #2's will look better.

 

[kenny thomas]

I make a lot of money each.year on #3's but wouldn't recommend it for everyone

 

[Stocker Steve]

It looks like even expert buyers end up with some plain #2s from time to time

More profit in upgrading calves (if you can) than running #1s.
Some outfits sell their #1s and buy back "1 1/2s" and 2s.

 

[Stocker Steve]

I make a lot of money each.year on #3's but wouldn't recommend it for everyone

What kind are your favorites?

 

[bird dog]

Tall large frame thin butted 350 lb brahman cross steers with to much ear have worked well for me. You can buy them for about $1.00 lb a lot of times. They will fill out some as they mature and do well on grass. They seem to stay healthy also. The only real problem is getting a bunch of them.

 

[kenny thomas]

What kind are your favorites?

Tall thin calves. Either black or charolais cross. Bottle calves are fine too. Mine cost averaged. 57 this winter.

 

[BC]

What do they do there? Buy cattle and sort to put together uniform load lots for the feedlots?

Capital Land & Livestock is probably the biggest order buying company in Texas. They have buyers at nearly every sale barn in Texas plus a few in Louisiana, Arkansas and southern Oklahoma. Capital has orders for about 30 classes of cattle every day. https://cllnet.com/cattle-for-sale/

For you guys up north, we sell nearly all of our cattle one at a time and most barns weigh after they are sold. Buyers have to determine sex, weight, quality, do they have an order for that calf and does it fit my money ALL in 8 to 10 seconds that animal is in the ring.