a question for commercial operators

[Angus Cowman]

I hear on here and talking to others of people complaining about the prices they get for their calves when they sell them
and one of the things I have noticed is that alot of people have inconsistant herds they have a few herf, shothorns, black, limis, char and brangus all mixed together to form a Motley herd of cows therefore they have a mix motley herd of calves and cannot sell their calves in uniform lots
to me if you are going to run cows pick a consistant type and color of cows therefore you will have consistant type and color of calves and they bring a consistant and better price than a mixed herd of calves across the board

 

[1982vett]

I hear on here and talking to others of people complaining about the prices they get for their calves when they sell them
and one of the things I have noticed is that alot of people have inconsistant herds they have a few herf, shothorns, black, limis, char and brangus all mixed together to form a Motley herd of cows therefore they have a mix motley herd of calves and cannot sell their calves in uniform lots
to me if you are going to run cows pick a consistant type and color of cows therefore you will have consistant type and color of calves and they bring a consistant and better price than a mixed herd of calves across the board

Must be talking about me.... (Was wondering how I was going to use these)

Though I had twins when I found these two red ones. One is out of a Brangus cow and the other is Hereford. Both heifers and real darn close to looking identical.

Recon that wire is hot.......or at least they think it is.

Nice tigerstripe huh.......but not a hereford/brhama. :shock: That is mama standing beside. :nod:

Hey - and another...

Wish I had something green to eat other than this weed..... :frowns:

Well, like I've posted before, calves don't sell in groups around here so good calves is all you need. Well, ok, would be a few more penneys if the reds would be blacks instead.

 

[Idaman]

I hear on here and talking to others of people complaining about the prices they get for their calves when they sell them
and one of the things I have noticed is that alot of people have inconsistant herds they have a few herf, shothorns, black, limis, char and brangus all mixed together to form a Motley herd of cows therefore they have a mix motley herd of calves and cannot sell their calves in uniform lots
to me if you are going to run cows pick a consistant type and color of cows therefore you will have consistant type and color of calves and they bring a consistant and better price than a mixed herd of calves across the board

You have exactly right. There is no better way to enhance the value of the cattle you sell than having uniformity in color, size, and type.

When we first moved to Canada we consistenty topped the best feeder sale because of one thing. Uniform truckload lots. Were they the best cattle in the sale, no, but they were very certainly the most uniform. Also they were all sired by bulls that were 15/16ths brothers.

Today with the black hided thing selling so well we had to transition to all black hided offerings. We felt we weren't getting enough of a premium with the black and red color. So now we have completed the transition and the premium has returned.

For the breeder it is absolutely imperative to breed uniformity. If you use a lot of different bulls you will eventually have a lot of different problems that you need to fix by selective breeding. It is almost impossible to address all those inevitable problems. But if you use sires bred more alike and get more uniformity then you will still have some problems but at least you may have to select to improve one or two things instead of the fifty you get the other way. Want to breed a low value mess? Just ignore breeding uniformity and then take them to the sale barn and complain about how they were sorted. You'll get absolutely no sympathy here.

 

[Angus Cowman]

your saying that if you had say 5,10,15,20 or however many like colored calves and weighing the same your salebarns would still sell them 1 at a time?

I think me and the barn owner would have a talk and discuss why he doesn't sell like groups together as it would make him and you more money

 

[1982vett]

Yep, only thing that sells more than one at a time are pairs...and a lot of those the calf is split off. Cattle sales just run different around here. The "big" run today was 800 head. Probably 180 of those were cows. I'm not sure their is a salebarn near here that sorts and pre-groups calves. None of that source verification stuff either. Not at salebarns anyway.

 

[Idaman]

your saying that if you had say 5,10,15,20 or however many like colored calves and weighing the same your salebarns would still sell them 1 at a time?

I think me and the barn owner would have a talk and discuss why he doesn't sell like groups together as it would make him and you more money

No. I am saying that the less uniformity you have the more they will sort them into uniform lots.

 

[Angus Cowman]

your saying that if you had say 5,10,15,20 or however many like colored calves and weighing the same your salebarns would still sell them 1 at a time?

I think me and the barn owner would have a talk and discuss why he doesn't sell like groups together as it would make him and you more money

No. I am saying that the less uniformity you have the more they will sort them into uniform lots.

Sorry Idaman
I was referring to Vette's post about their salebarns selling all the caves 1 at a time

Idaman
what you said is what I was trying to say in my original post
I sell in pot loads also and whatever leftovers I have that get sent to the local salebarns are still uniform and get sold as lots
out of the 30 I sold this yr at the barn there were 13 steers and 17 hfr.
16 hfrs sold in one group and 11 of the steers sold in a group
2 steers and 1 hfr were lighter than the rest so they got split but I knew they would
I also try to run bulls with the same bloodlines

 

[EAT BEEF]

Yep, only thing that sells more than one at a time are pairs...and a lot of those the calf is split off. Cattle sales just run different around here. The "big" run today was 800 head. Probably 180 of those were cows. I'm not sure their is a salebarn near here that sorts and pre-groups calves. None of that source verification stuff either. Not at salebarns anyway.

They still had 620 head that would take some time at one at a time.Why would they do that?

 

[bluegoose 1]

At our local sale barn. They sold 1754 head on 8/17/10. On 8/21/10 they sold 2061 I would say less than 20% were sold in groups. Group cattle are generally Holsteins and Jersey steers. This a beef cattle sale barn. If they sale over 5 hours that is a long day, seldom does this happen.This barn is in Emory Texas.
Bluegoose1

 

[3waycross]

Around here they always go in groups as much as possible.

Someone brings in 60 steers they will usually be split into 2 groups as much alike as possible.

The only single are calves that get split off for some reason. A rat tail, too much white, or an obvious defect that the sorters missed.

Virtually all cows and pairs go thru singley as do all bulls.

 

[1982vett]

Yep, only thing that sells more than one at a time are pairs...and a lot of those the calf is split off. Cattle sales just run different around here. The "big" run today was 800 head. Probably 180 of those were cows. I'm not sure their is a salebarn near here that sorts and pre-groups calves. None of that source verification stuff either. Not at salebarns anyway.

They still had 620 head that would take some time at one at a time.Why would they do that?

Well, I guess for one it prevents a buyer from comming back and bitching about this one calf that shouldn't have been in the group of 50 he bought cause he didn't see it. I don't know other than that is the way it is done and always has been. Salebarn isn't responsible for grading and grouping cattle. That falls on the buyer and order buyers knowing how to buy the type cattle they want. I suppose if the sales ran 5000 - 10000 a week the process might be different. Oh,you can request your own pen if you have enough to warrant and they have the room.

 

[alacattleman]

uniform cattle is just what im shooting for,,, cattle sales in the south east suck for the most part,, and you dont want to get there late either,, as most of the order buyers are in bed by the time yours might run through.. when the numbers are high

 

[randiliana]

I don't worry about having a uniform herd here, at least colorwise. I like the variety. All our calves go to presort, special calf sales in the fall (or maybe presort yearling sales in the spring) and get sorted in with other cattle like them. This way, I can have some cows I like and my DH can have some that he likes. We agree on the bulls, and concentrate on keeping cows that can raise good quality BIG calves. Then we take them to a presort sale. Some of th presort calf sales around here hit 5000 head.....

 

[Idaman]

I believe that the good sale barns sort to fit or attract their best buyers. The method of sorting may not suit certain sellers but if the barn is sorting to get the most for my cattle I just as soon leave it to their judgement.

If you don't like the sort then switch barns.

 

[3waycross]

I believe that the good sale barns sort to fit or attract their best buyers. The method of sorting may not suit certain sellers but if the barn is sorting to get the most for my cattle I just as soon leave it to their judgement.

If you don't like the sort then switch barns.

Good post however as you know around here that means hauling them a minimum of 70 miles if you don't like the local barn.

 

[bigbull338]

At our local sale barn. They sold 1754 head on 8/17/10. On 8/21/10 they sold 2061 I would say less than 20% were sold in groups. Group cattle are generally Holsteins and Jersey steers. This a beef cattle sale barn. If they sale over 5 hours that is a long day, seldom does this happen.This barn is in Emory Texas.
Bluegoose1

them old boys at emory roll smoke when they start selling cattle.an they run alot of cattle through the tues an sat sales.an they catch cattle at their other sale barns.an haul to emory.because they know where the cattle will bring the best price.its been 8yrs since ive been to the emory sale.

 

[BC]

I live in Northeast Texas and the vast majority of our calves sell one at a time. There are a couple of sales that have graded and sorted feeder calf sales for preconditioned calves (Sulphur Springs, Van Zandt, Paris and Winnsboro). I know that Van Zandt Livestock will sort cattle in groups if you bring them in the day before. I have been in nearly all of the sale barns east of I-35 and north of I-10 and they just don't have the facilities to pen each sellers' calves seperately. They will jack pot them in pens of 75 up to 300 or more.

For as many cattle as we have in this area (the USDA estimates there are 58,000 beef cows in this county), the average herd size is 31 head. It is hard to put uniform groups together with so few numbers.

 

[randiliana]

I believe that the good sale barns sort to fit or attract their best buyers. The method of sorting may not suit certain sellers but if the barn is sorting to get the most for my cattle I just as soon leave it to their judgement.

If you don't like the sort then switch barns.

Good post however as you know around here that means hauling them a minimum of 70 miles if you don't like the local barn.

Not much different around here. Our closest sale barn is 15 min, then 1 hour, then 2 at about 2 hours away.

That is why they have the Shrink based on distance.

 

[alacattleman]

i have several i could go to, they all operate pretty much the same,, no sense running the wheels off my rig

 

[Jake]

Would drive me nuts taking cattle to a barn that sells my calves like goats. :roll: You can read any study ever conducted that you recieve premiums for "filling the ring" meaning minimum of half semi loads.

I know all my southern friends on here get mad everytime I say it, but if that's how cattle are marketed it's no wonder there is so much variation in quality, color and other traits. Selling cattle like that aids in the poor reputation that goes along with southern cattle. It now makes a lot of sense to me why Superior has become so prominent in the south. Any smart producer of any size would have to sell that way or private treaty to get paid for his high quality consistently good cattle. If your not paid for uniform sets of quality cattle it's no wonder southern cattle take such a discount. Selling 1500 "cheaters" is just a rediculous way to run a salebarn. Piecing together loads increases disease risk and makes it more challenging to feed a pen of cattle.