Accuracy of local Market Report

[branguscowgirl]

I sold some calves at the local barn today. Now I rarely sell there, or even go to the sale barn, so today was a bit enlightening for me. I watched nearly every thing sell. I then came home and looked at their online market report and it sure did not seem to match what I saw today. :roll:
Do they not include everything that sells in the report? For example, I saw a few cows go for only .50/ld. That's not on the report. I saw several smaller wt. heifers sell, also not on the sale report.
Just trying to learn how things are done........
Thank you

 

[M-5]

Ours list the prices for each wt for what the majority are bringing like 220 up to 245 the anomalys don't show up

 

[branguscowgirl]

Yes M5, I guess that's what they must all do. It seems like they should list all of the prices though. I saw a fairly nice Hereford heifer go for only .50 a pound. Sure seemed like a bargain.

 

[M-5]

Yes M5, I guess that's what they must all do. It seems like they should list all of the prices though. I saw a fairly nice Hereford heifer go for only .50 a pound. Sure seemed like a bargain.

Something was wrong with her at .50

 

[branguscowgirl]

Yes M5, I guess that's what they must all do. It seems like they should list all of the prices though. I saw a fairly nice Hereford heifer go for only .50 a pound. Sure seemed like a bargain.

Something was wrong with her at .50

That's what I thought also. Even the buyer sitting next to me couldn't see it. Guess that I don't have "an eye" for sale barn cattle!

 

[matkinfarms]

I took a chance on 8 cows that went from .50 cents to 1.25 a pound. Some had slight limps. 2 of my 8 died so I got a tax write off. The other 7 are doing really good and gained a lot of weight. These were Herefords, baldies, and a few crosses. Had one red angus that is nice. Stopped limping after 3 days. Going on having her for 5 months and haven't limped since. Small gamble that paid off.

 

[Rafter S]

Matkinfarms,

I know I'm not a rocket surgeon, but you need to check your math. If you started with 8, and 2 died, how did you end up wIth 7?

 

[matkinfarms]

Meant to put 6. Typing on iPhone and had a fat finger. Mistakes happen.

 

[kenny thomas]

The market report is only as good as the person doing it. In some places the market just turns in the report and other places the state sends a person to the market. But still lots of prices dont show up. Those $4 a lb calves showed up a lot this week but I bet few showed less than $1.

 

[Tim/South]

A state employee is assigned to every cattle sale in our state. That person puts together the sale data. He drops the unusually highs and lows.
Some that sell higher than average will have an "added value" asterisk beside the group. Usually means vaccinated.

 

[Williamsv]

Our local sale never prints the cows that bring real low prices. I have seen some sell for $.35 a lb.or lower at times. The market report excludes them.
It never lists the baby calves that sometimes now are bringing over $5.00 a lb. I have often wondered why.

 

[skyhightree1]

Non-Graded prices do not typically show However the actual prices could be fudged on purpose to get people to bring their cattle to the yard IMO

 

[Aaron]

Majority of markets in Canada only report the top and medium cuts of feeder cattle in their prices. The bottom cut is far too variable to make a report of any value. A stunted calf is worth far less than one with sprained leg, but more than one with two blind eyes.

Some markets will list the highest and lowest price for each category, but that's not of any great help with context.

 

[Ojp6]

Market reports are usually most useful when looking at what the top end of each grade of cattle sell for. In general market reporters leave off the oddballs because putting on cattle that have a problem and not being able to describe what is wrong with them just makes the sale barn look bad. In my experience if something looks unreasonably cheap like the Hereford you mentioned there is something wrong with it or is just stale and has been traded around and the buyers know it. There are too many buyers and traders who see cattle sell every day that will keep stuff reasonably close to what it's worth because anything that seems a little down in the money can be traded to a different barn.

 

[branguscowgirl]

Thanks for all the explanations everyone. I am learning a lot. I can see how going to the sale barns and observing, learning all the in's and out's could get addicting. :mrgreen:
It is not really my thing to buy and sell there on a regular basis. But I did enjoy it.

 

[BC]

Google East Texas Livestock Auction in Crockett, TX. Look at their market report. They plainly state that plainer cattle will fall below their report. I have known the owners since we were both in college. Good people. They report the top and middle of the classes. If you have something below those figures, it is an inferior animal or has an affliction.

 

[bigbull338]

sale barns do not list all of the high and low prices that every weight of cattle sell for.most just pick out the resonable low and high prices on their sales report.and that can be very missleading if you sit there and watch the sale.i average the high and low price so i can get a feel for what our cattle should bring.anytime you see cattle sell real cheap theres 1 or 2 thigs wrong,1 is they are sick or something else is wrong.2 the buyer is getting a calf for a bargin.

 

[branguscowgirl]

I did notice that the "regulars" seem to have a sort of private order going. Taking turns at buying.

It was probably not a great day to sell singles with all the big groups that went through. There were at least 3 different ranches selling pens of calves, heifers, and steer groups. Sometimes they barely fit in the ring and did not fit on the scales. They were spending $160,000 a pop!

 

[BC]

If you remember the movie "Patton", the good general said something to the effect that no soldier did any good dying for his country, his job was to make the other poor bas***d die for his. That is very similar with what happens in many sale rings.

Having spent many hours watching and then the last 7 years buying stocker calves on order, I have seen buyers try to break one off in another buyer. Here in Texas, we weigh the calves after they are sold. You really want to sell another buyer a calf that is 40 to 50 lbs bigger than he thought at more than he had on the calf. Several of those and they get pretty quiet. I worked for a company that looked at every individual calf to make sure they weighed right and that you stayed on the money. It sometimes tied my hands because I could not push the bid up to find the price where another buyer would sell one and where I could push him.

Brangusgirl, most of the time when something is really cheap - there is a reason.

 

[LauraleesFarm]

I think it goes with being more accurate in reporting a statistic.

Lets say that for a certain weight class 500 calves sell at 2.65

In that same weight class 200 sell at 2.45, 300 sell at 2.55, and 300 sell at 2.75

Then there are a handfull that sell for 1.00, .50, and 3.50

Well the outliers are not statistically important, and it is more valuable to report that this weight class is bringing 2.45-2.75 than to say it is bringing .50 to 3.50. That is all over the board and doesn't help anybody with meaningful information.

The above scenario also dependson who is doing the price choosing, making out the report, and what THEIR goals may be. It is always in the interest of the salebarn to attract buyers and sellers alike. So they will undoubtedly bending the figures to their own purpose. Low prices will fail to attract sellers. So it is never good to report lower end prices. Most of the volume buyers are filling a pot, and already know what the prices are doing, among themselves! They should be the ones to generate the report!

Yes, I have bought/sold cattle that were above and below the reported pricing for that sale date. It is not uncommon, and for a while I wondered why. This was the only logical explanation I could come up with for why it happens.