Along with "Black Hide Pays More"

[BRG]

Historically this has been correct, but I am slowly seeing this change. In our area , I am not seeing a hide color outsell the rest on the feeder steers like we used to see. What you are seeing is reputation cattle and cattle that has had everything done right to them outselling the others. Reputation will always sell the cattle here. Lots of guys selling have the same buyer year after year and they will pay extra for them if they have worked for the feeder, and the word gets out that they work.

When I say cattle that has had everything done right to them, I mean vaccination and a certification from the vet saying they are vaccinated, calves that are source and age verrified, cattle that are natural and a signed affidavid saying they are, cattle that have a history or a story so the buyers know what they are bidding on. Alot of this goes back to trust, and if the buyer gets burned, they won't be back next year. Most of the repuation cattle have all of the above done to them and they are getting paid for it. (At least in our area and on the video sales)

Now, when it comes to replacement heifers, color does make a huge difference. Instead of color it is actually breed. The straight bred Red Angus heifers are topping every sale in the area. I have more orders than I have heifers for on the replacement heifers. These girls are currently selling for $900 to $985 head and they have all been wighing around that 650 lbs mark. Reputation plays a huge role in this area of calves as well. Today we have a customer who is selling a load of heifers (75 head weighing about 700 lbs) These girls I think are going to outsell the rest we have seen this year. They are good, but they have a great reputation as well.

What are you seeing in your area?

 

[dun]

Red Angus heifers are selling at the same level or a little higher then anything else. For good quality steers the reds and blacks sell on par, although some of our Rd Angus topped a wean/vac sale a month ago. The only time the black deal seems to show much in price is for poorer quality calves. There the blacks usually outsell anything else.

 

[ALACOWMAN]

right now every bodys happy, with what their calves are bringing... but around here black has still got a pretty good toe hold....... i know its the wrong thing to say on here. .. but its what im seeing, black angus sales every weekend

 

[backhoeboogie]

I dumped a POS blond bull calf for a buddy of mine last time I made a haul to the sale barn. Long ear with brahman influence. Bony. Dam did not have milk for him to flourish as he should have. The dang calf brought $115 and it weighed 450.

Have another friend out west of here who sells his steers on contract. He took it in the shorts - bad. I averaged $25 more a hundred at the sale barn. He is livid about it. I calculate he lost $10,300 by not hauling his steers to the sale barn.

 

[Lon]

Historically this has been correct, but I am slowly seeing this change. In our area , I am not seeing a hide color outsell the rest on the feeder steers like we used to see. What you are seeing is reputation cattle and cattle that has had everything done right to them outselling the others. Reputation will always sell the cattle here. Lots of guys selling have the same buyer year after year and they will pay extra for them if they have worked for the feeder, and the word gets out that they work.

When I say cattle that has had everything done right to them, I mean vaccination and a certification from the vet saying they are vaccinated, calves that are source and age verrified, cattle that are natural and a signed affidavid saying they are, cattle that have a history or a story so the buyers know what they are bidding on. Alot of this goes back to trust, and if the buyer gets burned, they won't be back next year. Most of the repuation cattle have all of the above done to them and they are getting paid for it. (At least in our area and on the video sales)

Now, when it comes to replacement heifers, color does make a huge difference. Instead of color it is actually breed. The straight bred Red Angus heifers are topping every sale in the area. I have more orders than I have heifers for on the replacement heifers. These girls are currently selling for $900 to $985 head and they have all been wighing around that 650 lbs mark. Reputation plays a huge role in this area of calves as well. Today we have a customer who is selling a load of heifers (75 head weighing about 700 lbs) These girls I think are going to outsell the rest we have seen this year. They are good, but they have a great reputation as well.

What are you seeing in your area?

this is what i see. for example a guy with all red angus has everyone calling him during fall to see when he is selling calves. he gets the same buyers he said bidding over them every year. this year some new guy took them to utah i guess though. Most poeple in my area still go to the sale barn with thier cattle weither they have 50 or 600. but as far as color a good calf bring the same here. only when you get into poorer calves than you will see black bring more.

 

[ALACOWMAN]

you'r saying in a group of poor calves,,,, the poor black calves will bring more??

 

[dun]

you'r saying in a group of poor calves,,,, the poor black calves will bring more??

Correct. I'm not talking pure crap, just those that aren;t first teir quality

 

[ALACOWMAN]

you'r saying in a group of poor calves,,,, the poor black calves will bring more??

Correct. I'm not talking pure crap, just those that aren;t first teir quality

so i guess if you gonna raise crap, it needs to be black :lol:

 

[plumber_greg]

I'm almost afraid to ask, but why are the red angus outselling the black angus in the top tier cattle? I love the red angus, even tho' I have never owned one, but what is making them in demand? gs

 

[dun]

I'm almost afraid to ask, but why are the red angus outselling the black angus in the top tier cattle? I love the red angus, even tho' I have never owned one, but what is making them in demand? gs

Maybe BRG knows, I sure haven;t figured it out.

 

[BRG]

I'm almost afraid to ask, but why are the red angus outselling the black angus in the top tier cattle? I love the red angus, even tho' I have never owned one, but what is making them in demand? gs

Here is my take on it from a feeder calf side: Nearly everything has turned black and you just aren't sure if they are Angus calves or something else. But when a load of Red Angus calves come in, you are pretty sure they are Red Angus as they stayed the course. Plus the Red Angus association has done a great job with the Red Angus Yellow tag. In order to use that tag an animal has to be at least 50% Red Angus, so the buyers are guaranteed to be Angus. That tag is widely used. Plus their are a couple seedstock suppliers (us included) who sell alot of bulls in NE and the Dakotas who try to place all their customers calves. This has made a huge difference in the prices they are getting.

On the replacement heifer side, it is simply supply and demand. It is very tough to find large groups of Red Angus replacement heifers. The ranchers who have them are developling a good reputation for supplying top replacement heifers. Today, a customer sold a load of 718 lbs heifers and they sold for $987.25 a calf. We got them on order for a guy in NE. Good Red Angus replacement heifers are in high demand!

 

[Dylan Biggs]

I'm almost afraid to ask, but why are the red angus outselling the black angus in the top tier cattle? I love the red angus, even tho' I have never owned one, but what is making them in demand? gs

Here is my take on it from a feeder calf side: Nearly everything has turned black and you just aren't sure if they are Angus calves or something else. But when a load of Red Angus calves come in, you are pretty sure they are Red Angus as they stayed the course. Plus the Red Angus association has done a great job with the Red Angus Yellow tag. In order to use that tag an animal has to be at least 50% Red Angus, so the buyers are guaranteed to be Angus. That tag is widely used. Plus their are a couple seedstock suppliers (us included) who sell alot of bulls in NE and the Dakotas who try to place all their customers calves. This has made a huge difference in the prices they are getting.

On the replacement heifer side, it is simply supply and demand. It is very tough to find large groups of Red Angus replacement heifers. The ranchers who have them are developling a good reputation for supplying top replacement heifers. Today, a customer sold a load of 718 lbs heifers and they sold for $987.25 a calf. We got them on order for a guy in NE. Good Red Angus replacement heifers are in high demand!

WOW :clap: :clap: :clap:

 

[sim.-ang.king]

I've see in my area that at two sale barns I go to like black calves and I get .02-.05 more a lbs over the few tan, white ,and red I send. Then at another sale barn the like whites and grays, and they sell more then the others. So around me it just depends where you go and what you have.
Just Sayin'

 

[plumber_greg]

BRG, what you say makes sense on the percentage of RA in the calves. Other than bloodlines that are available, what is the main difference between the red and black? I know of a couple of herds of RA, I drive by one every day checking my cows in the summer, and they look just the same as mine, except for color. My other experence with RA is a customer that sells bulls just because it easier than cutting them. When you are around something like that it gives me a bad taste in my mouth on owning them, as there is nothing about his cattle I like. Thanks for the info gs

 

[BRG]

BRG, what you say makes sense on the percentage of RA in the calves. Other than bloodlines that are available, what is the main difference between the red and black? I know of a couple of herds of RA, I drive by one every day checking my cows in the summer, and they look just the same as mine, except for color. My other experence with RA is a customer that sells bulls just because it easier than cutting them. When you are around something like that it gives me a bad taste in my mouth on owning them, as there is nothing about his cattle I like. Thanks for the info gs

The only difference between Angus and Red Angus is the directions the 2 breeds have gone since the Red Angus breed started. They are both Angus, so the base is the same. I don't know a whole lot about the black side as I don't raise them, but from what I see, this is my take. For years and years, black bulls sold faster, higher, and easier than any red bull, so several black bulls made it into the breeding pasture, and maybe they shouldn't have, but it was hard to cull as the average breeder was getting paid for medium quality bulls. In the meantime, the guys trying to sell red bulls had to have higher quality and work very hard to sell a few bulls. This made the quality of the breed very strong, and I think it is showing today. Just my opinion.

 

[dun]

For years and years, black bulls sold faster, higher, and easier than any red bull, so several black bulls made it into the breeding pasture, and maybe they shouldn't have, but it was hard to cull as the average breeder was getting paid for medium quality bulls. In the meantime, the guys trying to sell red bulls had to have higher quality and work very hard to sell a few bulls. This made the quality of the breed very strong, and I think it is showing today. Just my opinion.

Now it looks like some Red Angus breeders are falling into the same trap. Since the reds are getting to be higher in demand there are a lot of bulls (cows too) that should be going to the feedlot instead of into production.

 

[farmwriter]

Last sale I was at, black hair still brings a few more cents per pound.

 

[BRG]

For years and years, black bulls sold faster, higher, and easier than any red bull, so several black bulls made it into the breeding pasture, and maybe they shouldn't have, but it was hard to cull as the average breeder was getting paid for medium quality bulls. In the meantime, the guys trying to sell red bulls had to have higher quality and work very hard to sell a few bulls. This made the quality of the breed very strong, and I think it is showing today. Just my opinion.

Now it looks like some Red Angus breeders are falling into the same trap. Since the reds are getting to be higher in demand there are a lot of bulls (cows too) that should be going to the feedlot instead of into production.

Ya you are probably right, the only thing holding that back some is the lack of cows in the country.

 

[ALACOWMAN]

Last sale I was at, black hair still brings a few more cents per pound.

it wouldnt take much of a nudge, to change the minds of some commercial cattle producers around here. to something else

 

[pdfangus]

I endorse all the reputation comments....
recall that I am now specifically a hobby breeder.....
when we had sixty cows I still did not have enough to make a pot load so I had trouble selling steers direct.
We sent cattle on retained ownership and did things like that and everyone who bought our cattle was happy with them. I was trying to get data back and retained ownership is the only way I ever did.

Cow and heifers......every customer I ever had wanted more. we did not sell a lot of females but we sold some and I told folks exactly what they were and my reason for parting with them.
but my cows were calm and good dispostioned.....they were capable producers....they were sound....and they were in whatever state of maternity I told the buyer they were and the age I told them they were. I heard once that I had an unhappy customer and I called him and he wanted to know who had told me that lie. said he was tickled with the cows.