BC":20k4g303 said:
I don't quite get this statement. There are cattle bought and straightened out and then resold all the time. It is called backgrounding or preconditioning.
That is true, but backgrounding/preconditioning is usually done over a few to many months (depending on the area, time of year and demand, and price fluctuations) - not weeks. When you buy a calf and feed him for a couple of weeks, all you have usually accomplished is allowing him the time to settle into a new place, and gain back the weight he lost during the stress of being hauled, ran through the salebarn, and finding himself in new, unfamiliar surroundings. If you're unlucky enough that he also got sick, it will take longer to gain back the weight he lost because he also stopped eating for a period of time.