Best Sale Barns??

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RanchHand

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In your opinion, what are some of the best sales in the country and what do they offer that others do not, causing you to want to do business with them? Facility? Parking? Service? Staff? ect.....

What sets them apart from your average sale barn?
 
In my opinion, the best sale barns are the ones that have the most buyers willing to pay the most money. That however, rules out our local one.

At the most, they have 2 buyers present to give it a good appearance. These 2 buyers are buying here and transporting them to another sale barn 100 miles away and making a nice little profit there.
 
Dublin, TX just for volume. There are times they start at noon and run until daylight the next morning. They do break for supper. Nice facilities and access.
 
If you can provide truck load quantities, with uniform and consisent cattle, look into Superior Auctions. You should be pleased with the results. Most local sale barns will be similar. The ones with the largest volume on a consistent basis will usually have the best prices. Buyers will show up where they will have the opportunity to fill the greatest amount of orders.

I've read in this post and others about buyers buying at auction a on monday and transporting to auction b on wednesday and reselling the same cattle. This is more rumor than truth. Cattle do not gain weight while at a sale barn, they lose weight. Cattle can be expected to experience a shrinkage of 5 to 10% while going through a sale barn experience. A 700 pound steer purchased on Monday will probably not weigh more than 675 to 680 on Wednesday. It would take about a 3% increase in price just to break even on the shrinkage, plus the sales commission, etc... You get the point.

Most sale barns will be similar within a general localized area. If one were to be consistently higher, then most folks would take their cattle to that sale barn versus's the others.

JMO
Greg
 
The number one difference I have seen at the few sale barns I've been to is that some have competitive buyers and some have the good ole boy network.
 
The number one thing that makes a good sales barn is for the owner/operator to have the integrity and resources to make sure your cattle will be set in at whatever he tells you they will be. He will not let the market swing up and down at the whims of the buyers. When the buyers back off to push the market down, he has enough orders to fill so that he can keep the price up and he also has the resources and place to go with them to buy them himself to keep the sale consistent. Also, beware of any barn where they set in an animal at a certain price and then back off to a lower price if they do not get a bid. If they will not stick with their set-in price, they cant be trusted to take care of your business.
The vast majority of the sales barns do not have that kind of owner/operator and cannot be trusted with your business. There are around 20 sales barns in my area and only one that I will take cattle and sell them without me being there. There are two others where I will sell cattle, but I will only do it if I can be there to protect my cattle.
The one thing I have seen that is consistent at every barn I have ever been to is no auction has proper loadout service during the sale. The majority of the time, it takes forever to get loaded if you are going to load out while the sale is going on.
There is a way to buy cattle at one barn on Monday and sell on Wednesday and do well. This starts with buying cattle that have already gone through their shrink, and are weaned. It also includes having a deal at the sale where you are going to sell them so that your calves are unloaded and sold with no wait and a reduction in the selling costs. This usually includes the sale manager selling your calves on an order at a higher price than what most of them are bringing. With these in place, you can turn calves around at a good profit regularly
Another way is to buy the common bunches of co-mingled cattle. You can buy a big bunch that the buyers think are too mixed, take them to a smaller barn and sell them in small bunches and singles the way the buyers want them and do well.
 
SF":1pms2byo said:
If you can provide truck load quantities, with uniform and consisent cattle, look into Superior Auctions. You should be pleased with the results. Most local sale barns will be similar. The ones with the largest volume on a consistent basis will usually have the best prices. Buyers will show up where they will have the opportunity to fill the greatest amount of orders.

I've read in this post and others about buyers buying at auction a on monday and transporting to auction b on wednesday and reselling the same cattle. This is more rumor than truth. Cattle do not gain weight while at a sale barn, they lose weight. Cattle can be expected to experience a shrinkage of 5 to 10% while going through a sale barn experience. A 700 pound steer purchased on Monday will probably not weigh more than 675 to 680 on Wednesday. It would take about a 3% increase in price just to break even on the shrinkage, plus the sales commission, etc... You get the point.

Most sale barns will be similar within a general localized area. If one were to be consistently higher, then most folks would take their cattle to that sale barn versus's the others.

JMO
Greg

Markets, however, do change and often just a short ride down the road. Different folks, different buyers and demand for different type cattle. One type cow that might actually get docked at one sale might draw a premium up the road a piece. Just gotta know the different markets.
 
The best sale barn is the one with the most active buyers. That is generally dictated by being the one with the most consistent volume of quality cattle.

Buyers sure do buy cattle at one sale to take them to another sale. Working out back at a few sale barns will show a person that. There is less of this done with calves fresh off the cow because the weaning shrink will hurt. But for weaned cattle it generally just takes a bunk full of hay and a trough of water and no one pushing them around for a night to put that weight back on. There is two ways buyers do this. One is buying cattle at a low price that they know of a better market for at another sale. The other is buyers who get cattle cheaper than an order so they put them on their own number and take them to another sale where they buy them again for a higher price and put them on an order. I have watched order buyers do both of these things.

Some times shrink is over rated. It is just feed and water that is in their belly. Last year I was at the sale and I bought some 500 pound steers that would blend right in with some calves I had just weaned. I bought them because I felt they were under priced. Two days later a guy stopped by wanting to buy my calves. To be honest I pointed out the ones I had just bought. He said they fit in and ended up buying the whole lot. We hauled them 15 miles and put them on the scale. For kicks we weighed the purchased calves by themselves. They had gained 20 pounds each over what they weighed when I bought them two days before. They gained 20 pounds and the price went up 0.20 a pound. I made over a $100 each on that little bunch of calves. If I did that on one small lot imagine what those buyers who sit in sale barns everyday of the week will do.
 
In my area here in Pa. I would have to say New Holland is about the best one we have , they have good volume and they bring in quite a few buyers .
 
grannysoo":30s2lv9e said:
In my opinion, the best sale barns are the ones that have the most buyers willing to pay the most money. That however, rules out our local one.

At the most, they have 2 buyers present to give it a good appearance. These 2 buyers are buying here and transporting them to another sale barn 100 miles away and making a nice little profit there.

Good post.

I saw one one time. We started hauling them ourselves up the road a bit.
 
I agree that some markets sell better and the more buyers the better. Sometimes cows sell better one place and calves or slaughter cattle better somewhere else. Know these thing before you haul.
Some have said how easy it is for the buyers to resell the calves and make a lot of money. Some make a living but many do not even do that. If you think it is easy get up tomorrow and go to a market and buy you a load, stay until late and then take them home, clean them up, feed and water them. Get up early the next morning feed and water them, load that load and travel 100 miles to the next market. Stay all day trying to get those sold for a profit. Remember the fuel you used, the feed and hay you fed. Now buy a load for the next trip and get home late,feed, water and clean them up. Do this for six days a week and see how it is.
Get the point. I am not saying that some don't make some money doing it but it takes a lot of time and contacts to do it.
Make your contacts first and sell at the best market that is in your area. Maybe if you are only selling 1 head the extra trip may not be worth while but if it is a load it might be. Know your options.
 
Bluegrass Stockyards, Lexington Kentucky. Largest Stockyards east of the Mississippi. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. Large volumes of all classes of cattle and plenty of buyers / packers, excellent loading and unloading areas, close to the interstate, decent food, really knowledgable staff / management. On Tuesdays they also sell hogs, goats, sheep, etc.
 
baxter78":3aik27ph said:
There aint no good sale barns in my opinion. They all rip you off, you never get what your cattle are worth, you can make more money selling to private individuals, at sale barns you never know what you are getting where as if you buy from me on my farm you get complete performance records, vaccination records, etc.
I would like to know how you get ripped off? Your animals were sold to the highest bidder that day. I will agree that you probably can get more net for your animals by selling them straight off the farm because of no sale commission, BUT how do you know that the check you receive from that individual is good? It is hard to repossess cattle once they leave your place.
Your vaccination records would be nice, but in putting a truckload of calves that are same kind, sex and within 50 to 75 lbs of one another, if all the calves haven't been treated the same - then the put together cattle all get treated with my medicine protocol.
 
Best local market we have here is not a sale barn. It is a father and son operation and they buy alot of calves. Just call them they will give you prices before you get there.They will most of the time be with in a cents of the sale barns sometimes a little higher sometimes a little lower. They have state inspected scales calves will be sorted and weighted while you watch. As soon as they are sorted and weighted you can pick up your check all that is with held is thecheck off dollars. No commission. Most off the time you are in and out in less than an hour.
 
Another option if you don't wish to haul em to the sale barn. Put them old cull cows on feed. Get em fat. Butcher em. Those prime cuts will be nearly as good off this old cow as they are off of your young steers. The meat will simply be a little darker red.
 
backhoeboogie":3s1yzw6j said:
Bullbuyer":3s1yzw6j said:
baxter78":3s1yzw6j said:
There aint no good sale barns in my opinion.

Well, we all know about opinions...

:D

Why is it experienced old cattlemen never have any problems at a sale barn?

MIght be because they DO KNOW what they're buying and the DO KNOW what they're worth.
 
backhoeboogie":3g2epi8o said:
Why is it experienced old cattlemen never have any problems at a sale barn?



Never is a strong word....
Even the best get got, from time to time.

But the answer is they paid for their education, and lived to still buy cattle....
Never pay more than you can afford to have taken!

You to will get that education and move on to be burned less and less.
Lots of great cattle are sold in salebarns every week.
 
redfornow":2e43raj0 said:
Lots of great cattle are sold in salebarns every week.

And a lot of crap is sold private treaty from farms every week
 

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