@Workinonit Farm: we mostly sell the cattle in Staunton. They have a fairly good number of buyers on Fridays, we have sold there for over 30 years. We know alot of people, it helps to network. We also haul some for a friend/buyer sometimes as his one yard is on the way home. Not exclusively, but the majority. Used to work at the Saturday sale in H'burg @ Shenandoah Valley livestock on rt. 42, so sold some there; and most all the sheep/lambs go there. There is a very competitive group of buyers for the lamb and goat markets and prices are comparative to what they bring up in Penn at the New Holland sale, when you figure in the travel/fuel and time.
Staunton is also one of the least expensive places to sell. Commission is based on weights, flat fee, and there are no "yardage", handling or other charges tacked on. For example....last year I wound up with 4 jersey steers that didn't get sold for beef. People backed out and such. Decided that they might do better at the dairy steer sale as there are always some jerseys or crosses, although it is primarily holsteins. That's at the Thursday sale, Rockingham Co. on rt. 11. They weighed 900 lbs +/- and it cost me nearly $27.00/head to sell there. Don't have the ticket here convenient....In Staunton it would have cost me $13.00 plus the 1.00 beef checkoff. They didn't bring as much per pound as some 975 lb jerseys the next day in Staunton. Got $.82 in H'burg and the ones in staunton were $.85. Okay that was only .03 /lb.... but at 900 lbs that's 27.00 on top of costing nearly twice to sell them and it is another 25 miles further north. So it was not worth the time or the money to go there. Granted that is only one sale and one instance of price per pound difference, but the commission was what really got to me. Staunton breaks at 100 lbs I think...9.00 for 3 & 4 wts, 11.00 for 5 & 6 wts, not sure about the 7-8 wts, but a 9 wt cost 13.00, and cull cows are 16.00. Not sure about bulls but I am thinking 20.00. Add the 1.00 per head for the checkoff. We hardly sell anything over 600 lbs since we sell feeders, but if a heifer comes up open or something then we'll send her. And we all have cull/pound cows on occasion. It's 20 + miles for us to go to Staunton, 45-50 to H'burg and farther anywhere else. If the Staunton yard ever closes, then we might go to Hollins, down towards Roanoke as prices there are usually decent, or back to H'burg.
Plus our feed mill is right up the hill from the Staunton yard, and we do alot of our business; parts/groceries/TSC/ you name it, in Staunton; and without all the traffic that H'burg now has with JMU and the hospital getting bigger and bigger....
We are spoiled, it's close and convenient and just a better place for us than most.
