Buying bred cows wihout history

[Toad]

I can tell if a cow is old or has a bad bag or maybe had bad feet and can bid accordingly. But someone who would sell a cow who has prolapse issues is essentially saying its okay to screw the next guy in line.

Then dont buy at a sale barn buddy....

I buy at a sale barn fairly often but I also know to watch out for the dishonest people. Its like buying a car off a used car lot, there are a certain number of people who will be happy to screw you if it makes them a dollar.
Getting to know the vet that checks the cows isn't a bad thing either. I've had one I know warn me more than once about a cow I was looking at.

 

[BobbyLummus1]

I agree with the cowgirl , AS IS . If you want to buy the cow for a $10 bid over kill price - Be prepared to cull her again . I cull at least half of what I buy from the barn . Most just don't seem to raise top quality calves - A cow bought bought for $1250 that raises a $700 dink and holds her condition and brings $1240 still makes me a decent profit

 

[Muddy]

I agree with the cowgirl , AS IS . If you want to buy the cow for a $10 bid over kill price - Be prepared to cull her again . I cull at least half of what I buy from the barn . Most just don't seem to raise top quality calves - A cow bought bought for $1250 that raises a $700 dink and holds her condition and brings $1240 still makes me a decent profit

Except, you forget about that prolapse can kill the cows and screwed up that guy who brought her. That's why most people are stay away from buying bred cows off the sale barns. Also cowgirl8 said she will sell a prolapsed cow as bred cow, she's not put her in a kill pen as she is dumping the problem on the buyer. I don't have any problems with buyers buying cows out of the kill pen...that's on them.

 

[Nesikep]

If you want guarantees, don't buy at the sale barn... you don't get guarantees at any other type of auction.. vehicle auctions you get to see the cars fire up, perhaps move back and forth, and that's about it.. farm equipment other than tractors you have no clue how many bad bearings are in the mowers, etc.. you gotta look them over closely first and bid accordingly.

If the cow's been stitched up, you can probably see the marks from it.. bad udders and feet ought to be visible, and the really mean ones are probably going to show it too. Around here kill cows aren't going for much less than breds... As I see it selling them as breds just means they are supposed to have a calf at some point, it's not a statement of them being good cows.

How do you know a heifer you buy at a sale barn isn't from a long line of prolapsing cows with bad udders, hooves and attitudes? do they need a warning label on them too? If you aren't going to pay a premium for the known good cow with a history you don't get to whine about getting the odd bad one at the auction

 

[highgrit]

I agree with the cowgirl , AS IS . If you want to buy the cow for a $10 bid over kill price - Be prepared to cull her again . I cull at least half of what I buy from the barn . Most just don't seem to raise top quality calves - A cow bought bought for $1250 that raises a $700 dink and holds her condition and brings $1240 still makes me a decent profit

Except, you forget about that prolapse can kill the cows and screwed up that guy who brought her. That's why most people are stay away from buying bred cows off the sale barns.

I'm with Cowgirl8 on this also. There's no guarantee that a cow that has prolapsed will prolapse again. Buying at the barn is "at your own risk, with no guarantees" The more of you that don't or won't buy a cow at a sale barn the better it is for those that are willing to take the chance. There's a couple of us in the "southern gang" that buy quite a few old broken mouth cows at the sale barns and lose money all the time. That's the way we dumb southern rednecks operate. Spend a $1,000. for old broken mouth ugly bred cows and then sell 3 in 1's for??? A loss, always sell for a loss paying taxes stink.

 

[Muddy]

I agree with the cowgirl , AS IS . If you want to buy the cow for a $10 bid over kill price - Be prepared to cull her again . I cull at least half of what I buy from the barn . Most just don't seem to raise top quality calves - A cow bought bought for $1250 that raises a $700 dink and holds her condition and brings $1240 still makes me a decent profit

Except, you forget about that prolapse can kill the cows and screwed up that guy who brought her. That's why most people are stay away from buying bred cows off the sale barns.

I'm with Cowgirl8 on this also. There's no guarantee that a cow that has prolapsed will prolapse again. Buying at the barn is "at your own risk, with no guarantees" The more of you that don't or won't buy a cow at a sale barn the better it is for those that are willing to take the chance. There's a couple of us in the "southern gang" that buy quite a few old broken mouth cows at the sale barns and lose money all the time. That's the way we dumb southern rednecks operate. Spend a $1,000. for old broken mouth ugly bred cows and then sell 3 in 1's for??? A loss, always sell for a loss paying taxes stink.

So you support the practice of being dishonest sellers, selling problematic cows as a bred cow to unsuspecting buyers.

 

[highgrit]

[/quote] So you support the practice of being dishonest sellers, selling problematic cows as a bred cow to unsuspecting buyers.[/quote]

You have to be a total idiot to think a cow being sold bred at the sale barn doesn't have a problem. Just because she prolapsed once doesn't mean she'll do it again. Just because she's lost 2 calves in a row doesn't mean she'll lose 3. Just because I can't doctor one up and make a good cow out of her, doesn't mean you can't. An unsuspecting buyer is an uninformed buyer in my opinion. It's not my fault if you get screwed looking for a deal. And it's not my fault if you buy a cow that you can't afford to lose. I've lost money on plenty of cows, it's never fun and makes a bad story but it happens. But maybe folks like you and Sky and some of the other cattle barons on here never lose on cattle, but I'm not that good.

 

[Muddy]

So you support the practice of being dishonest sellers, selling problematic cows as a bred cow to unsuspecting buyers.[/quote]

You have to be a total idiot to think a cow being sold bred at the sale barn doesn't have a problem. Just because she prolapsed once doesn't mean she'll do it again. Just because she's lost 2 calves in a row doesn't mean she'll lose 3. Just because I can't doctor one up and make a good cow out of her, doesn't mean you can't. An unsuspecting buyer is an uninformed buyer in my opinion. It's not my fault if you get screwed looking for a deal. And it's not my fault if you buy a cow that you can't afford to lose. I've lost money on plenty of cows, it's never fun and makes a bad story but it happens. But maybe folks like you and Sky and some of the other cattle barons on here never lose on cattle, but I'm not that good.[/quote] That's what the kill pens are for, but I guess its okay to screwed up the buyers and left a bad taste in them. You guys are the reason why the sale barn cow stereotyping still lives.

 

[highgrit]

Muddy I want you to come to the farm and buy my heifers or cows. If one of my heifers won't take the bull and stick, I replace her with one as good or better. Same with a cow, you can't find a single person that has a problem with me or my cattle. I stand behind everything I sell off the farm, if your not happy I'm not happy. But I sell my problems at the sale barn. Except I sell all my cows with attitude problems to my neighbor, and at a premium to boot. But he knows what he's getting.

 

[skyhightree1]

Sky and some of the other cattle barons on here never lose on cattle, but I'm not that good.

How did I get tossed into this ? :???: I think anyone continually buying from the barn that does cattle trading will take a loss. Heck as it stands now some calves I have bought I will be taking a loss after its all said and done if prices stay like this.

 

[Toad]

I still personally wouldn't sell a repeat prolapse offender in the bred pen. Its something that I wouldn't want to pass along. As I said before bad feet, bad bags, bad attitudes and old granny cows can all be seen fairly easily and a bidder can bid accordingly. Its a lot harder to try and see a place a stitch was in 6 months earlier. I buy a lot of old broken down cows and have done fairly well on them. But like Sky said earlier if you want to do it right you need to be there early and watch them unload.

 

[dun]

Ethics is what you do when no one is around!

 

[Nesikep]

If you want to build a herd, go to herd dispersals or buy privately... If you are just trading cows, why not go the the sale barn and take a chance on some, flip them if they don't work.

Selling a bred cow as a bred cow at a sale barn isn't wrong... if you hype the cow up and say she's great when she isn't, well, that's on you.

for what it's worth, I just sold 4 cows, 2 bred, 2 open.. 1 of the bred was a decent cow, the other was a great cow with slight vaginal prolapse.. the whole bunch were in the kill pen.

 

[pricefarm]

We have 26 cows, 5 of them with calves at our local market sale tomorrow. All of them fresh off of the farm. Someone will get some very good cows.[/quote]

Kenny how did these cows sell?

 

[kenny thomas]

top bred was $1950 and top pair was $3100. Yes I guess some would call them a cull. The guy had kept heifers and had to sell something to have room for them. The 3100 pair was a 3 year old with a great calf but she calved outside of his calving window so she is now a cull. I have bought several of his culls and they make great cows for me.

 

[pricefarm]

Not to bad a few months ago good breed cows here where right around 2500$.

 

[mooboy]

This is an interesting thread. Auctions are viewed differently by different folks. I look at an auction as WYSIWYG (What You See is What You get). I am willing to take a chance to get a deal and don't whine when it does not work out. I knew when I went to the auction it was WYSIWYG, and yes every animal at the auction is there for a reason. Most times I come out on top and I got some good influence in my herd from sale barn animals.

There was another thread on this board dealing with auctions. Some folks felt that if you did not grow a certain breed of cattle (which I will leave un-named), that you are hurting the cattle industry. Or stated another way, to cross breed in a way to make an animal look like this certain breed was cheating the buyers and hurting the cattle industry. Well, the way I see it is the buyers are trying to maximize their profits by giving as little as possible for the animals they buy, and as a producer I am trying to maximize my profits by choosing animals and breeding to minimize production costs and maximize the price I get. That is just the way a certain portion of the cattle market works and I don't see a problem with it (WYSIWYG auctions). Now there is such thing as video sales, contract sales, where certain guarantees are made for pedigree of what is sold. Does not seem to apply at the cattle auctions I attend around here.

It would be wrong to break federal and state laws and endanger public health. For instance take an animal that is fed animal products to the sale barn (possible mad cow disease). It would be wrong to sell an animal that was part bison as all bovine. But all other animals have some worth, run it through the ring. I can hear the auctioneer crying now.......Hey boys whaddya give......

 

[TexasBred]

I would hope that what I see is what I get but a good chance you might have a surprise in store a few days or weeks after you get your animal home. You just never know but I have no problem buying at an auction.

 

[Nesikep]

mooboy... I think you nailed it with that.. Withdrawal times must be observed for medications etc.. but if you can't sell a red cow that looks like a red angus because she's not a red angus, that's preposterous! Nothing wrong with selling a bred cow as a bred cow, especially if you figure she has a calf or two left to give.. Don't make false claims, (purebred animal when that's not the case), but unless you're getting paid to provide a warranty, yes, WYSIWYG

 

[mooboy]

I have a good history of the animals in my herd, but don't bother to give details when I take them to the sale barn. Would not make any difference. They don't say much when they run them through the ring, bull, heifer, steer, cow, dollar off or by the pound. Better look quick because they are not in the ring long. When I have a cow pregnancy checked they do the aging of the cow and unborn calf, would not matter what I say anyway.

I do have a few pet peeves with some of the sale barns around here. They won't start the sale until certain "buyers" show up. I know these are the inside buyers that will not let anything sell too cheap. But delaying the sale 30 minutes or more is excessive. Iv'e been bit with false claims for pregnant animals also. Bought one bred heifer that was advertised as "B-6+". I had to ask someone sitting near me what that meant and was told "still has baby teeth and 6+ months bred". When this animal needed doctoring the vet says she is more like 5 years old going by the teeth. Some of these inside buyers yelled out "bred to black" while she was in the ring. When cow (not heifer like I thought) had her calf is was not bred to black Angus, it was bred to dairy. Mind you I am not complaining about WYSIWYG. But in this particular case the sale barn put a sticker on her that was not true (B-6+). The 6+ did turn out to be true. The age of the cow and bred to black was not. Hey, I realize the bred to black was not an official advertisement. But misrepresenting the age concerning baby teeth does not seem right.