Buying

[bizybeehill]

Thanks all for all of the great responces. You all have given me alot to consider. From reading through all of the posts I can see good points on both sides. For now I think I will concentrate on finding someone locally to help me along. The couple of auctions I went to to observe were a bit overwhelming, its probably best if I had an experienced eye with me the first time I buy. Again thanks to everyone for all of the information.

 

[SF]

Many times when you buy heifers or bulls from a breeder, you will get a guarantee with the purchase. Guaranteed to be able to be bred. I provide those guarantees with all of my registered stock. In turn this results in a higher price.
At the sale barn, buyer beware.

 

[Arnold Ziffle]

bizybeehill --- I haven't read all the responses on this thread, so what I'm about to post may be redundant, and many folks may disagree, but here are a few thoughts concerning cattle auctions that are just IMHO. (And I'm really only talking here about COW auctions and not BULL auctions)

Keep in mind that there are major differences in the auctions that are held each and every week versus the "replacement" sales that are held maybe twice per year in most areas (and sometimes dispersal sales). While it would perhaps be interesting to you (and instructional) to attend a few weekly auctions, I would say to remove from your mind any notion of buying stock at the weekly events --- at least until you have a lot more experienced.

But do go to some of the "replacement" sales, as many as your schedule permits. Get there very early the day of sale (or even go the day before), get a copy of the sale catalogue and then start walking around the barn and inspect the animals with as critical an eye as you can. Jot down notes on the catalogue for anything you think may be of consequence, such as apparent disposition, color, polled or horned, body condition, etc. The catalogue typically shows the breed, age, number of months bred if applicable, breed of bull to which bred, name of the seller, etc. Then assign your ranking to each animal, say #1 for highest , etc. on down to say #5 for least desirable. Then, during the first few auctions you attend plan on "sitting on your hands". Closely observe the auctioneer's methods and the crowd action (I like to sit high and way in the back) and mark down on your catalogue the final bid price for each animal. Based on the final price and the bidder action you can get a decent feel for how the other presumably more experienced buyers essentially rated the animals, as compared to your ratings, and learn from that.

A "mentor" that has a lot of experience would of course be a great asset to have. Ask questions (without making a pest of yourself) of your mentor, and try to get him to critique some of the animals for you.

 

[dun]

The only fly in the ointment I see with your plan is that different buyers put different emphasis on various traits. It's a good plan, just that you don;t know if someone is buying a particualr animal because 3 generations back the bull was super gee whizer, and that person is really high on that bull. I've attended bucnhes of these sales and sometimes have no concept why people pay what they do for a cow that I wouldn't have on the place.

dun

 

[Arnold Ziffle]

Very true, Dun. For me it doesn't happen too much with the cows & heifers, but at almost every bull auction I attend there are several cases that just baffle the heck out of me when I'm trying to determine what some bidders saw in a bull that I didn't see. And that's usually a bull sale with the catalogue showing several generations pedigree, DOB, BW, WW, all sorts of EPD data, test station data, test station contemporary group ranking, etc. Sometimes I just tell myself that I was right and they were crazy. :lol: :lol: