True Grit Farms
Well-known member
Ebenezer said:
I enjoy going to the sale barn, it's just another form of entertainment. And at the end of the year it's usually a better deal than playing golf.
Cow turnover rate
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I enjoy going to the sale barn, it's just another form of entertainment. And at the end of the year it's usually a better deal than playing golf.
Caustic Burno
Well-known member
True Grit Farms said:
I find it humorous that so many think the salebarn is evil place when it's our lifeblood. Ninety nine percent of the people bad mouthing it haul their cattle to it. I guess they all raise crap. Yes wore cows get dispersed there but a lot of fine animals run through the barn to generate income for the farm.
When I hauled to the barn for people I put together a fine bunch of commercial girls, most of my neighbors raise some good stuff.
Bright Raven
Well-known member
Caustic Burno said:
Good points but you have to see the good and the bad. As has been said here so many ways, it is also where every producer including seedstock producers get rid of their problems.
Some folks get very skilled at buying cattle at a stockyard (that is the term used in this region instead of salebarn). I am sure he is dead now, but there was a gentleman we all knew who hauled, traded, bought, sold, pen hooked, etc for a living at the Maysville stockyard. Dad and my older brother always had him buy their replacements. He knew the producers. He knew who was dumping their problems and who was selling good cows. I bought my first four cows from my brother. All four of those cows were bought for my brother by this gentleman.
Caustic Burno
Well-known member
Raven the irony here is I have several kids that have won first place in commercial heifer shows at the county fair with my calves. This calf is going to Galveston county for next year's fair, her momma was a heifer I was hauling for a neighbor to the salebarn.
I dont think the sale barn is evil. The difference is I recognize the audience I am speaking to. The majority of people on this board, including myself, dont have the time or experience to buy at a sale barn. That is a viable option for a very small, minority, or this board.
True Grit Farms
Well-known member
Brute 23 said:
Time to spend at the sale barn is the problem most folks have. I can call either of the two sale barns I use and they'll know if any and how many "back to the farm cattle" will be available to buy. The more bidders the more the stockyards make. And most of the stockyards the owner - manager will buy cattle for you, you'll pay a little more but is worth it. All you have to do is swing by and pay and pick up your cows.
Nesikep
Well-known member
The nearest sale barn to me is 3 hours away, that's if you're not loaded... really makes it hard unenticing to just go watch.. I know there are some decent cows that go through there, but most seem pretty clapped out.
True Grit Farms said:
Would you trust the owner/ manager to bid against his regulars to buy a handful of cattle for some random person that called him up?
Dave
Well-known member
Brute 23 said:
I did that one time. And one time only. It was when I was raising heifers. I was short on numbers, time was running short, and I couldn't get away that day. Called the owner/auctioneer told him I needed some good black heifers weighing 750-800. He had seen what I had been buying. He bought me 6 or 8. I will say that they were heifers and they were black. Had I been there that day I would have never bought them. Education is not cheap. The sale yard is no exception to that rule.
True Grit Farms
Well-known member
Brute 23 said:
I do but we've done business together for a while now. If I was a greenhorn I'd go an introduce myself to the owner face to face, an tell him what I was looking for. When your just starting out a sale barn is not a bad place to buy GOOD cows from. There's always a veterinarian preg and bangs checking before every sale. And the owner - manager knows if your treated right you'll come back and do business with him in the future.
True Grit Farms said:
You must have some really good barns. I would not expect that out of ours. I'd expect more like the post above. I couldn't imagine getting a very good result paying some one else to buy in low volume like that. Most our barns, I imagine, would direct you to one of the special cow sales they put on. It would surprise me if they would even buy less than 10 or 15 for some one unless you were already doing a bunch of business with them.
JMJ Farms
Well-known member
To echo what True Grit said, maybe we do have a unique situation and may take it for granted, but both of the barns he is referring to are good. I wouldn't hesitate to ask either of the owners to buy for me. They have been in business a long time and haven't been successful by cheating customers. And they both know cows. Granted, I have also known both personally for many years, but I think they'd do just as good for a complete stranger. Payment arrangements may be different for someone they don't know, but I've actually mailed them both a check several days after I already had the cattle. It's a beneficial relationship to have for sure.
We have four barns within an 80 mile radius and unless you hit a herd sellout it may take 2-3 months to get a sure enough good set of 10-12 cows bought for the money you expect to pay at salebarn. We do have several big cattle ranchers that hit the sales pretty hard a few times a year though and buy up the best cattle like money is no object. I've bought several head through the salebarn and have had mixed results them. Sometimes a cow doesn't perform well because of poor management and sometimes she's just a dud, problem is you have about 1 minute to figure that out. The other problem with salebarn cattle is diseases they can pick up while there. This is really a concern if you buy pairs. I'm definitely not an expert but one thing I know for sure is this, I've never sent a cow to the salebarn I wanted to keep in my herd. That's not to say that some folks worst cow is better than my best cow though.
Ebenezer
Well-known member
If the owner is buying for himself, for others and for you do you really think there is a lack of bias? I understand the value of buying from a herd dispersal if you know something about the herd. What some do is just bring in a group and say "herd dispersal". My grandfather used to say, "Years ago men were men and they robbed you with a gun. Now they rob you with a pencil." Buyer beware.
There is a funny deal going on in some barns here with a calf or two per group selling way off ($1+). I have talked with others who had the same thing and there are excuses for it but not good excuses. I think it is a good enough omen to quit those barns and hope that the greed does not spread to other barns. But that is more the auctioneer in question.
There is a funny deal going on in some barns here with a calf or two per group selling way off ($1+). I have talked with others who had the same thing and there are excuses for it but not good excuses. I think it is a good enough omen to quit those barns and hope that the greed does not spread to other barns. But that is more the auctioneer in question.
I'm gonna say allot of shady stuff goes on at salebarn. Order buyers making deals and barn owners or auctioneers that have allot of cattle can pull some tricks on you. Overall I think most of the deals are on the up and up but I always wonder when 1 or 2 bring less than the others and I know they were pretty well the same when unloaded.
Nesikep
Well-known member
After 28 years of dealing with the same sale barn, I do have a pretty good relationship with the auctioneer... Never bought a cow through there but once I needed a bull in a hurry to replace one with a broken penis.. He sold me a bull from his own ranch, the one in my profile pic at a fair price and he was a great bull.
I sell a few cows or bulls at 2 local barns every year. One of them I always feel I was robbed the other I generally do good at and am overall happy with them. It boils down to the owners. I had some culls a few weeks ago that got loaded in a hurry and the barn owner let me use the load out pens and 2 guys to sort through them and make sure I wasn't selling a wet cow. There ended up being a good young cow I wanted to keep in the bunch. I doubt I'll ever sell anything other than a stray or chronic calf at a local barn though. Definitely better markets out there.
