direct sales?

[ROB]

I don't own a sale barn, but take exception to your term "crappy sale barn". Most markets have enough buying power that animals bring all they are worth on that particular day. If you want to sell directly off the farm, I would suggest that if you live close enough to an order buyer that you may contact them and see if they will buy your calves. Your calves won't bring anymore per pound than they would at the sale ( an order buyer is trying to put together cattle for his customer and has to deliver those at a set price), but you will not be out the commission.

either way the calves will bring what they're worth. but i would add that sold off the farm, generally the order buyer knows in advance what the asking price is for the calves, if he/she shows up to view the calves you already know he's willing to pay the asking price. another plus (at least in our case) when we sold off the farm, the truck and calves were weighed at a local MFA not 10 miles from the homeplace. there was essentially no shrink figured in the final price.

ROB

 

[BC]

quote]
either way the calves will bring what they're worth. but i would add that sold off the farm, generally the order buyer knows in advance what the asking price is for the calves, if he/she shows up to view the calves you already know he's willing to pay the asking price. another plus (at least in our case) when we sold off the farm, the truck and calves were weighed at a local MFA not 10 miles from the homeplace. there was essentially no shrink figured in the final price.

ROB[/quote]
I have tried to buy some cattle in the country and I found that the seller was trying to shop the cattle for the best bid playing me off of another potential buyer. He didn't have an asking price as he said, "I want all I can get". You got a good deal on the shrink as I would have asked for a 2% pencil shrink.

 

[ROB]

I have tried to buy some cattle in the country and I found that the seller was trying to shop the cattle for the best bid playing me off of another potential buyer. He didn't have an asking price as he said, "I want all I can get". You got a good deal on the shrink as I would have asked for a 2% pencil shrink.

i guess we were fortunate in that we worked with one particular order buyer that "shopped" our area and was able to put together multiple pot loads of cattle from us and other stockers nearby. i'm sure that we all didn't get the same price because we all didn't get our heads together prior to him looking at our cattle - but we did get "our" asking price year in and out. if he'd ask for the pencil shrink, he wouldn't have gotten it. ;-) ...but on occasion one may have been sorted off because it didn't quite fit in with the bunch, or it had a bad eye, limp.... or whatever. the main thing we had going for us was the fact that he knew the quality of the cattle we had, and that they matched up well with the neighbors' cattle.

ROB

 

[Workinonit Farm]

Workinonit. Are you part of the buckinham cattleman association? It seems to be one of the best I have seen.

No. But they are a good assoc. I'm in Greene. The Assoc. in my area is the Central Virginia Cattleman's Assoc.

katherine