Longhorn Legacy Sale

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TheBullLady

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Did anyone get to the Texas Longhorn Legacy invitation only sale in Fort Worth yesterday? Was it fantastic? What about prices?
 
I went. topsquar, you are right, lots of horn, ribs, and fancy hides, however not much sheath as longhorns are pretty clean breed. It was crazy. lots of big prices. Last year the gross was $1.8million, and this year that number was surpassed by lot 63 or 64. There were 2 cows that went for $100,000+ (thats right, not a misprint), and an unexposed heifer that went for $150,000. Lots of cows went for over $20,000. We did buy 5 cows, 2 with calves at side. We didn't pay anything near those amounts for them. We went for the "steals of the sale", animals with the bodies we demand, and still had very good horns. The animals we bought went cheaper, b/c they didnt have the ridiculous amounts of horn.

Overall, it was a very interesting sale. I was surprised by many things that night. But I do feel that our ranch came out with some good, bred cows that can help our program.

Ryan
 
I probably won't go to the Cherry Blossom Sale. We don't usually go to any sales,although, I do try to make it out to the ones in the Ft. Worth area. Actually, the only reason we went to this sale is because of a personal invite from one of the hosts.

FYI, if you have a sale catalogue we bought lots 24, 35, 61, 64, and 81

Ryan
 
Would someone please explain to me why you would put that kind of money in to Longhorn cattle ? If you look at the report from Oklahoma City this morning you'll notice that 5 weight Longhorn steers sold for 93.5 while #2 5weights were at $138. I guess this is more of a hobby thing than a commercial adventure ? Just wondering...
 
the people who buy and sell registered longhorns at these types of sales have no intentions of selling longhorns across the scales. they sell to other breeders. and, it is true that longhorns are a hobby to many of the breeders. Personally, i think some of those prices are pretty outrageous. I really don't understand putting $150,000 into a heifer, that is unexposed, but I also don't have that kind of money.
 
I guess what I really couldn't understand was how is this ever going to be a profitable venture when there appears to be very little commercial demand for the product ? If I ever put $150,000 in a heifer you can bet that the ol' girl can sing, dance and do a couple of interviews on CNN!!!!
 
As Ryan said, the people that pay that kind of money have no intention of putting these cattle or their offspring into the commercial market.
True 150k is extreme. These buyers are paying for a certain bloodline. One of the top bulls in the breed, Phenomenom, calves often bring no less than 30k.
 
Bullbuyer":2eh9a0xx said:
I guess what I really couldn't understand was how is this ever going to be a profitable venture when there appears to be very little commercial demand for the product ? If I ever put $150,000 in a heifer you can bet that the ol' girl can sing, dance and do a couple of interviews on CNN!!!!

I don't think it will be possible to have a profitable venture when spending that much on one animal. But the individuals who spend money like that do not need to profit from their cattle. I agree with you, too, she better be able to dance and sing and all that other jazz.

Ryan
 
Warpaint - please enlighten me. After I go and buy one of these $30K calves, how do I profit from my purchase. Raise more and find somebody else to sell some high dollar calves to ? Eventually these things have to be turned into beef - right ?
I'm not trying to be a smart aleck or anything, I just don't understand how the breeders are able to sell these high priced animals if the commercial guy isn't going to achieve even average price ?
 
Bullbuyer":1hcukif3 said:
Warpaint - please enlighten me. After I go and buy one of these $30K calves, how do I profit from my purchase. Raise more and find somebody else to sell some high dollar calves to ? Eventually these things have to be turned into beef - right ?
I'm not trying to be a smart aleck or anything, I just don't understand how the breeders are able to sell these high priced animals if the commercial guy isn't going to achieve even average price ?

I have never been able to afford one of the 30k's. As you said, they are eventually turned into beef, but most buyers that do pay these amounts, are buying cows that are young enough to get a few calves off of. Longhorn cows still produce calves up to 20 yr. old. The buyer then sells offspring in another registered sale or retains as a replacement.

In short, our major market, are other breeders.
 
And, dare I say it, "HOBBYists". Sad but true. But hey, you've all heard of "niche marketing", so you can't help but admire whoever managed to raise them to this status!
 
As has been said here many times, Longhorns are not the preferred breed on the boards. While I won't ever make a fortune raising them, they are my preferred breed. ;-)
 
I can't afford to pay those big bucks for a Longhorn or any other kind of cow for that matter and even if I could I wouldn't. As it's been said earlier they all usually wind up as hamburger in the end-I guess that why I wonder why anyone would pay an outrageous sum of money for an Angus, Lim or any other breed. Oh yeah, go ahead and tell me that they're beef animals and I'm supposed to believe that they're worth alot of money. So, let's say that someone pays $150,000.00 for one of the other more popular breeds of bulls. Now, tell me that they'll sell enough semen to justify paying that much for the bull. Maybe they will. I guess it's kind of like a fellow named Bill Hudson who purchased a Longhorn bull named JM Sue for $30,000. I witnessed the guy who sold this bull turn down a $20,000.00 offer for the bull. I guess since Bill sold $149,000.00 worth of semen from this bull last year at the Legacy sale that he can justify his purchase. Hobby? Maybe. Profitable? Sounds like a profitable hobby to me.
 
Rustler9,
You make some very good points. However, I feel that comparing an unexposed heifer to bull that has multiple offspring on the ground is not a fair comparison. It is much easier to profit when spending large amounts on a bull than a heifer.

Just my 2cents.

Ryan
 
I agree Ryan, I only used the bull example as someone was talking about a bull on here a couple of weeks ago that sold for something like $268,000.00?? Hope they sell alot of semen....But then you also know that embryos could possibly pay for that cow as well.
 
My wife went to the Legacy Sale...as an OBSERVER only...lol. I got to stay home and watch over things.

Anyhoo...

In the Longhorn business (and probably with other breeds), there are "Investors" who have made hundreds of thousands of $$ if not millions on OTHER business ventures. These are probably the high end 1-5% of the "ranchers". These people chase extreme horns, bloodlines, and have "money to burn" on their purchases. We never know their true intentions or amounts of their cash...can only speculate...lol.

The other 98% or so of us Longhorn people (and other breed people) are very far down the scale from those big spenders. Might even compare it to people who buy $1 Million horses, or purchase Rolls Royces, or Lamborginis. It's the life of the "Rich and Famous".

The motives? The income sources? Who knows... Who really cares?

And, how does one "Insure" a $150,000 animal that is probably worth (in reality) $5,000 or so??? If a $1 Million race horse has won $10 million in purses, well yes. Or, if his get have won fantastic purses. There are many many fine animals of any breed out there that with proper mating and a little time one can get high quality animals...

It's perhaps the 8th wonder of the world! LOL!!
 

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