sale barn cattle

[Caustic Burno]

Dave you are correct there are stategies that minimize loss exposure.
You have to remember all investment is at risk no matter where the cow came from even if you raise them.
Lost the commission on a heifer I bought this year first one I have lost on in a long time she cost me 50 bucks.
You have to do your homework as I know the majority of the sellers.
I stick with SS heavies to buy in the spring and sell pairs in the fall.
The other is open heifers to sell as bred in the fall as well.

 

[Dave]

I hauled 3 teenage moms and their calves to the sale yesterday. I broke even on their purchase price and am out the feed I put into them. I figure that if you can break even or close to it on the losers that things will work out in the long run. The price the big open heifers were bringing yesterday I won't break even on any that test open when I preg test them. Hopefully there aren't many open ones.

 

[js1234]

Salebarns are a wonderful tool that brings buyer and seller together and where we find "true price discovery" and is one of the main drivers in setting the market that precipitates through other mediums of sale transactions in the industry.
People with limited ability often make mistakes at sale barns, and because they either don't know enough to know what they don't know or are embarrassed by their error, paint a picture of being swindled by vast conspiracies and collusion between greedy barns and unscrupulous traders.
In reality, if you're driving down the road and need to get some cattle bought or sold, they're a pretty handy place to stop since that's kind of their thing.

 

[pdfangus]

My biggest knock on sale barns is not in the dealing....

my knock is that it is disease central....every cattle ailment that is in the area lives at the local sale barn....and if it is a big sale barn and gets visits from dealers that go to multiple sale barns then it has a wider array of diseases living there.

the net result is that if you bring an animal home from the sale barn you are in effect bringing home all the bugs it has been exposed to....if they are the local bugs then you may be lucky and not have an epidemic....

but I have seen too many have an epidemic a couple of weeks after they bought that nice heifer etc.

had a friend once who added some land....had it cleaned up and fenced it all in and put in an order with an order buyer for about two dozen head of hereford cows bred to a hereford bull....he was commercial but had always had herefords. the cows came at the appointed time and looked okay....about a month later one of them treed a young boy who was helping him and when he drove up to aide the youth the cow rammed the truck...the next day she was dead....several more died in the following days before a diagnosis of anaplasmosis was made not only in the new cows but in his original herd across the road. and he got to treat the whole herd with oxytetracycline...in the days before LA200...daily shots...then when the surviving new cows calved they were bred to everything under the sun...which was fine except it was not what he wanted and had paid for and had to pull a couple of huge cream colored calves. and they calved over a period of about six months...nice tight group of other peoples problems.....

I am not knocking backgrounding.........
but if I am buying breeding stock I want to be able to look a man in the eye before shaking his hand and know where to find him next year if need be...

 

[Bestoutwest]

had a friend once who added some land....had it cleaned up and fenced it all in and put in an order with an order buyer for about two dozen head of hereford cows bred to a hereford bull....he was commercial but had always had herefords. the cows came at the appointed time and looked okay....about a month later one of them treed a young boy who was helping him and when he drove up to aide the youth the cow rammed the truck...the next day she was dead....several more died in the following days before a diagnosis of anaplasmosis was made not only in the new cows but in his original herd across the road. and he got to treat the whole herd with oxytetracycline...in the days before LA200...daily shots...then when the surviving new cows calved they were bred to everything under the sun...which was fine except it was not what he wanted and had paid for and had to pull a couple of huge cream colored calves. and they calved over a period of about six months...nice tight group of other peoples problems.....

I am not knocking backgrounding.........
but if I am buying breeding stock I want to be able to look a man in the eye before shaking his hand and know where to find him next year if need be...

It's b/c of this that I will be buying all my new heifers/cows from reputable guys that have been selling for years. They know what they have. They've, hopefully, bred out the bad stuff. And if I have a problem I can go back and deal with them. I wish I had the experience, facilities, etc to handle stuff like CB does, but I know he's been at this forever, and honestly being a hobby guy I don't know how much money I can invest before I'll never make it back. This is a great thread and should be tacked to the newbies board. Lots of education here.

 

[BK9954]

I have taken many culls and crap to the sale barn. One gorgeous hereford heifer that wouldnt breed for 6 months. Some sick ones that I got looking just good enough to sell. I dont buy from the sale barn. Too much crap running through. I dont have enough money to play around with that. I would rather pay a little higher private treaty cause the way I see it I could lose a lot more buying someone elses cull.

 

[Caustic Burno]

I have taken many culls and crap to the sale barn. One gorgeous hereford heifer that wouldnt breed for 6 months. Some sick ones that I got looking just good enough to sell. I dont buy from the sale barn. Too much crap running through. I dont have enough money to play around with that. I would rather pay a little higher private treaty cause the way I see it I could lose a lot more buying someone elses cull.

Good place to stay out of if you don't know what your doing.
Lot of people make good money off those evil sale barn girls.

 

[BK9954]

I have taken many culls and crap to the sale barn. One gorgeous hereford heifer that wouldnt breed for 6 months. Some sick ones that I got looking just good enough to sell. I dont buy from the sale barn. Too much crap running through. I dont have enough money to play around with that. I would rather pay a little higher private treaty cause the way I see it I could lose a lot more buying someone elses cull.

Good place to stay out of if you don't know what your doing.
Lot of people make good money off those evil sale barn girls.

A lot of people do make money off of the auction. You are right. Its not a place for inexperienced auction buyers. I stay away from buying. I dont have a good enough eye or the experience to make a $1000 decision in 10-15 seconds. Does buying an infected cow with trich make anyone nervous? One infected cow could ruin most of my herd if my bull picked it up.

 

[Caustic Burno]

Nope because a heavy bred cow has shed the infection

http://www.cattlenetwork.com/cattle-res ... 45309.html

 

[BK9954]

Nope because a heavy bred cow has shed the infection

http://www.cattlenetwork.com/cattle-res ... 45309.html

The auctions in east Tx must be having better bred cattle coming through. Most of the bred cattle coming through here are really old cows on their last leg or some kind of bony cross breed with no carcass. Are they better cattle or do you turn and burn these cows after a calf ot two?

 

[Caustic Burno]

There is always some good heavies come through along with the wore out girls. Just have to be willing to come home with an empty trailer there is always next week.
The majority of my girls come out of the barn I will put them up against any commercial bunch.

 

[Jessica06]

Nope because a heavy bred cow has shed the infection

http://www.cattlenetwork.com/cattle-res ... 45309.html

Not always!

 

[Stocker Steve]

If you are afraid of buying sort off cows, there are always some complete dispersals to buy from.

 

[Caustic Burno]

Nope because a heavy bred cow has shed the infection

http://www.cattlenetwork.com/cattle-res ... 45309.html

Not always!

Your findings disagree with Dr. Hairgrove TAMU.
We have had several long discussions on the transmission and safety of purchasing replacement cattle through a breeder or the barn 99% of the breeders were no better than the barn on tric protocol until forced by the state
http://animalscience.tamu.edu/wp-conten ... v_2015.pdf


I didn't just fall off the cattle health wagon have had my herd quarantined in the bangs eradication program 1972-73 was one of the lucky basterdss that got picked in the Texas TB lotto and was quarantined again. I bore the vet cost to pay to certify the herd was TB free which was a total joke as breeders were picked at random. That was a major factor in my decision to leave seed stock forever . Hope you never have to pay for the vet and his staff to come out and test your herd or opt to use the state vet with a three month waiting list and quarantined until then.

 

[hurleyjd]

The Vet that I use told me that in all the years of his practice he has not found trichomoniasis in any of the bulls he has tested.

 

[backhoeboogie]

The Vet that I use told me that in all the years of his practice he has not found trichomoniasis in any of the bulls he has tested.

Trich has been devastating to some. But I know of no cases locally. Just know someone who got it in their herd 100 miles from here.

Laws and regulations are usually from fairy tale mindsets. Thru the years I have had several bulls jump fences into my pastures. I suppose my cows were winking at them.

There are horse traders who gather up cows from sale barns, sort them out, and resale them to individuals who want reputable cattle. The seller doesn't actually know the cows history since he has only owned it for a short time. But they don't tell you that.

I have seen entire estates sold off thru the sale barn. Great herd. Poppa kicked the bucket and the kids/grandkids are just liquidating a good herd. Choice cows can be had.

 

[Commercialfarmer]

I have seen entire estates sold off thru the sale barn. Great herd. Poppa kicked the bucket and the kids/grandkids are just liquidating a good herd. Choice cows can be had.

Someone unloaded several red angus croses like that year before last. Most were 2 to 4 year olds.

Buy of the day, week and most likely the month. Nice young cows that are doing a good job.

 

[TexasBred]

I've bought hundreds of cattle at sale barns over the years. Guess I should knock on wood but to date, each one has always turned out just as advertised other than the vet has missed the call on how far along they were bred which often helped as they were always further along than he had called them. Never any health issues.

 

[Caustic Burno]

I've bought hundreds of cattle at sale barns over the years. Guess I should knock on wood but to date, each one has always turned out just as advertised other than the vet has missed the call on how far along they were bred which often helped as they were always further along than he had called them. Never any health issues.

Nailed it the sale barn is not an evil place