Sale Barn Lingo?

[boondocks]

Naw, some of them bulls were pretty used up. And the ones that weren't were probably fence jumpers. :mrgreen:

:lol2: :lol2: :lol2:

 

[Tim/South]

A wet bad cow may be pulled down a little and will pick back up with a little grass or feed.
Hard Calf is weaned with little grass or feed, had a hard body. They sell well here, not buying a bunch of shrink.

 

[TexasBred]

They (auctioneers)make commission off of what they sale.

Not sure...I'm sure some do...some probably sell by the head or even by the hour.

 

[AllForage]

Haha, this thread made me laugh out loud a few times!!! I don't know how anyone goes to sales barns on a weekly basis and then runs their operation by the ignorant cr@p that goes on there. The truth is, the slob auctioneer just says any ol dumb thing to get things sold. It's all bull shyt. Yes texasbred, I don't think most have seen their peckers since high school . Clearly inbreeding is alive and well in the Midwest.

The worst scum bags are the order buyers that sit in the front or the side room which apparently you have to sleep with your sister to be allowed in. When I first got into cattle I bought some Holstein steers from one of these specimens. Woke up the next morning to see 12 feet sticking straight up in the air. At that time it cost me $900 of which was a lot of money to me. If I had one more screw loose I would do some bad stuff to his rig or his face. Who knows, maybe the opportunity will present itself still.

 

[Ojp6]

By definition an order buyer buys on commission to fill orders and doesn't own the cattle. It sounds like the person you bought from was more likely a trader.

I would also say that little Holsteins are not the easiest thing to keep alive out of the sale barn. We used to feed a couple hundred and there were all kinds of problems the few days after we got them home. I would say if they came straight from the sale barn to your house and they looked healthy at the barn there would have been no way for the buyer to tell they were going to die either. If they did look tough when you bought them they should have been given some strong antibiotics at the time you purchased them and you should have known there was a chance they weren't gonna live through it. It frustrates me when a person blames the buyer for not being able to predict whether or not the cattle are gonna live. If you think the buyers lying to you go buy the calves yourself. Picking out a healthy calf and bidding on it isn't rocket science.

 

[Texas PaPaw]

I guess that I will have to go back just to people watch.
I did notice one of the regulars had his own high stool right next to the ring. He was dressed pretty nice in a western shirt, wranglers, boots and hat. An ole cow came into the ring and when she swung her butt toward his direction she was spraying a green fountain right at him. He jumped off that stool so fast you would have thought that he was snake bit! :lol:

Deepsouth you are correct. You do want a guy like that to be selling for you. Those guys are really playing a numbers game to get their price!

That reminds me of this guy who brought his two kids to the sale. You could tell they didn't fit in while most don't dress like pigs as others have described everyone is usually wearing work clothes. I wear T-shirt jean work boots and a ball cap. This guy was wearing khaki shorts flip flops and a dress shirt and the kids were dressed just about the same they got some food from the café and sat in the front row. About the third bull comes in and paints that front row green and that was the end of their sale barn adventure. I was laughing I leaned over and told my wife and that is why no one sits in the front row.

The chalk thing may be regional. Around here if you take a cow in and you think someone might buy her to go back in the pasture then you tell them to palpate her when you unload. They will then palate her and check her teeth, and put numbers on her with a branding iron dipped in paint. The number of months bred will be on her hip, and her age on her shoulder. After a certain age (I think around eight) she'll either be marked SS, for short and solid teeth, or O for old. The bidding on these will usually be by the head, but may be switched to per pound if she doesn't bring enough. And sometimes old cows start by the pound right away.

Cows that don't have the numbers on them are automatically sold by the pound. I'm sure some of these still go back to someone's pasture instead of to slaughter, but it's riskier for the bidder since all he'll know about the cow is what he can tell by looking at her in the few seconds she's in the ring.

Yeah that's all I have ever seen. In Waco they don't age them just put how far along they are bred you are on your own at guessing the age. I stay away from Waco unless I am looking for calves to many backyard cowboys and amateurs. It gets on my nerves these people start POing animals and they don't even know what it sold for. I bought a 400lb calf the guy POed it Auctioneer asked him what he wanted for the calf he told him 600 and something this was a long time ago, they did the math for him and I was within $20 of what he wanted so he let me keep the calf. The guy did that with 3 cows and two other calves. The 3 cows were old junk, and all they would give him is slaughter price but he wanted more so he took the old hags home.

You didn't mention that Waco sale is also a cow traders convention. Always several traders running their road weary animals thru for the umpteenth time hoping to get some of that amateur mad money.

 

[Dave]

There was a guy sitting beside me on Friday. Three White face steers come in weighing about 750. He buys them. I thought to myself that he got a pretty good buy on them. They run them out of the ring on to the scale and them down the alley to get penned. About two minutes later after another group had sold he says to me, "I guess that means I bought all three. I just wanted one." Duh!! The auctioneer never said he was selling choice. If he just wanted one he should have said something when they ran all three out. I told him his only option at that point was to go to the office and tell them. He did that. They had already paid the original owner (or so they told him). They made him pay for all three and then sell the two he didn't want. Someone sorted two out and they brought them back through. The two actually brought more per pound the second time through. Not quite enough to cover his original price and the commission but close. So he didn't lose too much money. If they don't say choice you are buying what ever is in the ring be it two or fifty animals. One sale I go to rarely sells choice and they sell lots of big groups. They run 30 into the ring and you only want 10 if you get their attention and let them know you want 10 they will sell "gate cut". If you win the bid, you get the first 10 to go out the door. No picking or sorting.

 

[backhoeboogie]

Most of the garbage they rattle off is not revelant. Sometimes funny but if you've already heard it again and again, the humor is over. Knowing the price and getting what you're after is what's important. When I buy I try to work with a guy in the ring. Keep him in eye contact until I am out. I haven't bought all that many.

 

[TexasBred]

Picking out a healthy calf and bidding on it isn't rocket science.

It can almost be rocket science especially if the right "cow jockey" was the seller and knew all the tricks to present that calf to you as the picture of health.....for about 12 hours. :shock:

 

[Drzr]

?..When I buy I try to work with a guy in the ring. Keep him in eye contact until I am out. I haven't bought all that many.

???

 

[prairietrail45]

Around here some cows will be marked with two upper case B's, one B will be standing up the other laying down (straight edge up) and will overlap the lower bump on the standing up B. This means the cow is broken mouthed, or missing some teeth. Young animals will sometimes be marked 1+ meaning they are at least 1 but not showing 2 year old teeth yet. They usually have some small calves that sell at the beginning, some the guy in the ring will call "dried out" meaning they appear to have already been weaned but weaned too young (these calves usually weigh about 200 lbs and will be pot bellied and longer haired).

Good younger bred cows will sell by the head, older bred cows (even heavy breds) will sell by the lb. Unless they say the bull is guaranteed all bulls are sold as no good.

If heifers are sold as guaranteed open, that means that if you want to know they are open you can send them back to be checked, or sometimes they will say the heifers were already checked before they sold them.

If the guy says "she's stitched" means the cow prolapsed and was stitched up, these are usually pretty obvious, vulva will be swollen and you can see the stitches. If they know they will say if the cow has or has not had antibiotics.

I was at a sale one day and was picking up my check a guy was checking out and when the lady told him how much he says "no, I only paid $255 for it" the lady told him, "yes, $2.55 per lb". He argued said the auctioneer didn't make it clear it was by the lb and that he wouldn't pay. Sale barn owner came out and told the guy if he didn't pay for the calf he was calling the police, the guy continued to argue with him, sale barn owner told him all cattle that size are sold by the lb at all sales and that you can't even buy a baby calf for $255. I didn't hang around to see what happened, but I'm sure the guy didn't get away without paying.

 

[Ojp6]

They do a good job making you think there good but if you are worried about it wait until they sell some good cattle with a reputation and then they will announce the name of the man selling them. I said earlier that if you are gonna buy go until you have figured out what's going on before you go to buy some. Or bring someone you trust with that knows what's going on

 

[TexasBred]

Use to go to a sale barn years ago where the man in the ring would check calves and hold up either one or two fingers...meaning one hole or two...bull or heifer. Helped the folks sitting way back at the back.

 

[Luca Brasi]

I was at a sale one day and was picking up my check a guy was checking out and when the lady told him how much he says "no, I only paid $255 for it" the lady told him, "yes, $2.55 per lb". He argued said the auctioneer didn't make it clear it was by the lb and that he wouldn't pay. Sale barn owner came out and told the guy if he didn't pay for the calf he was calling the police, the guy continued to argue with him, sale barn owner told him all cattle that size are sold by the lb at all sales and that you can't even buy a baby calf for $255. I didn't hang around to see what happened, but I'm sure the guy didn't get away without paying.
prairietrail45Cowhand

I'd be very interested in knowing how something like that turned out. It sounds like it is more of a civil matter than criminal, and here, the police tell you that those issues need to go through the court system. My local sale barn is often not clear on things either, and there have been a few times where I'd considered bidding on something, and if it came back with a similar misunderstanding, just telling them to stick it. Since they're not the friendliest group in the first place, I'm not too concerned with inconveniencing them. I wonder what their reaction would be if I told them to keep the animal and sue me to force me to pay. Even if they won it would take months. And then they still have to collect.

 

[TexasBred]

I'd be very interested in knowing how something like that turned out. It sounds like it is more of a civil matter than criminal, and here, the police tell you that those issues need to go through the court system. My local sale barn is often not clear on things either, and there have been a few times where I'd considered bidding on something, and if it came back with a similar misunderstanding, just telling them to stick it. Since they're not the friendliest group in the first place, I'm not too concerned with inconveniencing them. I wonder what their reaction would be if I told them to keep the animal and sue me to force me to pay. Even if they won it would take months. And then they still have to collect.

If you're not sure that's when you're suppose to ask questions. they don't mind telling you if it's by the pound or by the head. As for them forcing you to pay. Amazing what a good azz whipping in a dark alley will do to a jack a$$ who's being stubborn. I hear it's not that unusual. :mrgreen:

 

[M-5]

Luci you seem special. Hope you got another avenue to sell but sides the barn you showed your azz at.

 

[backhoeboogie]

?..When I buy I try to work with a guy in the ring. Keep him in eye contact until I am out. I haven't bought all that many.

???

Buying 30 heifers. He motions two fingers down split. I nod. He yells YUP and points at me. His eyes scan the crowd. When someone outbids me his eyes come back to me. I bid. His call lets the ring an know he's got someone on the hook. Eventually I buy. Next heifer comes in and he comes to me again. If the price gets beyond me I just shake my head. I always know if I am on the hook. He has purpose. It works for me.

 

[cow pollinater]

I was buying bulls two years ago and bidding with my left index finger which is gone right below where the knuckle would be. I've been been buying and selling from the same yard all of my life so they know me well enough to mess around some. We were bidding up from bottom price, I would bid and he'd bump the price $25 and then someone else would bid and it would go $100 then I would bid and it would go $25 again. I figured it out and bid with my right index finger and he jumped $100 and it was all he could do to finish the sale without laughing. :lol: My next bid was with my non-existent left middle finger but I was laughing pretty hard when I did it.

 

[Rafter S]

Luca,

I agree with TB. If you're not real clear about what you're bidding on then ask the auctioneer before you bid. I'm sure they would much rather answer a question then than have you buy an animal and then refuse to pay.

 

[Luca Brasi]

I think that you misunderstand. I wouldn't do it intentionally just to make a point and cause them grief. They are not often clear, and they don't exactly encourage questions. Not that it would stop me from asking, and I have. I was more or less thinking out loud so to speak, that I wouldn't lose much sleep over it if I were in a similar situation at this particular barn as that other guy, and I felt that the misunderstanding was not my fault, threats of violence notwithstanding.