sale ring or rail?

[m&kCattle]

Whats the difference between railing a bull and sending him through the ring? Never did any railing we always just ran them through a ring, but I'm curious as to if I should look into railing them. Mostly horned, speckled, and mean bulls is what we end up taking to the sale.

 

[kenny thomas]

selling on the rail might be a good option if you have bulls that have not done well on the local market. You get whatever the cutout value is for that day for the grade of bull you have (fat, thin, lean). Works well for anything that is odd or has a little something wrong.

 

[kdhansen]

selling on the rail might be a good option if you have bulls that have not done well on the local market. You get whatever the cutout value is for that day for the grade of bull you have (fat, thin, lean). Works well for anything that is odd or has a little something wrong.

Can you elaborate? I'm guessing "selling on the rail" is directly to a meat processor/slaughterhouse?? And what is "cutout" value? Thanks.

 

[kenny thomas]

Selling on the rail here is taking it to the nearest slaughterhouse that kill only cows and bulls. the nearest to me is about 75 miles so we don't do it much. Rail price changes daily and follows nationwide price for cows and bulls for that day. You get paid for whatever it's hanging weight is according to how it cuts.
today lean good muscle bulls with a hanging wt of over 600lb was worth about 1.12 per pound. A bull will usually have a hanging wt of about 55-60% of live wt. If there is an opportunity to sell this way it may work well for you.

 

[kdhansen]

Selling on the rail here is taking it to the nearest slaughterhouse that kill only cows and bulls. the nearest to me is about 75 miles so we don't do it much. Rail price changes daily and follows nationwide price for cows and bulls for that day. You get paid for whatever it's hanging weight is according to how it cuts.
today lean good muscle bulls with a hanging wt of over 600lb was worth about 1.12 per pound. A bull will usually have a hanging wt of about 55-60% of live wt. If there is an opportunity to sell this way it may work well for you.

Thanks...I am going to have to do some checking around. I like options.