Sale was good today

[Dave]

They said there was 2,500 head of feeders today. That was after 3,200 yesterday. I hear people talk about how fast they sell calves one at a time. I watched the calves from one ranch sell today in under 15 minutes. 289 calves (all steers) sold in less than 15 minutes. They sold one group of 194 calves weighing 470. They have a ring scale. Ran in 32-33 head, weigh them, run them out and next group in. After the 6th group they sold them in one shot. 91,180 pounds. Nearly 2 semi loads. They brought $2.235. That it $1,050 a head. Next the sold 55 steers weighing 551. They had to weigh in two drafts. They brought $2.09. The last group of 40 steers weighed 402 and brought $2.33. A cool $304.591 worth of cattle in less than 15 minutes. In case anyone is interested, I didn't bid. On to the next ranchers cattle.

 

[Dave]

A buyer friend of mine was at Vale on Wednesday. There has been rain in California. The California buyers were there paying big dollars for light calves. On Thursday I was giving a friend who usually buys light calves a bad time because I hadn't heard his number called. He said I can't compete with those Californians.

 

[Little Joe]

They said there was 2,500 head of feeders today. That was after 3,200 yesterday. I hear people talk about how fast they sell calves one at a time. I watched the calves from one ranch sell today in under 15 minutes. 289 calves (all steers) sold in less than 15 minutes. They sold one group of 194 calves weighing 470. They have a ring scale. Ran in 32-33 head, weigh them, run them out and next group in. After the 6th group they sold them in one shot. 91,180 pounds. Nearly 2 semi loads. They brought $2.235. That it $1,050 a head. Next the sold 55 steers weighing 551. They had to weigh in two drafts. They brought $2.09. The last group of 40 steers weighed 402 and brought $2.33. A cool $304.591 worth of cattle in less than 15 minutes. In case anyone is interested, I didn't bid. On to the next ranchers cattle.

A big sale here is about 800 head and that will be a 12 hour sale. If they have alot of cattle they will run 2-5 uniform ones from one place in at a time but usually singles.

 

[Dave]

A big sale here is about 800 head and that will be a 12 hour sale. If they have alot of cattle they will run 2-5 uniform ones from one place in at a time but usually singles.

They have been running 2,000-3,000 head sales a day at both sales since the middle of October. Probably a few big ones after the first of the year then it will back off to 800 head a day.

Edit. I went back and looked up what the Vale sale has run since early October. They have averaged about 1,650 a day. And that includes their sale the day before Thanksgiving where they only had about 450. If I toss out that day before Thanksgiving sale they average 1,792.

 

[gcreekrch]

They said there was 2,500 head of feeders today. That was after 3,200 yesterday. I hear people talk about how fast they sell calves one at a time. I watched the calves from one ranch sell today in under 15 minutes. 289 calves (all steers) sold in less than 15 minutes. They sold one group of 194 calves weighing 470. They have a ring scale. Ran in 32-33 head, weigh them, run them out and next group in. After the 6th group they sold them in one shot. 91,180 pounds. Nearly 2 semi loads. They brought $2.235. That it $1,050 a head. Next the sold 55 steers weighing 551. They had to weigh in two drafts. They brought $2.09. The last group of 40 steers weighed 402 and brought $2.33. A cool $304.591 worth of cattle in less than 15 minutes. In case anyone is interested, I didn't bid. On to the next ranchers cattle.

Here they will sell load lots but not over a load weight. Williams Lake will sell 4000 in 9 or 10 hours at a sale.

 

[Silver]

Here they will sell load lots but not over a load weight. Williams Lake will sell 4000 in 9 or 10 hours at a sale.

Load weights are also quite a bit higher up here too.

 

[Dave]

Load weights are also quite a bit higher up here too.

The 3 axcel trailers trailers do haul a lot more. I think it is 63,000 pounds. The old standard 2 axcel 48 foot(48?) trailers haul 49,000 pounds. They will sell over a single load in a lot because these buyers are buying multiple loads. They also sell a lot of 20-30 head lots. As the sale progresses you will see buyers run down to the office for a print out of the weights they have under an order. And occasionally you will see them take off some calves out of a bunch to finish off an order and put the calves they sorted off on another order.

 

[Stocker Steve]

There has been rain in California. The California buyers were there paying big dollars for light calves. On Thursday I was giving a friend who usually buys light calves a bad time because I hadn't heard his number called. He said I can't compete with those Californians.

What weights do they prefer to turn out on grass in California?

 

[Dave]

What weights do they prefer to turn out on grass in California?

Light calves. You don't see them buying many 500 weight calves. Mostly 300-400 weigh calves. My guess? Is for no other reason than you can get more calves on the truck.

 

[Stocker Steve]

They must have really good grass in California. Poor quality forage can result in sickly 3 and 4 wts..

The ideal weight to put on grass is the smallest calf you can keep healthy. This maximizes your pounds of gain per acre.

 

[1982vett]

Sale was good down here today also. Only about 500 head at the sale. Guess folks don't like selling first sale of the year or something. Anyhow, I was pleased with the results. Didn't think the calves were anything special but I had 3 that topped the sale in its weight class. Makes a fellow feel good.