Sell buy marketing

[RanchMan90]

http://stockmanship.com/?p=1340#more-1340 Does anybody find sell buy marketing rational or realistic? If so I'll have to keep one set of books for myself and one for the bank/IRS.

 

[Stocker Steve]

Yes, it works.

 

[Stocker Steve]

I met Bud twice. He was the real deal.

 

[Stocker Steve]

If you look at a number of Bud' good feeder trades some themes show up. A big one is that you have a back grounding yard or feedlot to handle all the ins and outs.

 

[Stocker Steve]

If you look at Bud' good cow trades a theme shows up. Selling old cows and buying back young cows.

 

[RanchMan90]

I met Bud twice. He was the real deal.

Yes sir. I went to one of his schools when I was 12 years old, made a big impression on me. I know it's not for everybody buts it's kind of been a business model for me. Just getting to the point of scaling up now and making it a reality.

 

[Stocker Steve]

[Yes sir. I went to one of his schools when I was 12 years old, made a big impression on me. I know it's not for everybody buts it's kind of been a business model for me. Just getting to the point of scaling up now and making it a reality.

What are the business keys for you?

 

[RanchMan90]

[Yes sir. I went to one of his schools when I was 12 years old, made a big impression on me. I know it's not for everybody buts it's kind of been a business model for me. Just getting to the point of scaling up now and making it a reality.

What are the business keys for you?

High turnover, upgrade cattle, cog, vog. 15% ROI has kept Wal Mart in business, should keep food on my table. Dabbling with MIG grazing until I outgrow my infrastructure, which will be a good thing What's key for you?

 

[Stocker Steve]

Lots of by product in this area has increased the back grounding operations, and thus the demand for odd calves. Plus a very seasonal market due to the artic vortex. So we initially focused on a 1 turn sell/buy system of picking up 3 wts., bucket feeding, and taking them to grass. Works well with native pastures here that shut down in the late summer. Tried increasing to two turns with mixed success. Most of the profit was in the grass gain.

 

[Stocker Steve]

Went on a wild ride of pasture improvement. Nature is not linear, and once you get nutrients cycling and legumes established the amount of forage can be a burden. Starting buying cheap cows and small bred heifers to trample more. Most of the profit was in the organic matter and the cattle price cycle.
Learned what too cheap was. Now trying now to sell older still functional cows and buy back or raise up younger ones. Works OK if you know your sales barns and big sales. Some prefer different kinds of cows. Some guys have to buy breds in the fall as soon as they get their calf check.

 

[Stocker Steve]

Now have some paddocks that have gone from 1 to 2 % OM up to 3 to 6% OM. Slashed inputs and dabbling with an argentine type long rotation of soybeans, under seeded oats, and self re seeding legume and sod grass rotation. Retaining heifers to help graze it. Should be a somewhat drought resistant system.
Profit is in low inputs with a high variable stocking rate. Legume mix DM cost is running between 1.2 and 1.5 cents/lb consumed at 50% utilization on better paddocks producing 3 to 4 tons/acre total, or 1.5 to 2 tons/acre harvested by cattle.

 

[RanchMan90]

Went on a wild ride of pasture improvement. Nature is not linear, and once you get nutrients cycling and legumes established the amount of forage can be a burden. Starting buying cheap cows and small bred heifers to trample more. Most of the profit was in the organic matter and the cattle price cycle.
Learned what too cheap was. Now trying now to sell older still functional cows and buy back or raise up younger ones. Works OK if you know your sales barns and big sales. Some prefer different kinds of cows. Some guys have to buy breds in the fall as soon as they get their calf check.

Do you try to upgrade cows by bcs or months bred? Is it cost competitive with lightweight stocker calves on grass?

 

[Stocker Steve]

Tried all of the above. Have feed starved cows, have moved up late cows, have bought color and resold in a different area, have bought Dakota range cows, have sold proven old cows to hobby guys and bought back younger cows... Poorest value has been range cows. Best value has usually been red or rwf cows.
Much of this occurs in fall and winter so they are in a separate yard. A select group does go to pasture, but stocker calves make (or lose) the most per acre.
I think the Bud point is you have to know what you can handle and be ready for the discount. You may be there to buy three wts. bulls but a couple well uddered hereford cows come in at the end of the sale and the big time cow buyers are not there...