Stockyard Purchase

[denoginnizer]

How much would a stockyard cost? The guy that owns the stockyard has biggest house , newest tractors and nice trucks. He makes money if the price goes up or down.

 

[Muratic]

How much would a stockyard cost? The guy that owns the stockyard has biggest house , newest tractors and nice trucks. He makes money if the price goes up or down.

He probably has some knowledge of the industry, good relationship with the bank, and some business savvy too.

Keep wondering bub, you don't just by a stockyard and automatically make money :roll:

 

[denoginnizer]

Business savy hmmm. Is that like when he has a herd dispersal and adds in cows he has "fixed up" impliying that they all belong to one herd? Maybe business savy is why he bids up the price on most of the cows that come through his auction. If he buys the animal its no sweet off his back cause he can always run it back through next week with minimal expense .

 

[brokenmouth]

Maybe business savy is why he bids up the price on most of the cows that come through his auction. If he buys the animal its no sweet off his back cause he can always run it back through next week with minimal expense .

what about if you wer e the seller. wouldnt mind that so bad then

 

[jerry27150]

ones around here seem to all be making big money whether they just bought or have been in. some that just started & without any business sense even brag how much they are making, have thought about starting one myself. they make a pretty good commission i think 25-30 bucks per cow, 17-18 on calves. 100 cows & 1000 calves make them about $20,000, not bad for a day or two a week

 

[eric]

Around here it takes about 20 folks to run those things on sale day, with the ring guys, auctioneer, spotters, yard guys, palpaters/age checkers, girls in the office, and I'am sure there are people I am forgetting. Not exactly a one day a week job either, as we can unload 7 days a week at most yards. I am sure they are making money, or they would'nt still be doing it, but just remember not all the money they take in goes right into the owners pocket. And not to mention when it's too muddy and not too many folks show up with their cows for sale, those employees still want to get paid. Employees are funny about that, they still want to get paid whether we make a dime or not.

 

[Rod]

As a business owner I can tell you it all looks good from the outside, yea he may make alot of money, but how much does he actually get to keep. By the time you pay self employment taxes, health insurance, workers comp and half your employer taxes, property and liability insurance (which has tripled since 911), utilites, supplies, office equipment, and I could go on and on. It takes all of these just to turn the key to the place each morning. I promise you the guy has more headaces than you can imagine. As for the house and cars, credit comes pretty easy these days. I'm not saying they're not doing good, but probably not near as good as it looks.

 

[Crowderfarms]

I'll tell you another thing, you'd better have a darn good relationship with your sellers and your buyers. I've seen some yards go close to broke or change hands right before disaster struck. There's a lot more to it than hanging an "OPEN" sign on your door.There's a barn near here that was headed right down the drain, and it was taken over, and it's back on the map now, I sent 8 head there a month ago, and they did as good as anywhere, if not a little better.I personally know they've worked their hind ends off to better it.

 

[jerry27150]

take 18,000 out for expenses & that is still big money to me

 

[TheBullLady]

I'll bet liability insurance is a big expense as well.

 

[tapeworm]

How much would a stockyard cost? The guy that owns the stockyard has biggest house , newest tractors and nice trucks. He makes money if the price goes up or down.

He probably has some knowledge of the industry, good relationship with the bank, and some business savvy too.

Keep wondering bub, you don't just by a stockyard and automatically make money :roll:

Hi again Muratic!!!LOL You are so right! And the Jerry guy that thinks it is easy money??? BS!!! Some of you people seem to forget that you have to collect for cattle that you sell. You have to give the checks to sellers the day of sale but you might not get paid for 3 or 4 days...and most of those payments are by check. Lot of exposure with a load of cattle with todays prices. Youve paid the seller, cattle are loaded up and gone, and you wait on the order buyers to send you a check. That's the way it works. P&S bonds and custodial accounts are a good thing but they dont take out all of the risk. All it takes is a stocker operator or feeder 1200 miles away that gives an order buyer a bad check....often because he GOT a bad check from somebody else...that can start a domino affect that will bring a small barn to its knees fast!!!! You better think again if you think its like picking peaches

 

[jerry27150]

tapeworm, never said it was easy money. just that some are bragging how much they make at it. if anything was easy everone would be doing it. makes me think of the city people used to come to my dairy farm & ask how much you get for milk. then say you are really making mohey. i would tell them sure am, why don't you do it. if you use your head & stay on top of things i never seen any business that couldn't succeed if not for bad luck.

 

[polledbull]

Stockyard here in NC recently sold for 2 million . Do the math on a loan of that size . It would take about 4 million to operate it . You get paid in 30 days if you are lucky on the cattle you send out, and the local farmer wants his money the day he sells the cows. This is fact , My friend owns a stockyard. let a buyer break it off in you for 250,000$ once a year and you dont make nothing that whole year. The guy that sold his yard said he still had several people that owed him money, one owed him 350,000$. He owned the yard for 40 years.I would say they can make a good living from it but it aint a gold mine.

 

[Swiss Cowboy]

How much would a stockyard cost? The guy that owns the stockyard has biggest house , newest tractors and nice trucks. He makes money if the price goes up or down.

In Switzerland, when I was a young teenager, I used to help my father in the stockyard. Yep there is a lot of money to be made with that. Just like he made a bundle with his own slaughterhouse. While the slaughterhouse almost run its self not so the Stockyard, 4am the alarm glock went off and we did not come back till late in the evening. The day was filled with swift thinking and handling. The phone wires where glowing, a small army of specially hired and expensive people where running around. Cattle's had to be sorted, marked, registered and on and on, it was mayhem and above all hard work. Oh yes, the sellers wanted to get paid on the spot whereas the byers had one week time to pay up, sometimes my dad made special financing arangements if he knew the farmer was short on money. It was often touch and go moneywise yet he still made money too and had a very good name in the farming community.
The bottom line is this. If you have a business you have to be smart have to be savvy and have the nose one length ahead of the others but above all you have to work hard. You become your own slave.
If you are wondering how easy it is to run a stockyard and how much money you can make the easy way, feel free and buy one and we will talk about it again in the future. The Grass looks always greener on the other side but it rarely is. ;-)

Swiss Cowboy :cboy: