The Future of the Salebarn

[Anonymous]

Some believe that the Salebarn is on the way out! Many in my area have closed so that appears to support the thought above.

As a producer, what do you believe is the future of the salebarn?

What if anything do you see or think barn owners should/could do or should not do to assure that they survive thru the next 10 years or so?

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[Anonymous]

I don't think we'll ever see the sale barn completely disappear. There will always need to be an outlet for shipper cows, etc. But I also believe the smart producer will either sell in a coop situation, or retain ownership on this feeder cattle. But until everyone identifies what their particular market is and optimizes those options, you'll still have an auction barn as an available outlet to market cattle.

Here in Central Texas there doesn't seem to be any shortage of auction barns! And they are busy as well. It may be that your area doesn't have as large a population of cattle that it once had.

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[Anonymous]

We've got three sale barns in my county. I don't think they'll all go away; but I think it will be harder for producers to make money selling generic cattle there. Some sale barns offer special sales, one in my area sells by appointment. You call them and tell them what you've got, they tell you what time to be there and run the cattle through the ring within 30 minutes of that time. A crew that handles the cattle well helps, too.

> I don't think we'll ever see the
> sale barn completely disappear.
> There will always need to be an
> outlet for shipper cows, etc. But
> I also believe the smart producer
> will either sell in a coop
> situation, or retain ownership on
> this feeder cattle. But until
> everyone identifies what their
> particular market is and optimizes
> those options, you'll still have
> an auction barn as an available
> outlet to market cattle.

> Here in Central Texas there
> doesn't seem to be any shortage of
> auction barns! And they are busy
> as well. It may be that your area
> doesn't have as large a population
> of cattle that it once had.

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[Anonymous]

The Salebarn will be history. That method of marketing cattle is an unnecessary cost to the cattle industry. A 2% commission or $10 fee can sometimes mean the difference between profit or loss. All cattle should be directly enrolled into a program that corresponds with the end market(consumer). Cull cattle, stragglers, odds and ends can also be sold directly to a specified market for human consumption, dog food, etc. In my opinion junk is junk and it should never enter the American consumers food chain regardless of the market channel. Wonder why our market share has dropped? Just look what is being fed at a feedyard from "put together" cattle. The traditional commodity marketing or the "purely competitive" average price taking is dead in the water along with Salebarns.

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