Vac 45 plus or minus

[Talin]

I tried a Vac 45 weaning etc and used a large sale barn in Southeast Mo and have to admit really regret the experience the sales rep who said he would meet me didn't. The cattle were apparently not seperated and sold with just weaned after saying they would not co mingle. When I talked to the rep the next day he admitted he didn't go down and review and discuss the cattle after promising he would.


It was just 12 head but after spending an extra $132 per head on vaccines feed etc I am frustrated they sold for 251 really not too bad but not a premium for the extra effort and expense these are good quality the heifers out of the group are getting sold for 2-3K same group got 301 at a smaller southern MO sale barn a week before. Angus based out of large growy cattle I don't know in retrospect maybe small producers shouldn't deal with large volume stockyards?

 

[CJ8857]

I had a similar issue at my local barn last year. Like you I invested the extra time and money into a VAC 45 program and my calves got lumped together with ones that were on a single vac program. This year I'm selling through Superior to make sure I get the premium for the VAC 45 program. Do you know any other ranchers in your area that run the same program you do? If so I would try to throw your calves in with their's to get a large enough lot to sell through Superior. Local sale barns tend to lack attention to detail that a program like your's deserves. Just my experience, I'm sure there are some great sale barns our there

 

[J&D Cattle]

My local barn has special pre-vac sales from time to time and there is a premium reflected. At the normal weekly sales the premium spread would be a lot smaller. I would be pretty upset at the rep though. Only marketing a few head you may very well get better prices at a small sale with fewer good cattle. Denvermartinfarms might chime in, he attends several sales weekly.

 

[bigbull338]

the big q is do you feel like you made money on them after you put an extra $130 a hd in them.

 

[denvermartinfarms]

Could you say what barns you were useing?

 

[Talin]

Well looked into this further I may have hit the decline in the market but still irritated that the rep at Joplin did not do what he said he would. I have talked to a few more people it's apparently a pretty closed group new comers tend to get the low end of sale prices regardless of how nice they are on the phone. I personally am going to stick to smaller sale barns that cater to the 50-100 head producers.

 

[denvermartinfarms]

Well looked into this further I may have hit the decline in the market but still irritated that the rep at Joplin did not do what he said he would. I have talked to a few more people it's apparently a pretty closed group new comers tend to get the low end of sale prices regardless of how nice they are on the phone. I personally am going to stick to smaller sale barns that cater to the 50-100 head producers.

It's not just small people that get ripped off at joplin. As it happens even there highest selling calves in the market report often aren't as high as what is selling at the smaller barns over this way.

 

[denvermartinfarms]

And for the record, I never personally felt like I got a Terrible deal at joplin. But knowing what they do to people has made it to where I don't plan on going back for anything.

 

[Sunfish]

I started not to comment on this because anything I say my good buddy down in Texas will twist and criticize everything I say

1. You can't critisize the vac-45 program because the sale barn didn't do their job
2. You probably need to sell them at one of the special stocker sales to recieve the premium for your work
3. This is where I'll get bashed. As a responsible cattle person weaning and vaccinating should be part of your protocol anyway.
If everyone in the cattle industry did their part we wouldn't be having all the talk of antibiotics residues, resistance and all
I know I've heard it all before. I don't get paid for etc etc etc ....
With all the talk of sustainability, antibiotic and hormone free the day is coming when all that will be regulated
It's the people that do things half assed that causes the problems for everyone else whether it be cattle or purchasing health insurance

 

[Talin]

agree completely a responsible producer should wean and vaccinate their cattle but when they say to bring the records to the sale barn then don't look at them then are told that they would verify and promote the work you have done then don't it is very hard to trust it is worth the risk and bother of weaning both parties need to do their part. My partner in the cattle let me do this one small group as an experiment I feel bad that it turned out so poorly now I will never get us to change protocols.

 

[js1234]

You had an unlucky experience. That said, Vac 45 is one of the consistently best ways to make your calves more attractive and valuable.

 

[BC]

I am sorry that you had a bad experience. Some of the premium you were expecting got wiped out with the market correction this week. As others have mentioned, you did what was right for your calves to prepare them for the marketing process.

 

[Sunfish]

Another option would be marketing them yourself. The cattle range or even superiors country page is a good way to get get them seen
If you have the numbers for a pot then video auction would be another

 

[highgrit]

We follow the BQA program and see no monetary benefits. But do what you think is right and stick with it, sooner or later it will pay off.

 

[Talin]

I think the bottom line is don't believe the reps don't go to sale barns in which you will be .003% of the sales that day if it is going to make a difference to you.

Fortunately it's a process live and learn produce a good product and next time I will throw my hat in with some larger producers and see if I can do better too small to whine