Watching your cattle sell at the barn

[newrancher]

Took some stockers yesterday, 1 limi str, 1 angus/dairy str and 2 limi bulls. Overall avg 94.50@586lb, I was really pleased but the point of the post is when the 2 limi bulls sold, they entered the price for the cattle either ahead or behind them. Instead of 94.50, they entered .50,if I hadn't been there to catch it then instead of a profit I would have been in the red really bad with no recourse. I was really surprised at the gain made by the angus/dairy str, when I brought him home I thought my wife was gonna kill me, potty and horned unlike anything I would normally buy. He avged 2lbs a day on grass only and really made a nice steer. The limi steer which I actually thought had the most potential, only 1lb, genetics can be the only explanation. The 2 bulls avged 1.5lbs. Anyway I was glad I stayed to watch them sell.

 

[talldog]

Took some stockers yesterday, 1 limi str, 1 angus/dairy str and 2 limi bulls. Overall avg 94.50@586lb, I was really pleased but the point of the post is when the 2 limi bulls sold, they entered the price for the cattle either ahead or behind them. Instead of 94.50, they entered .50,if I hadn't been there to catch it then instead of a profit I would have been in the red really bad with no recourse. I was really surprised at the gain made by the angus/dairy str, when I brought him home I thought my wife was gonna kill me, potty and horned unlike anything I would normally buy. He avged 2lbs a day on grass only and really made a nice steer. The limi steer which I actually thought had the most potential, only 1lb, genetics can be the only explanation. The 2 bulls avged 1.5lbs. Anyway I was glad I stayed to watch them sell.

NOBODY watches your buisness like YOURSELF !!!!!

 

[mnmtranching]

Not a bad price, and the 2 pound gain is good.
MAN :shock: if that happened to me I would not trust them again.
Seems like they would have caught it though?

 

[newrancher]

MMMT , I really think it was an honest mistake, they resold a holstein steer about the same time. I don't think the order buyer would have complained though if I hadn't said something.

 

[Cowdirt]

With all due respect; I wonder if there was really a mistake or if possibly you were watching the monitor for the previous calf that had sold. Most barns now have two monitors; one for the animal that just sold and the one that's coming in the ring. Do you attend auctions on a regular basis?

 

[newrancher]

Well Cowdirt, I asked the buyer as he was getting his sheet printed what he gave for them, they were some of the last few sold, and he told me 94.50. We looked on his sheet and they were on there for .50,but it is easy to be confused, no I don't get to go as much as I'd like to.

 

[Cowdirt]

Well Cowdirt, I asked the buyer as he was getting his sheet printed what he gave for them, they were some of the last few sold, and he told me 94.50. We looked on his sheet and they were on there for .50,but it is easy to be confused, no I don't get to go as much as I'd like to.

Best way to know for sure what they sold for is to pick-up the check with the sale record. However, you may have avoided having to straighten out an error later by intervening at this point.

 

[newrancher]

Well Cowdirt, I asked the buyer as he was getting his sheet printed what he gave for them, they were some of the last few sold, and he told me 94.50. We looked on his sheet and they were on there for .50,but it is easy to be confused, no I don't get to go as much as I'd like to.

Best way to know for sure what they sold for is to pick-up the check with the sale record. However, you may have avoided having to straighten out an error later by intervening at this point.

Exactly what I was getting at,if I hadn't been there I would have got the check Fri/Sat, been mad all weekend and likely it wouldn't have gotten straightened out. I got it straightened out by paying attention BEFORE they wrote the check, I'll bet the guy with the holstein steer is really happy about his check!

 

[stocky]

Newrancher, Glad your cattle did well. Also, very glad you were there to straighten out the possible mistake. The sale barn owners I know and trust would have straightened it out after the check arrived and I called them. The ones I know and don't trust would have never straightened it out. It would have been tough luck. I always have the belief, never sell an animal if you are not there to see it sell and make sure things are done right from unloading to receiving the check. No one can give you a raw deal if you take the animal back home. That being said, I know everyone can not do this. These are the people who get a raw deal at times and end up angry with the sale barn. Most people who run a sale barn owe favors to people and need to give their buyers some special deals to receive favors from them on cattle they have a special interest in. The barns know who regularly sells cattle there and who is usually watching their cattle and they are more likely to do something shady with the cattle of people not in attendance. It was said best earlier, No one watches your business like you do.

 

[kenny thomas]

As I have said before, if you spend all year raising and taking care of them take a few hours and watch them sell.

 

[newrancher]

stocky, I know what you are saying about the favors and such, but I believe it was an honest mistake, maybe I'm naive.Where are you located because we're in the NE corner of OK? We've had a alebarn shut down in this area in recent weeks and ther were a lot of new buyers and more cattle. This particular barn since the new owner took it over has done a real good job, It was a mistake though with my tag numbers and the wrong price.I just have little faith in straightening something like that out 4 or 5 days later.

 

[stocky]

Newrancher, I am south of Springfield, Mo, so I am not that far from you. I am sure it was an honest mistake the way you described it happening. It was simply a matter of repeating the animal before or hitting the wrong button and that isnt the way they normall try to skin people. It is still good that you didnt have to worry about trying to straighten it out several days later. There have been several salesbarns change hands and a couple of them sold for a huge pile of money, they will be ok as long as they keep people's confidence and keep the buyers and the cattle coming in. If there is a fall in market prices, it will squeeze these people who paid 1-2 million for sales barns.

 

[BC]

There are a number of ways this could happen. Get two animals in the ring at one time and scale tickets get crossed or a mistake in entering price in computer. People make typing mistakes all the time. I do not believe it was intentional.

This is the reason you need to be at the sale when your calves sell.

 

[ScottyB]

That happened to me but I was buying. i bought a nice angus steer at .97 cents a lb at 380 lbs. But for some reason when I went to pay it said .27 cents a lb. I paid and walked off, well my concious got to me as I was walking out of the sale barn and I had to go back and square the deal. I couldn't have walked away with that on my mind. Anyways, it does happen. They go so fast it is easy to make a mistake.

 

[gberry]

We've had a situation where we dropped off a few head of similar steers and had one sell for about 30 to 40 cent below the others. We brought this to the owners attention and they brought the price in line with the others. We weren't there to see them sell, but assumed the steer got injured. The owner said that is why the insurance charge is there and didn't balk at all.