Poor numbers and dollars. Here they will sell that many cattle in a single draft. With that few calves they just attract traders.
There have always been what you call traders... people here call them buyers... even back in the 70's and 80' when these weekly sales lasted for 8 hours or more. Some have their places where they take these calves, and vaccinate, vet, castrate if needed, and they will condition them at their place, then send them to a feed lot in the mid-west usually. They will go to 2-4 sales a week, maybe more, and buy these calves. When they get them to their place, they will sort them into like kind lots, and when a trailer load is ready, send them to the feed lots. Not sure exactly how it works. but some actually are part owners or partners in the lots. Others send these calves out west, and I think you pay the feedlot on the weight gained there. Ever how many acres of good pasture , is how many brood cows you have. . A lot of people leave their bulls in year round, and calve year round. Those who do try to manage a schedule, will have their cows calve in February or March....about the time they hay is gone and the grass is coming on, and sell the calves about now. And some calves in the fall, when they are about to start feeding hay anyway, and sell those claves about April or May. No one uses up pasture space too wean and feed out any calves.
Up until the 80's, you hardly ever saw a stock trailer at a sale. Most everybody had cattle racks on a long bed pickup, and that is what they hauled cattle to the sale in. Or brought back cows they bought at the sale in. Most of the calves at the sales, are brought by people who have 2 or 3, maybe 6 or 8 cows....a big farm may have 25 or so cows. There are some huge places, but very few. About 5 miles from me is about 200 acres owned by the Rollins family.. the largest private landowner in GA. They have Charolais, and they do in fact, wean calves and keep the heifers on this 200 acre pasture. I don't know where the brood cows are, or what he does with the bull/steer calves...he has a LOT of farms and ranches. The 3rd largest Brangus breeder in the US, Salacoa Valley farms, is about 20 miles from me, and of course they wean their calves to grow and sell registered cows and bulls.