When an auctions not an auction

[Dave]

I was at a bucking horse sale years ago. Big Bend Rodeo was selling out. The who is who of rodeo was there. Some time in the middle of the sale Jim Shoulders was bidding on a horse. He suddenly stopped bidding, looked directly at the auctioneer, and said I think it is about time that you bought one. The auctioneer looked like the cat who had just swallowed the canary. It doesn't always take two to bid up the price.

 

[ddd75]

I was at a bucking horse sale years ago. Big Bend Rodeo was selling out. The who is who of rodeo was there. Some time in the middle of the sale Jim Shoulders was bidding on a horse. He suddenly stopped bidding, looked directly at the auctioneer, and said I think it is about time that you bought one. The auctioneer looked like the cat who had just swallowed the canary. It doesn't always take two to bid up the price.

they tried to pull that on me at an auction sale. 3 of us put our hands up at the same time.. so they upped the bids 300.00 and put me at the top. I stopped the sale.. told them I bid 100 more and that first hand up gets the bid, after that you ask the other people if they want to up the bid. another guy got up and yelled at them (they'd been doing it the whole sale) and told them they were thieves. They asked if I wanted the cow for that price.. I said no, i'll pay what I bid.

another one I was at for equipment.. they auctioneer kept pointing at a group (no one was bidding) and upping the bid to another guy. I gave the guy a weird look and shook my head.. he put two and two together and finally spoke up and asked.. WHO AM I BIDDING AGAINST? auctioneer didn't knwo what to do :lol2:

 

[1982vett]

No body spoke up ??? that is a underhanded move in my opinion

I didn't speak up, but i wish I had questioned the sales office about it.

Ya should have shouted out you would give $45....bet that would have got their attention. :nod:

 

[wacocowboy]

I've seen some screwy deals and mess ups at auctions but not like that. If they were going to pull that deal why not just skip the lot. I've never even heard of a hay auction around here you just buy private treaty.

 

[talltimber]

That does sounds screwy. I don't go to many auctions so I just assume it's on the level. If I want to bid, I bid. If it's got too high, quit. Dad was good at following what's going on. He went with me to a sale once, and asked me if I noticed the auctioneer was skipping bids, two hundred at a time instead of one? I didn't. I could hear a skip in his calling though, and I think that is when he was doing it. No way to know in a crowd if there is even another real bidder as far as I can tell?

 

[Nesikep]

there area LOT of crooks at auctions.. on all 3 sides from what I've seen
Our calf weights mysteriously went up 50-100 lbs about 20 years ago when they installed new digital scales at the sale barn (wonder why?)...
A lot of auctions claim "No buybacks".. but you can be sure there are minions there buying things back if they don't get their price... I've made honest people out of a number of them.
At one auction there was a 1012 stackliner, faded but not beat up that started off at $500 when I jumped in.. I bit it up to $2500 and quit.. Same auction a trailer load of 3 and 4" irrigation pipe started at $600 and I took it to $4000 (probably about 10K worth of pipe).. If it was a buyback he was suckering me he got left with a decent auction bill at least...
I don't hum and haw when I bid.. I know what I'll pay, and I'll bid fast.. when I reach my limit I'll just shake my head and walk away... My logic to that is if people think they can win it for one more bid they'll keep going.

 

[backhoeboogie]

I get a chuckle when one of the seller's minions ends up buying what he's trying to sell.

I'm pretty sure I got in to that with cattle last year. We were buying some calves. A guy sitting there for most of the sale started bidding up some calves. We let them go. Afterwards he was trying to sell me those calves on the side for what he had paid. It didn't make sense. I opted out. If he didn't want them, why did he bid against me?

 

[bird dog]

As ddd75 said, the best thing to do is simply ask whom am I bidding against. Make them show you.

 

[DLD]

I get a chuckle when one of the seller's minions ends up buying what he's trying to sell.

I'm pretty sure I got in to that with cattle last year. We were buying some calves. A guy sitting there for most of the sale started bidding up some calves. We let them go. Afterwards he was trying to sell me those calves on the side for what he had paid. It didn't make sense. I opted out. If he didn't want them, why did he bid against me?

If he had an order to fill, maybe he didn't end up getting enough of them to mess with, or maybe he overbought his order, or had a buyer back out. We change buyers after the sale on several different sets every week. It doesn't mean anything is necessarily wrong with the cattle, it's just an order buyer thing. Or yeah, maybe he was trying to run you and got hung with them - it's possible, but the other is probably more likely.

 

[Bigfoot]

My dad went to the auction for me today, and was able to pick up 16 more rolls. He doesnt trust himself with wide loads anymore, so he made two trips with 4 rolls each. Said they were sour acting about leaving hay there. Their sale, their deal. I just hope I never get spanked like this again. Being low on hay is for the birds.

 

[greybeard]

We've all been there Bigfoot. You'll make it thru. Just be glad there's some available at any price.
Some of us saw crappy 4x5s going for over $100 ea and not many of those to be had.

 

[Lazy M]

My dad went to the auction for me today, and was able to pick up 16 more rolls. He doesnt trust himself with wide loads anymore, so he made two trips with 4 rolls each. Said they were sour acting about leaving hay there. Their sale, their deal. I just hope I never get spanked like this again. Being low on hay is for the birds.

I hate that you're having this trouble BF. I've been short in the past and having to hustle up some hay to buy can be really frustrating. I can't imagine having to buy hay every year like I've seen some on here advocating. I guess it may not be so bad if you had a supplier lined up ahead of time, but I like to stay as self sufficient as possible.
It probably is too far of a haul (madison county) but if you get in a bind shoot me a pm and I could part with 40-50 bales of good hay.

 

[Bigfoot]

My dad went to the auction for me today, and was able to pick up 16 more rolls. He doesnt trust himself with wide loads anymore, so he made two trips with 4 rolls each. Said they were sour acting about leaving hay there. Their sale, their deal. I just hope I never get spanked like this again. Being low on hay is for the birds.

I hate that you're having this trouble BF. I've been short in the past and having to hustle up some hay to buy can be really frustrating. I can't imagine having to buy hay every year like I've seen some on here advocating. I guess it may not be so bad if you had a supplier lined up ahead of time, but I like to stay as self sufficient as possible.
It probably is too far of a haul (madison county) but if you get in a bind shoot me a pm and I could part with 40-50 bales of good hay.

I appreciate that. I'm getting closer all the time to accumulating enough. I think I'll make it.

 

[WalnutCrest]

I found out two weeks ago that my hay guy didn't write down my order this summer. Apparently he was on the combine or some such and ...

So, over the last month or so, when I'd tell him I was ready for more hay, and he balked and told me he'd have to check, etc. he thought he was doing me a favor by bringing down a small load here and there. I ended up getting about 30 bales from him before we really figured out what happened. I told him I was ready for 50 more ... and he said "50 more what"?

And, that's when we figured out he had no idea I needed 100-120 bales for this winter.

I hate being in transition / limbo --- moving farms is (easily) a two year transition ... and we're only into our move about 9 months! But, I am so very thankful for the new place and the land.

 

[True Grit Farms]

I feel for those that have hay problems, I'm usually struggling to get to spring grass myself. A good truck and trailer with a little help from Craigslist and hay is never a problem, or friends like M5.

 

[WalnutCrest]

Well, it looks like about 30 bales of my shortfall can be filled by me driving the tractor across the road and grabbing 30 bales of 2016 grass from my neighbor as I need it. It ain't fancy, but it'll keep their bellies full until something else can be sorted out.

 

[M-5]

You could have under figured like I did and sold a bunch because I was sure I had enough. As of today I have enough till March 31st , I burnt everything off yesterday so all it will take is a few days of warm temps and Bahia will start greening up real quick.

 

[True Grit Farms]

You could have under figured like I did and sold a bunch because I was sure I had enough. As of today I have enough till March 31st , I burnt everything off yesterday so all it will take is a few days of warm temps and Bahia will start greening up real quick.

I know where you can find some.