Where do you sell most of your animals?

[Saltydawg]

Reason I ask is I'm looking for alternatives to the local salebarn.

Where I'm from everything is dairy.

About 95% of the animals at the local salebarns are Holsteins...there isn't much to attract beef buyers.

I spent the day at the local salebarn and there was only a token ammount of beef cows there (few red/black angus and a Charolais cow). None of them under 1000lbs.
These were sold at the same time the sick/injured Holstein cows were sold.
This stuff went for 2 to 57 cents a pound (holstein bull brought the 57 cents) with average being about 40-45 cents.

Usually by the time they get to the few beef cows there is nobody left to bid cept a few order buyers paying pennies for everything.

No buyers means low prices when I decide to finally sell some of my Herefords.

I only have a handful of Hereford cows right now...13 to be exact and they are not registered so I can't do one of those fancy pants ranch sales lol.
I intend to grow the herd significantly.....thinking 50-75 cows with calves eventually...but I need to be able to sell them.

Any of you willing to share some marketing advice with me? Or is the sale barn about as good as I'll get?

Maybe instead of cow/calf I should try some other avenue with my Herefords?

 

[msscamp]

We sell ours via private treaty, unless they are culls (feet problems, bad attitude, etc.) and those go to the salebarn, but we also raise cattle that are either registered or eligible to be registered. That having been said, it doesn't mean that all of the cattle we sell are registered, only means they can be. I'm not sure if this will help you or not, but that's how we do it.

PS We are by no means a fancy-pants outfit, either. :lol: :lol: Our buyers call us - no production sales, no advertising per se (we are members of the American Murray Grey Association and that is how they find us).

PSS I would also add that the above only applies to the 2 year old heifers and cows, the steer calves and cull heifer calves are sold through the local sale barn.

 

[andybob]

Is there a local abattoir in your area? If so, you could make an arrangement with a local butcher, or sell beef packs privately,the latter would need some investment and a knowlege of meat cutting, but the premium on direct selling would make it worthwhile in the long term. Study local health laws if you choose the latter course.

 

[jp]

look in the " country folks" paper and it shows the livestock salebarns in new york and tells when they run the beef cattle sales.most the dairy farmers in your area probably subscribe to it

 

[milkmaid]

Where do you sell most of your animals?

Private treaty.

 

[Beefy]

stockyard.

 

[Aero]

we put on our own sale every year at the local sale barn. they dont charge us anything to use the barn and the only costs we have are advertising and sale day help.

 

[dph]

Salty:

Why not truck them? We truck our calves 120 miles to be run through what we humbly feel is the barn that has the best precondition sale in the state. Each year we keep track of shrink and what they would have brought the same time at the local barn. It has never failed to pay taking them out there. And the January following the first Mad Cow, it paid enough to make several future trips. It is hard to beat peace of mind, especially since you sell your calf crop on one day.

 

[LonghornRanch]

No demand for beef cattle in New York?

 

[Saltydawg]

Thanks guys, always get good info from ya.

Guess its time for me to roll up my sleeves and work my connections and research sales outside my local area.

 

[badroute]

I contract mine in early summer. It is nice to be able to have some control over the price, where going to the sale barn it is possible to take a real hosin. If you get up to 75 calves you could possibly contract a smaller potload depending on the weight. Another thing is find a neighbor that has cattle comparable to yours and try to go in with him on a semi load or two. I have a neighbor that I help fill his loads with my lighter calves after I sell off my loads of heavier cattle. It seems to work for me.

 

[dun]

You might try to find other producers in your area that will work together and form a mak=rketing group. Co-mingle and sort the calves, background them for 45-60 days and sell directly to the feedlots. You could check with one of the universitys that does agricultutal stuff and see if they have established or would be interested in assisting with setting up a group or multiple groups in the state.
That said, those of ours we don;t market through the marketing group either go private treaty or through the sale barn. We have a local salebarn 15 miles, another about 40 miles and another about 65 miles. The 65 mile place reutinely beats either of the other two barns. The closest one is a great place to buy but a lousey place to sell. Most stuff runs 10-15 less then the next place and they;re well under what the furthest barn brings.

dun

 

[RebelCritter]

Find another sale barn nearby that auctions more beef cattle?

Put ads in the local feed stores for selling them?

 

[norriscathy]

Thanks guys, always get good info from ya.

Guess its time for me to roll up my sleeves and work my connections and research sales outside my local area.

Salty; we actually haul our cattle over 300 miles to OK City. Just got to shop for the barn with the most buyers and the least commission. Freight is just another cost to be considered.

Norris

 

[TheLazyM]

Hi, i use the local paper,salebarn and co-op and feedmills to sell my cattle. the co-op rep comes out and we agrre on a price per pound and a delivery date then i deliver to them. i weight in then they cut me a check that easy. only draw back is if dont deliver on that date you get docked. i try to plan mine in next 3-4 days. the other good thing is they buy all you want to sell. they back ground them and will give you the info on how they do all the way to slaughter. thing is you got to buy your products from the co-op. the feedmills around here also buys alot of cattle off of farms. i guess they have a bonus of cheap feed. that local paper is hard to beat. alot of people is looking for 1-? animals for pet/projects, to slaughter feeling like the beef might be alittle healther this way. and this people are alittle edgey about salebarns, you remember when you 1st started going it was like greek. i have gotten people out here that had never been this close to a cow, so beening able to spend some of my time with them letting them get close to the cattle even hand feeding them seals the deal. only draw back is you sell 1 here 2 there. good luck on your marketing. i bet that things will lookup for you. lets face it its whats for dinner.

 

[Jeanne - Simme Valley]

I sell NOTHING thru the sale barn. When I have a cull - she gets shipped direct to a packer & I get paid on the rail. I sell my feeder steers to a local feeder - he pays for them (at an agreed price) on weights over my scales (so no shrink). Some feeders are sold as junior projects.
Sell breeding stock private treaty or consignment sales.
Here in NY, you need to join the NY Beef Producers Assn. and you will find info on Cornell programs. They have one that they precondition your weaned calves and sell them as a group. They also have a feedlot program. You own the calves, they feed them out & market them. You get all the data. We've been doing this on 4 head of steers.
Also, have a heifer development program (purebreds & mostly commercial) You deliver your weaned heifers, they feed them, ultra sound them, do breeding soundness exam, and you can get them back for breeding at home, or they can be sold in the spring sale or they will keep them & breed them & you can get them back bred or sell them bred in the fall.
Lots of options - if you join NYBPA and/or get Country Folks publication you will read about them.

 

[BC]

I sell NOTHING thru the sale barn. When I have a cull - she gets shipped direct to a packer & I get paid on the rail. quote]

How do you know that you got all the animal was worth if you only let one buyer bid? I have found that the price at the sale barn was higher than the "back door" price that killing plant offered.

 

[norriscathy]

I sell NOTHING thru the sale barn. When I have a cull - she gets shipped direct to a packer & I get paid on the rail.

Local packers are becoming a thing of past around here. We've had two very large independent packers shut down in the last 15 years. Just a couple of small "Mom & Pop" custom processers left!

 

[flaboy+]

Livestock Market.

 

[Susie David]

The greater majority of our animals leave the farm naked, up-side down swinging in a really cold truck.
We sell beef to a niche market. Have developed a customer base that regenerates itself and is growing by association though we do some advertising. We sell shares in live animals and broker the processing for the customer. We group customers with similiar cutting instructions to make the butcher easier as our butcher divides the half carcass at cutting so that 1/4 share customers each get cuts from each end of the steer. We avoid the USDA inspection process as we are not selling processed meat...the nearest plant is an hour and a half way...but we're working with a processer closer to us that is in the process of being certified so we just may be able to sell frozen beef to a different market. Frozen because of the simplicity of complying with all the regulations.
Hope that this helps...just our way of doing business.
Oh yeah...we seldom but at the sale unless we know who's cattle are being offered.
DMc