As
@kenny thomas said..... we never take anything to the sale that we don't sit there and watch. If something looks a little off that day, like that one calf, you will take a beating. I bought back one heifer of mine that looked like it had a "hay belly" or even a little bloated... because she was a hog and stood and ate and ate at the new bale of hay put in there 2 days before they got hauled to the sale. She got shuffled back with another group and about 40 days later went with a group that had hay in front of them for 4-5 days, and instead of the .55 I bought her back for, she brought 1.37 with the other 3 they put her with.
You have to be able to look at them from the buyers eye... and we have pretty much quit selling fall calves off cows since they can take a beating.... If we can't get things sold before the first of Sept... they will get mostly all kept and fed until after the first of the year.... Like has been stated, Oct is dead calf month... and we have learned that mostly it is not worth the time to haul them in and then get hurt on prices. Nov is a bad month to sell here... hunting season..... and there are hit and miss weeks for buyers. I keep preaching to DS to not take any in, in the fall anymore.
I bought back 4 out of 6 steers that he wanted me to take in back in early oct, because they brought less than I thought they should... put them out on grass for 4 weeks and he took some in last week because he heard that there was a buyer looking for some 5-6 wts... they put on about 50 lbs.... already weaned from before... and made about .15/lb more than a month earlier. Sure there was a little cost but the grass had already been paid for and we hadn't used it so can attribute the cost of the grass to the heifers that he is still running there for replacements...
If they are short and fat, they are beef for us to sell..... if they have real bad eyes, they will be beef.... you have to know what you can sell and make money on and what you can turn over in your own operation as beef sales.... Have one now on a cow that was born totally blind. Cow takes good care of it. Put her in a small lot, the calf has learned the fences... Put the bull in and rebred her. Going to put another calf in with a bad leg, and when the cow comes out, the 2 will just be there. Will kill him as a baby beef. He would not bring .25 at the sale .... have watched too many blind ones that are decent calves get totally hammered because of the eyes. Sometimes it is bad pinkeye and you can bring them home and treat and get some sight back and they can become beef candidates. Mostly the kindest thing to do is to kill them instead of shipping them to the sale.