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| Roy,
It got to be about 15-16 years ago you couldn't sell a calf to a order buyer here. They would back out on you leave you hanging. I remember it all too well. Plus those country buyers were putting the screws to us.
If you were weighing a pot of cattle, say in drafts of 10 calves, they were sliding every draft that was over on base weight, instead of avg. the whole load. It got to be a deduct $5 per horn on a calf's head too. It got to be murder around here. But it did force us to clean the cattle up, we quit the horned bulls, really shopped for bulls that those traits we needed. Better vac. programs.
It was nice when Superior came in the picture because they protected the seller in my opinion. First and formost we sold a load, not by single calf's that they picked apart. Yes, we got to set our base weight, weighing conditions, and slide, plus we had a 10 lb. var. on the base weight. We never once worried about our contracts, money was always good. But Superior sold a couple of years ago, new owners, it seemed to me things change a little, more to the buyer side, I felt. I do have to say Superior has never let a buyer back out on us.
It has gotten to be if you have any big amount of cattle 200 hd. or more you had to sell on the video, to get a fair price at least out west here. It took a lot of business away for the commission houses, about all they got was cull's and off calves. We even got to selling cull cows on the video. But this in turn helped clean up the commission houses too. They quit letting order buyers pick your cattle apart in the ring, and holding prices up.
I guess the biggest thing that helped sell cattle was the new tech. we began using. The video, cell phones, faxes, gps on trucks. It gave us real time information at our finger tips. I still remember the first bag cell phone I bought, I had 30 minutes air time for 30 dollars! I remember every telling me I was wasting money on toys. I remember the first time selling 1,800 hd. of calves for the area ranches and me while I was baling hay in the tractor talking on the cell phone! Talk about multi-tasking! Now if I have a problem with cattle vacinces, I'm on the phone with the Schering-Plough, Pfizer reps. I get a problem fixed that day, not a month later.
I willing to change and do whats needed compete in the cattle industry, But tell me what thoses changes need to be. Come on guys get your cyrstal ball out of the bag and dust it off. Some how i just don't think Obama is going to be good for the cattlemen and farmers out west, I hope I'm wrong, I hope it turns into the land of milk and honey!
On the lighter side a buddy called me yesterday and told me I was to report to the cotton feilds today, per Obama's orders! I laughed and said that would be their worst mistake! I couldn't tell a cotton plant from a weed! LOL I think I would give the whole cotton crop iron blight!
Edited by Russ In Idaho 11/6/2008 09:38
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Give me your thought on selling cattle, weighing conditions, shrink,etc.
