I honestly didn't realize yall were collectively having this kind of trouble. My perception was that there were armies of traders pounding the highways of KS/NE/SD and the midwest looking for calves to bring down here to sell. I would have figured that if I showed up in Feb/Mar at one of your places looking for a fall born calf, some trader willing to take a trailer load would have already been there before me in December and snatched up the ones truly worth having.
I think there are probably several issues affecting this, but some of them might be:
I really am starting to wonder how many calves are actually getting sold on the internet sales. I think its a much lower number than people might expect. In my opinion, online sales are glorified advertising, but I think most of those calves are actually sold private treaty. I know for certain that the "price" a calf brings online is no indication that it actually sold or what it actually sold for. In reality, I think it is just a simpler method than phone bidding between people that have seen the animals in person. I'm smart enough to never say never, but I have no intentions of buying a calf online that I haven't laid eyes on in person. If I'm going to drive a 1,000 miles to look at one, I'm ready to make a fair deal with you and bring him home if I find what I want.
Individual families willing to go that far aren't looking for average calves, they are looking for almost perfect ones. Our level of competition is so tough down here that's what it takes to make the sale at a major. If you get one that good, you've somehow got to figure out how to communicate it. People will drive to the ends of the earth for the right calf. But you have to be sure you've got one that good.
Your average 4-H/FFA kid looking for a project is never going to drive that far to look for calves on their own. County agents/ag teachers often have some incentive (whole other discussion) to deal with the traders/breeders that are already well established down here. These kids are looking for average, reasonably priced calves. But they don't have to go that far to find them. Lots of breeders down here are effectively raising them now. Everybody and their cousin is raising show cattle down here (or at least trying to).
Traders are notorious for not having the money to pay for calves up front. Personally, I'm not comfortable with that kind of arrangement and don't mess with them. However, there must be plenty of breeders willing to take that risk because they never have a shortage of calves to sell. If you are, pick up the phone and call them. You only need one to show up.