What is your favorite way to buy show cattle?

Since we are just beginning the craziness of picking and buying for the next show season, I thought it might be fun to discuss how you like to aquire your stock for the next season.....private treaty, load and go, on-line bid off?  Do you like to go out and do the looking yourself or do you prefer to have a picker take care of all of that?  Chat about your process....I remember a number of years ago when live auctions in the end of October and early November was about the only way cattle were sold....anymore cattle have been traded 2 or 3 times by then....

I like to pick out the cattle in person. That way the only person to blame for picking a bad one is yourself. I am a fan of the online bidoffs on Breedersworld and Caldwell-Willoughby because it is faster than a phone bidoff which can take 3-4 days for the big guys. It is not as fast as having an auctioneer bid them off in 1 minute where if you needed to think about it the calf will be gone already. It also gives flexibility to buyers to not have to be at the sale on sale day. Now some people will like the calves to just be priced first come first served but that can be a nightmare as well for the seller. Did I price that calf too high, not high enough, and do people think I value my cattle too much compared to other breeders? The online bidding I think will only gain popularity as people become comfortable with it. JMO

I agree with you about the online sales.  I think this is going to be the wave of the future.  I can only imagine what a pain the phone bid off is for the seller.  Having to make all those calls and it dragging out.  As a buyer, you want to have it done and not wait around especially if you are bidding on a couple a different sales.  Plus unless you really trust your buyer, you never know if you are bidding against someone or not.  On line seems more up front and you can see how many are bidding against you. 

I like to avoid the sales personally.  I get to caught up in it all.  I love to walk pastures seeking the next best one (thumbsup)  To make it better, nothing rocks more than finding a great heifer at an even better price!  I am such the bargain hunter lol

So true...nothing better than finding a bargain!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There is nothing better than an old fashioned cattle road trip. We are headed out on Sunday to Brad Smith's to check out his calves, then on to The Clay County Fair. Doesn't get any better than that!! <beer>

justme said:

I like to avoid the sales personally.  I get to caught up in it all.  I love to walk pastures seeking the next best one (thumbsup)  To make it better, nothing rocks more than finding a great heifer at an even better price!  I am such the bargain hunter lol

Click to expand...

I agree! If you dont have a good one yourself then time to search for a good one at a bargain.

lowann said:

There is nothing better than an old fashioned cattle road trip. We are headed out on Sunday to Brad Smith's to check out his calves, then on to The Clay County Fair. Doesn't get any better than that!! <beer>

Click to expand...

Make sure you stop by Gary Ohlrich's in Merrill he has a real sweet set of calves this year. I'm jealous of you we used to stop at Brad's  and Gary's plus the Clay Co. fair. Both guys are straight shooters. Tell Brad what your looking for, he generaly knows were the good ones are in Iowa.