Reasonable Pricwe for Cattle

[mainecattlemother]

What is everyones opinion of reasonably priced cattle?  It seems that the steer jocks and big money are taking the family out of the cattle showing.  Last year we were competitive with reasonably priced animals.  We were actually third in line market heifer at state fair last year.  We want a little better this year but we can not even touch calves for what we have to spend.  Just wanted a different perspective on what people think is reasonable.

 

[nkotb]

Two things:  First, I think there are very reasonable priced animals out there.  You will just have to look a little harder.  Second, the longer we are in this game, the more I see the word reasonable needing to be thrown out the window.

 

[mainecattlemother]

I agree but I still have a conscience and we are buying for two kids.  I also don't appreciate when you call a steer jock and you tell them what you have to spend and they push a calf on you that you would have trouble selling at the sale barn.  I will not say a name because this is a public site but I have been told that this individual was a good and honest person.  Apparently not when you told him you would spend up to $4500.  I know to some this does not seem like a lot of money but the calf that he pushed on me you would have trouble selling at market price and I have seen enough cattle to know this.

 

[Okotoks]

It's like everything, you can pay a premium because it's the cool name brand or you can shop around and find something as good at a better price. Some of the production sales of breeding stock with top sales have above average cattle but their average cattle are not necessarily better than the top end at lesser known sales. Some sales average $5000 to $10,000 more than the top sellers at other sales. Some of those top end cattle will be seen winning in the ring but a lot of those cattle will never contribute to a breeding program. That is not always the sellers fault but due to the fact lots of buyers are only buying for the ribbon, not looking for a breeding building block. Some get caught up in the prefix and end up buying an animal for way more than it would bring in any other sales ring on the same day!
With so many people breeding clubbies there are bound to be lots of very good calves around in the $4500 range. If the calf he was offering you was really ordinary you should have said it wasn't at all what you were willing to spend $4500 on and ask if he had anything else. If not thank him for his time and keep looking.

 

[leanbeef]

$4500 ought to buy two real decent calves or one super good one. And there are LOTS of calves out there! You do have to scour the countryside sometimes to find em before somebody else gets em, or you have to have an "in" with a breeder who doesn't market like some of these guys everybody knows. Part of the benefit of earning a reputation for good ones is that your cattle become more valuable because they're yours, and as a buyer, that means your money doesn't go as far. It's like buying designer shoes...everybody wants the label, but not all of us can afford it. So you have to figure out what you CAN afford & look for the most fashionable & most comfortable, best made shoe in your price range. Are they harder to find on a tight budget?...of course they are! You have to learn to appreciate the hunt for the diamond & you have to be good enough to see it in a lump of coal. Just like with most things, you often get what you pay for, but there are always opportunities to get value worth the money, and that's what you're looking for. There are a lot of wannabes and imitators out there as well. Get off the beaten path and you might have a better chance at being the first one to a golden egg!

We sold a $1700 heifer last fall, and she's been in class with a $10,000 heifer all summer long, right there in her county! The girl who bought our heifer has done a good job of developing her to her best potential, and she's a solid heifer. There isn't nearly as much difference
between her and the $10k heifer as you would expect, and we've actually gotten around her several times! She doesn't win every time she goes out, but she's learning to appreciate more than just winning, and she has a pretty good cow prospect in her pasture. If you never get to win, it takes a lot of the fun out of showing, but that's just part of the journey...it's not the destination.

 

[chambero]

First question/bit of advice:  why arent you dealing with who you bought calves from last year?

Point No. 2 - if you dont want to go straight to a breeder, deal with a jock who's been around a while and knows who you are already.  Some of the " wannabes" dont have access to cattle and are to focused on themselves to be honest with potential customers.

Point 3 - give a price range but never tell your max upfront.  Everything is negotiable.

Are you sure you knew what you are lookimg at?  Fat and glossy hair on babies drives up price.  Really good babies dont always look show ready at this age, particularly in a drought.  Ive had more than a few people turn their nose up at our calves because I dont have them looking like miniature finished calves at sale time.

 

[Freddy]

I LIKE TO SELL MY CALVES for as much as I can ,averaged 1600 on steer calves last year with a 2200 top ,heifers almost double that ....I have got where I enjoy selling that last calf of the year, usually younger or mother didn't milk as good or one year weaned a calf real late ...But I know my cows and usually have one that I think has lot of potential or just younger .....Usually that last calf  will win a county fair for someone,usually I can talk one of my friends into trying him cause the price is right and the sucess rate has been above par ...  You don't have to pay lots of money to have a winner, find a breeder that is honest , represents hiis cattle well...  Last place I would go is one of these super jocks cause I can't afford that much ,and they know how to represent them so good that its hard to see the faults in them ....  Remember also if you don't do your part in working your tail off to show these it won't matter how much you pay or how good he is it won't work ....That is one thing with these super showmen a lot of them are willing to make sure that calf is handled and preesented right and that is why many of them get those higher prices for their calves ....If you are really interested in  showing good ,watch these top guys every chance you get ,first thing it is always changing ,new products used ,and you won't do this just over night and you need to practice all year if you have the chance ...Like the one guy says check out some of those breeders not on the beaten path or smaller guys with just a few head ...SUCCESS is out there and waitng for you to find it ....

 

[shortdawg]

If I were you I would go straight to the breeder. Each time a calf is flipped the price goes up for sure. If you have the time to ride there are a lot of good calves out there for reasonable $. The best calf we ever had was $3900 - State Breed Champ and Reserve Grand Overall.

 

[mainecattlemother]

Thanks for all the responses.  We actually bought a simmi steer off Dave Capatske's online sale and have bought from him in the past and have had great results on a heifer that won many shows and stood third to the Supreme Grand and Reserve Supreme Grand breeding heifers with a Foundation Simmi and she is a great mother also just took a while to get her bred.  We actuallu tried to get a market heifer off his sale but went double our budget.  He is actually going to the small people in Iowa and Nebraska today so hopefully he will find something.  For those of you that mentioned the hard work.  We know about the work our kids our out rinsing twice a day as soon as the MN weather permits.  We just got a cooler set up this year but we know that is not the answer, sometimes we think it is more of a pain in the butt. We also have a simmi steer listed on the MN Beef Expo sale.  We would have shown him but we know the mother and he is a little straight and starting to get short strided but has a beautiful body.  The steer jock from Iowa, yes he is pretty big but that is no reason to shove off a calf like that.  She was not real haired up but had some.  We know how to make hair and if it is in their pedigree we are not that concerned if they dont have a lot of hair.  The steer we are selling is a Dream Catcher x Sunseeker and did not have much hair and know from a month of hard work has beautiful hair.  I think everything will turn out just really frustrating.

 

[bryan6807]

I have always had good luck with guys who only run 5-10 cows and want to avoid selling to jocks. calves you would pay 2-3k for from a jock you can get for $1500 from them privately. We have a market heifer prospect now that can be a major player if in the right hands that we have priced at $2500. Had a jock say he could get 7-8k out of her.

 

[cpratz]

My best steer was a $3500 calf my first year. He was the last one to sale cause he was really small framed but a really good prospect. I showed him won 2-3 shows got my money back before he got to 900 lbs then sold him for $7000.

 

[mick rems]

steer i had last year i spent 2500. and i had no disappointments with him. great hair, great depth, super sound, super straight lines, all around a awesome really pretty steer. definitely going back to that breeder.

best strictly county fair animals i had. came from gefferts. got a money man heifer from him to. but overall my best cow in the pasture, and the one that has the best calves. was $750 mainetainer heifer i got at world beef expo sale. she never did well as a heifer, and shes definitely not pretty, but she has these super thick super hairy, showy, and easy fleshing calves. and i gotta eye candy bull calf coming from her in spring.

 

[forcheyhawk]

Chambero nailed it.  The absolute worst thing you can ever do is to give anyone the price you are willing to spend.  Think about it from the Steer Jock's perspective.  He's looking to maximize his profits.  If he can sell you his bottom end calf for $4500 then his sale average is going to go up probably - which is how he feeds his family.  I would give the jock an idea of what you are looking for with regard to breeding, phenotype, etc and have him point you to a couple of calves that might fit your needs.  Then you'll need to bid them up to what's affordable to you.  Personally, I try to keep an idea of what I think something is worth (to me) and even if I have the money to spend - I'll stick pretty close to what I think it's worth - the reason I do this is that I don't want them to figure out a magic number that I can be bumped to on the next calf - in the case that someone is trying to protect their price.  Not suggesting this happens a lot but I've always been cautious in the case that it does.    The more you keep them guessing the better IMO.  Just some ideas.  Hope they help.  I would keep in mind to that while said steer jock may scoff at your $4500 - he'll feel pretty good about it when he has 10 calves that didn't get bids.  Do you due diligence and if you keep him guessing you might get one of those that fit your needs for less than you were willing to spend.  Again some ideas.

 

[JimF]

Patience is the key theme this year - had a jock tell me that there are literally thousands of calves for sale by breeders in the Midwest and with feed costs what they are the jocks and families are more cautious - just think about how many total units of semen are sold on club calf bulls each year plus there are some darn good clean up bulls working out there - it is still just September and there will be lots of unsold calves in November to January - there is but a small time window in trading steers and the jocks and breeders will be more cooperative towards the end of buying season as opposed to getting stuck with them - with the high cost of feed there will not be as many total calves sold relative to the supply I would suspect and a calf a trader got bought for 1,000 to 1,500 that he was asking 10,000 for and hoping for 6,000 will become a 2,000 to 2,500 calf - plus many of the jocks will be repossessing high-dollar steers after failed installment payments as the corn crop is not that good - it is always that way.  Like mentioned earlier, don't always assume that a jock has a lot in a calf that he might be asking pretty good money for.  Educate yourself on what one is worth to you and don't be afraid to make an offer just like you would at a used car lot without access to a Blue Book value - he might scoff at the offer and turn you down, but leave him your number and most of the time you will get a call in a week or so.

 

[paj315]

I am just starting to get back into showing with my son and i have seen really nice calves for as low as $1500 this was from a small guy that doesn't sell "club calves" he breeds really great cows to the top AI sires and feeds them out and sells them as freezer beef. His calves have won several county fairs and other shows. He sells a few calves to kids for whatever he figures he can sell them for if they were fed put and sold as freezer beef . All you need is to dind someone like that who doesn't care about club calves and you can dind some deals

 

[leanbeef]

Personally, I have a lot more respect for our customers than to start out pricing cattle for twice what I hope to get for em. It's fair to want all they're worth, but asking 10 when they're MAYBE worth 6?...that's trying to take advantage of somebody you think has more money than sense. Negotiation is a fair tactic, but it just doesn't speak well of somebody to try to gouge folks when you think (or know!) they have money to spend. Maybe that's why I've never gotten $10k for one, but I hope if I ever do, it's one I'm proud to have raised & sold...not to somebody who gets out of his truck and tells me he has $10k to spend. I probably know as many folks I feel would be fair with me as I do folks I wouldn't trust with a $100 bill, and guess which ones I call when I have money to spend on something...

My advice is to do business with somebody you trust and respect above anything else. It doesn't matter to me how many wins somebody's cattle have had this year...if I don't trust that guy, I'll buy mine somewhere else. There are lots of good cattle out there and lots of fair and honest people who are raising some of em.

 

[jbzdad]

interesting.. I have a purebred heifer on the sale page out of top shelf... she is really powerful clean fronted... only knock is that she is not real big... would probably raise great steers after she is done

been there 2 weeks and not a PM .

priced under 2500... go figure... people sometimes don't look very hard... or may be unwilling to take a road trip

 

[jbzdad]

got a PM from this thread... yep ... we are to far away... kinda funny that

would probably let the calves go for barely over market to the right family just for the exposure  ... go figure

 

[jbzdad]

this one

 

[jbzdad]

later pic 9/15 cattle for sale