Selling calves?

I was wondering do most of you sell calves to anyone who has the money to pay for a calf or do you turn away people you know will not take care of the calf?  I find it frustrating to sell calves to kids who do not take care of the calf they buy because when people see the calf at a show/fair and it looks bad they assume I  must have sold the kid some kind of junk. When the truth is the kid did a terriable job taking care of the calf. I hate turning away a kid but at the same time I hate seeing the calves not reach their potential. I do try and stay in touch with everyone who buys a calf from me and offer any help but sometimes once they buy thats last you see or hear from them until its to late.Thanks

Stay in touch. Offer as many tips to them as possible. Make a list of tips, suggestions, feeding programs as the calf gets to certain weights. And if they live fairly close to you, go down to their place and get hands on with the calf showing them how to do daily hair care properly and how to keep the hair growing. Also make sure they know the calf needs its excercise( this will stimulate appetite,muscle growth and overall apperance.) Tell them which feeds and additives work well(vitaferm,epic or shag,full tank,wheat germ, and natural stride if they have problems moving).If money is an issue you could reccommend a lower cost feed if its available in thier area. We feed ADM Dairy Beef for calves that have been weaned to 1200lbs roughly. It cost about 7$/bag on cheap days and 8.50$/ on expensive days. Its got molasses and pretty much the whole nine yards in it for putting weight on fast. Its a 12.5% protein and 3.5% fat(I think, dont quote me). But it puts a wonderful finish on them, and our calves are always in the top of the rate of gain contest at the fair, which we dont even try for. After they hit that 1250lb mark, we feed the 10.5% Steer. 2% Fat if I remember right. Its kind of a holding ration and only runs 6-6.50$ a bag. They will still gain on this but not as fast as the dairy beef. All steers end up about 1325 or a little more around fair time.

2nd option: If you know they arent going to take care of the calf put a bigger price tag on it, hope they say no, but if they do, you made some good money, and maybe they'll say "hey I got 2500 bucks rapped up in this calf,(instead of 1500 or whatever price) I'm gonna get him fed right and take good care of him and turn him into a winner." Hopefully... Just my opinion, I hope it helps. Good Luck!!!

Chris

This has crossed just about everyone's mind that sells calves. Trouble is that I haven't thought of a way to do it that is fair to those who bid/buy your cattle and to yourself. Normally for what I have seen those who don't have success will normally change who they get calves from because they think they got a bad calf. My best advice is to make sure you advertise and market your calves well, get good money for them, and make sure you feel good about the ones that do turn out. Most customers do change after a while though. I had one that made me go nuts his first year or two but by the end I wish he had more years left.

The guy we bought one of my sons calves from sold us a real solid calf for quite a bit less than he was worth.  At $800 he was not much above the sale barn when we got him.  The boys have worked hard on their projects.  I have mostly been the muscle when needed.  At 9 and 11 they sometimes need some help with feed sacks and hay bales.  I think I have carried the grain buckets 2 or maybe 3 times in 6 months of the project.  The breeder gave these boys a break because they had a track record with pigs of feeding and preparing.  He called as calves were being born to find out if we could show market heifers as a beef project in our county.  Guess he has the boys a Hired Man baby and a Jimmy the Greek baby that are coming our way.  I think selling a good one to a kid that you know will get it done will make you look good in the end.  Getting the big check may or may not be the approach to long term profits. 

  We price all the calves & if someone has the money, Sold. We then try to keep in touch and give tips accordingly. Not all families have the same capabilities & schedules which is great,maybe their priorities are more inline as to what is most important. Cross your fingers and hope the best for them. Most times we can put a calf in their hands that has a chance to move their goals forward.

I will sell to anyone who has the money.  If someone does an exceptional job with one of my steers or heifers then I give them a price break on their next purchase. 

It certainly goes both ways. We bought a couple of steers off of a fellow not very far away from us. This was my kids first time to have show cattle. He layed it on pretty thick about how he would come look at the cattle once a month and make feed reccomendations etc. when he saw them, he would come help fit at shows, blah, blah, blah. Everytime I tried to see if he would come out, or help us at a show, he would have some excuse about why he couldn't come. Finally, I just quit calling him, and never did hear from him until he called to tell us that he had some more calves for sale the next year. Needless to say, I didn't even go look.

My point is, there are people that want the breeder/trader involved and appreciate it when they are. I know in our case, if I have a question or concern, that's the first person I want to talk to.

For me personally I'd rather get the calf to a good home moreso than to the highest bidder, unless you know they do a good job.  As a current college student that only sells several steers a year I'd love to be shoveling in the outrageous prices some people get for less than average calves but life is not solely based on money. Esp when its at the expense of a young kid trying to learn about responsibility and hard work.  When starting out its important to build good rapport with customers, take pride in the cattle your producing, if they do a good job with your calf let them know it.  Give them first dibs on next years crop, eventually once you have a good foundation of solid customers  you know take care of the animals then you can start the bidding wars.  But remember its for the kids, I bought all my calves growing up on my own and didnt have 10 Grand to spend on a steer and most kids out there dont either.