Educate me please

[firesweepranch]

OK, my question/ write up just disappeared! Haha!
Anyway, I was asking how a "pasture bid-off" works? Why would someone use this method versus a standard auction type sale. I would hate to drive a long distance, put a bid on a calf, and wait around for the bids to close over the weekend to see if I won. Maybe I do not understand the method??? Educate me please 

???

 

[farmin female]

Oh honey, you have much to learn!  Bid offs allow for you not to have to sit around that table all night.  Thats what cell phones and one well placed cell tower are for.  Also, many of those sales will not end for days.  So be patient and have some fun.

 

[ai er]

No auctioneer to pay or staff?

 

[sam1988]

to me they are nerve wracking.  I never know what my first second or third choice will bring.  Last year I got blown out of the water by the big boy traders.  At least I can do it from home, and if I am not successful, there will be more weekends, and more miles to be driven.

 

[blackcows]

Like ai er said on major advantage is cost....no auctioneer to pay, no meal, usually no expensive catalog, no sale facility, no sale manager, no need to hire a bunch of workers for sale day, etc.

You could think of it like an auction but in really slow motion, instead of the people sitting around raising their hands and the animal being sold in minutes that process is done on the phone and extended for days.  You bid $1000, the seller than calls the next highest bidder and tells them they need to bid $1100 and so on.  In my opinion the most difficult thing as a buyer is to be trusting of the seller.  I have been buying cattle at auction forever and I know things go on but at least when you are there you can get a feel for things....see what is going on.  With a bid off you really have no idea who or if anyone is bidding against you.

 

[russfarm]

With a bid off you really have no idea who or if anyone is bidding against you.

That's the part I hate. How does ones REALLY know there is someone else bidding against them and not just seller running their bid up ???

 

[iowabeef]

I HATE Private Treaty Pasture Sales.  The key is bidding on sales of people you can trust....hard to do in today's society.  It is definitly an advantage to the seller to do it this way-except for the calling process can be a pain.  I am new to the whole on-line sale process but am thinking I might like that better.

 

[CAB]

I HATE Private Treaty Pasture Sales.   The key is bidding on sales of people you can trust....hard to do in today's society.  It is definitly an advantage to the seller to do it this way-except for the calling process can be a pain.  I am new to the whole on-line sale process but am thinking I might like that better.

Easier again to run bids. Just sayin, not that anyone would run a bid!!

 

[RSC]

If a seller believes an calfs price needs to be protected, you'll get ran up in an auction as well, IMO.

 

[CAB]

  I agree RSC. It all boils down to what you are willing to spend on a calf and what you are confortable with. There are going to be games played as well as politics played out. There are also a great bunch of cattle enthusiast that are great PPL to work with.

 

[mooch]

If you thought you were getting run before, watch what happens on these online sales !

 

[firesweepranch]

If a seller believes an calfs price needs to be protected, you'll get ran up in an auction as well, IMO.

OK, but in an auction you can put a minimum on your animal, and if she does not bring it you take her home and just pay the auctioneer fee. With a pasture sale, wouldn't you just set your price at the minimum you want and let it go from there? Or do they jerk you around with that? So, if I like a calf in a pasture sale, I tell the owner That I will pay so much money and leave it at that? Not sure if I like that. I have gone to several sales where I did not want to pay beyond a certain price, but when the bid got close I might just bump it up once or twice to see if I can get her for a few more bucks (I hate the feeling of walking away wishing I would have raised my hand one more time!). Plus, who wants to wait around all week to see if you get that calf or keep looking? Does not sound like a fun and exciting way to buy an animal to me  ;D

 

[LostFarmer]

I hate getting run.  I try to get the lay of the land at a sale and have been known to leave it with the straw buyer get up and walk out of the sale.  I got a call in the parking lot as to why I was leaving.  I said I was not playing games if you want to set a floor price do so when the bidding starts say there is a minimum on this animal.  It is also the sellers right to buy back your animals but if I see it happening you lost a buyer.  I go to sales to buy not watch animals get appraised.  LF