The truth is there are way more steers out there than there are kids to show them. You just have to be creative and to find good steers at great prices. You need to think like a trader, follow the model of the tv show "American Pickers" and insert the word "steer" everytime they talk about how they find "rusty gold". Everything they do can be applied to finding the next great one: ask for leads, bundle, trade with something they want(semen, embryos, a heifer, labor, free advertisement) complement quality when you see it, know what stuff is worth, bring in an expert, walk away when its not right, flash some cash, get on the phone, put some miles on your car, take rejection like a pro and move on. Don't be afraid to walk through some feedlots, backgrounders or sale barns where the clubby ranches send their calves. Ask to see the cull pen at the "big boys sales"(everybody has one). Watch the sale reports from the clubby bull and breds sales and give them a call(it doesn't cost anything to look). Sale barn managers have a ton of information and they love to talk(however, Vets and ET centers are very tight lipped). Ask the feed rep whose buying the most creep and show feed. Talk to the AI rep and find out whose buying the clubby semen.
One of the best steers I ever sold was from a guy that had a crazy high price on him and wouldn't budge off the price. It was close to the end of the season and I knew he had done the same thing to everyone that had come before me. When I left his place I called the local sale barn and asked them to call me when he sold his calves. Long story short, when they came in the ring I asked them to split off that steer and I bought him for market price.
There is always more than one way to skin a cat.
