Sullivan sale

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afhm

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May 1, 2007
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parts unknown
Does anyone have results from the sale Saturday.  I tried to watch it online and had to give up  the broadcast was so poor.
 

JSchroeder

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May 17, 2007
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San Antonio, Tx
On a side note, I wouldn't even call this a Sullivan sale any more and the sale catalog reflects that, Sullivan isn't even mentioned on the cover.  Only 40% of the females were DSUL females and half of those seemed to just be old (1999 and older) cows that he was culling.  His younger cows, heifers, and donors were up to the usual quality and brought the usual high prices.

There were a few great Americans there but there were also plenty of cows that should have been sold by the pound and sold that way.  I was VERY tempted to load up a trailer of the American heifers and put them in a commercial replacement sale where they would have brought $300-$400 more than they brought Saturday.  I can't speak badly about Warner though, our best cow is also the cheapest cow we ever bought ($610) that was a heifer he was selling through a commercial replacement sale.  A similar heifer that an acquaintance bought in that same sale for $630 just had a steer win his AOB class in San Antonio which is no small accomplishment.  His cattle have always seemed like a great value to me.
 

chambero

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Feb 12, 2007
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Texas
A whole lot of calves that do well at majors have mommas in that price category.  My wife and I bought our first group of cows together in 1996 right before we got married.  Sale was during a bad drought and we bought 10 Sim-Angus and 5 Angus that averaged $550 a head as bred heifers that calved the next fall.  We've had better than a dozen steers out of them over the years that have placed well and made the sale at major shows.  The best one did was a 2nd place Simi at San Antonio in 02 if I remember correctly.  Another kid placed 2nd in the TCCA Chi steer points on one baldy steer they bought from me out of one of those cows.  Seven of those cows are still going strong!
 

chambero

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Feb 12, 2007
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Texas
I suppose if you are in a hurry to raise a really good one starting from scratch, buying a big time donor prospect might be the way to go.  We've never done it though.  I've just seen too much unpredictability in our own herd as to which cows throw the best calves to make me scared to spend that kind of money.  It sure doesn't seem to track with "looks".  I'd probably be more inclined to spend it on a purebred heifer of some sort, but that's mostly because that's what we don't have.

These kinds of sales do have good cattle.  I just usually go through and pick out ones I don't like so that I'm ready to jump on good deals that might come through.  Of course if I had the money to risk that some of these guys do I'd probably be in there buying what I wanted regardless of cost also.
 
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