After we have raised our calf crop, we need to get them to the market. Most owners in this area will sell at a local sale barn. Which barn depends on our location and how we are able to deal with the barn and its representatives. We always want the most dollar value for what we raise. Every calf is a No. 1 with a medium frame.
At the sale barn, the calves are sorted into lots of one or more in order to sell the best. Remember the sale barn is paid on commission, so the more money your calves sell for the more money the barn makes. Normally, calves are sorted by frame, body condition and color or breed. Order buyers will size up a calf in just a few seconds and buy them if they will fit into one of their orders.
Now, remember these order buyers are judging your calves in split seconds. And like I tell all of the 4-H and FFA kids going to the fair, a judge’s opinion is just one man’s opinion on one day. The same person may have a different opinion on another day. And maybe that was just the market that day. Normally when a barn rep is giving you a quote it will be the low end of No. 3’s to the high end of No. 1’s. This is the safest way for a barn rep to protect the barn and not disappoint an owner. But, they do need to know their market and buyers. By knowing what the market is in their barn, and knowing the buyers, they can get the cattle that their buyers are looking for by offering you, the seller, the best deal they can. If the sale barn overshoots his market, he will either have to make up the difference or buy the cattle himself. And this costs commission and profit.
I also have a lot of people looking for a good bull at a sale barn. Normally the first thing I will say is that there is a reason these bulls are at the sale barn. I have done Breeding Soundness Exams on bulls at the sale barn and have passed several, but probably failed more over the years. If the bulls are guaranteed or have been tested for breeding soundness prior to the auction at the barn then I would be an interested buyer. But, do you really know the calving ease, birth weight and growth ability of this bull’s offspring at the sale barn? Please, do your research prior to spending your hard earned cash.
Now, there are other problems with purchasing breeding stock at the sale barn. If your herd is an open herd then you know the risks and are prepared to deal with them. If you are a closed herd then, do not purchase replacements from the sale barn. There is a long list of diseases that can be brought into your herd. Some of these are IBR, BVD, Lepto, Trich, Vibrio, Salmonella, and Lord forbid Brucellosis. Some can be vaccinated for, but Trichimoniasis is a sexually transmitted disease of cattle and there are Arkansas and Oklahoma state laws saying that all bulls must be tested prior to entering the state. This applies to all non-virgin bulls, but there is a carrier state of the disease in cows. So, there is a small chance a purchased cow could bring Trich into your herd. There is a vaccine but it will not prevent the carrier state. I have written another article about this and we have had a guest writer write about Trich, also. I refer you to those articles, you can find them at www.ozarksfn.com.
Dr. Tim O’Neill owns Country Veterinary Clinic in Farmington, Ark.
