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Marketing of beef calves.
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tjdub
Posted 11/12/2012 23:49 (#2694263 - in reply to #2693821)
Subject: RE: Marketing of beef calves.



It's hard to go wrong with the sale barn. At least you know you got the top price that the market allowed. The only downside is the fee you have to pay, but it's a fair price for the service (in my neck of the woods anyway).

I've sold them privately before too. When I did I would ask 5 cents/lb less than I thought I would get at the sales barn. It was a short haul and eliminated my marketing fees so I was happy. Then one year I thought I would get 95 cents/lb at the sales barn so I asked 90 cents and got denied. Took them to the sales barn and got $1. I have taken calves to the sales barn every year since :)

Herd size doesn't matter too much. The key is to get groups of calves in a uniform weight range and a uniform look to them. If you only have a few calves, they're probably going to suffer in price since there will be a lot of groups of 1 or 2 calves sold.

The sales barns here have a list of things you SHOULD do to get top dollar at the feeder sales. 45 days weaned, a laundry list of vaccinations (and a second round of booster shots), how the bulls should be castrated. The also recommend getting the calves accustomed to eating out of a feed bunk while their weaned. In the vast majority of cases the cow calf guy does this before they leave the farm, although there are quite a few that have only had one round of shots.
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