Purebred breeders

[whiteface]

Thanks for the feedback, Alicia. Excellent picks by the way, now I need to meet you, you have a very very good eye. Found the best in my herd and it's a fairly sizeable site!

[InAHurry]

A question for the commercial cattlemen/women, if I may.

Do you have a preference for private treaty or public auction (production sales) when selecting a bull? What do you perceive or value as the ups &/or downs of each?

[cswilson]

The best method I've seen for selling bulls is a Kit Pharo's where the floor price is stated and u raise your buyers number to bid the price keeps increasing by increments till only one number is left up. Next I'd say private treaty works best-then followed by live auction with no ringworms oops i mean ringmen. There is far too much B.S, goin' on at bull sales for my liking. Myself if I get dicked with I hang them with the bull-you do that once and they move on to another victim. The only live auction we buy at is at Bow Slope run by the regular feeder cattle auctioneers-those guys are honest and above board. One thing that is starting to develop is private treaty planned matings-where commercial guys will say You breed these cows to this bull and we'll buy all the half brothers. I feel the 'flavor of the month' purebred deal is on its way out finally.

[whiteface]

For myself personally, selling one of my purebred bulls at public auction I feel is a good way to help decide how I should price them at home. Cswilson is absolutly right in that there is some (maybe quite a bit) of screwing around at an auction and definatly this makes some potential buyers uncomfortable. Many of my buyers have come to me privatley because they simply are more comfortable dealing quietly and in a less pressured environment. Even with that said, as you asked, inahurry, the down side I find is that sometimes, while the buyers are not feeling any "pressure" to buy a bull, they will simply sit on the fence to long making up their mind and the deal doesn't end up going through, because they aren't required to make a decision. Also, at an auction, some buyers feel they got their bull at "market price" because of course someone made the bid before him, bull would have to be worth at least that much...right? Someone else thought so. I guess where I'm going with this conversation is that I think it is human nature to want what we think someone else wants and the whole thing with "trendy" pedigrees or bull sales or shows or anything is just indicative of how any of us deals with our own level confidence. I try to combat my own insecurities at an auction by telling myself that the animal I'm interested in is worth x number of dollars period, based on how I feel I can market the progeny and if I get bid up, it's okay because I know how high I'm willing to go and that's it, if I end up paying "full price" well, it's more advertizing. People like to see "high prices" especially if it's not them who has to write the check. Just makes everyone excited to see big bucks. Most of my cattle are sold privately with a few going to purebred auction each year to "keep me honest" and see how accurate my "home pricing" is. Auction frequently gives me opportunity to meet new buyers as well and use the catchy "high seller" title at so and so a sale to attract possibly more and new buyers as well. Auction offers huge possibilties for advertizing, private sales offer huge opportunities for one-on-one time with your favorite (repeat) customers that really appreciate getting an animal that is usually taylor made to suit them. This is how I like to approach people the best. Sorry this blurb is so long and passionate, I guess that is a big part of who I am. Thanks for reading! :-)

[whiteface]

Oh! And thanks for asking, too, I'm pretty passionate about talking about my whitefaces!

[cswilson]

To me a perfect sale for a purebred sale that deals with mostly commercial breeders tops out at about $5,000 and doesn't go below 2,000. This tells me I can still get into the top end bulls without being dicked around. The absolute worst is these sales where the top ten bulls sell for huge money then they can hardly get the rest traded. I've seen a few sales get too richy and start to lose their commercial customers. What I really find funny is purebred breeders telling me what I can pay for a bull-then when they go to buy semen from me they nickle and dime away lol.

[InAHurry]

Thanks for the valid points & thoughts. I have a couple more questions but really need to get some sleep here. Thanks again

[whiteface]

Ask away, inahurry! Would love to visit some more on the subject! What basic breed are you running! What color/breed bulls to like to match your cows up with? How close to Regina are you. Canadian Junior Hereford show is out there the end of next month. If I drive, it'll be through Kindersly and south from Kenaston. You wouldn't happen to be along that route 'eh?

[whiteface]

I meant to comment on your thread, directly, cswilson. I too have seen many outfits that as you mentioned for sure get all excited about one or two top calves and then can't sell the rest. Making calves that are only trendy for another purebred breeder and then the commercial guy wants nothing to do with the remainder of the calves in the sale - they won't work and he knows it, they are the kind made only for glamour and not for productivity. I understand how you feel as well about the antics of some purebred guys. Sounds to me like you've got a real great cowherd, based on your philosophy, wish I was in the market for Angus! For several reasons somedays! I do, however, feel I've got a pretty darn good hereford herd so I stay at it. Lots of repeat buyers both purebred and commercial, I sure don't take them for granted and really focus on what they tell me they need, both sides. If I ever got out of purebreds, I'd have baldies, and then I'll be looking for you cswilson, to sell me a good bull. $5000.00 sounds about right for high end commercial bulls.