Cattle.com

Blog Archive March 2010

S&S Cattle Sale Report

S&S averaged just over $3,000/head on 87 steers Sunday afternoon and was topped by a $15,000 107/5 son.  View the full report here.

As usual, the barn was essentially a who’s who of Texas steer big shots and the people those big shots had bidding on steers so others wouldn’t know what they’re buying.  Two people I spoke with called it the best set of American steers they had ever seen and I’m not going to be the one to disagree.  Of course, considering the fact that its only competition was previous Schroeder sales, that's not surprising.

High Sellers w/Sire

#642 - $15,000 – Schroeder - 107/5
#412 - $11,700 – Schroeder - 107/5
#11 - $9,500 – Schroeder – 107/5
#20 - $9,500 – 2T Cattle Company - Brahman Cross
#649 - $9,200 – Schroeder – West Covina
#647 - $9,000 – Schroeder – Yellow Jacket

In my opinion 412 would have pushed $20k if the option to keep him in tact would have been provided.  However, Charles Schroeder was pretty clear that his nuts are getting cut off just like everything else they let leave the place.

[I have nothing to do with S&S Cattle other than the everlasting battle to make sure people pronounce Schroeder properly.]


Friday

As I sit here on a Friday morning waiting for the inevitable letter from my HOA telling me that killing my entire yard with Roundup was not what they meant when they asked me to control my weeds I’m having trouble coming up with a post to brighten your day.  So let's mail it in...

Skinner Cattle Bid Off

Don’t forget to check out the Skinner Cattle Bid Off on Newagecattle.com.  The sale ends Sunday.

Forum Traffic Index

The forum traffic index will come back in April.  I needed another benchmark month to get it back online.

Tuesday Post

Yes, that’s how it happened.

Twitter

I now unfollow anybody who posts more than once either for or against health care reform.

Auction Spider

The spider that checks auction sites for upcoming sales now properly spiders Liveauctions.tv and DVAuction.  The reason those two sites are the only ones properly spidered is they’re the only ones with an HTML format that is easy to figure out and program a spider for.

The auctions on those sites over the next week are listed on the right hand side of this page.

Brad Hook

Would somebody please go over to his place and take away his caps lock key?

Leap Frog - Letter Factory

If you have a toddler, buy it.  We bought it at the advice of a friend who said they were amazed at how quickly it taught children the sounds of letters.  My boy who will be two on Sunday has watched it a total of three times and now knows what every letter says.


Warner Livestock Online Sale

I'm a sucker for quality Brahman cross show steers…

Dr. Warner always has a nice set of calves of virtually all breeds but especially Americans.  There are two full sibs to the 07 San Antonio champion Brahman in the sale (that one above and WL6).

There are always steers that slip through in this sale that end up branded at a major show.  One of the more impressive ABC calves I saw in San Antonio was actually a $1,200 steer from their sale last year.

The Warner Livestock Internet Auctions is currently taking place on CIMAuctions.com and will last through March 30th.  Make sure to visit them HERE for more details, to sign up, and to bid online.

[Sponsored Post]


Medina Valley Club Calf Sale

The Medina Valley Club Calf Sale averaged $1,446 on 50 head on Sunday.

The high seller was a $3,500 Brahman cross by Chilli Pepper from John Naegelin (don't waste your time clicking those links if you are on dial up).  If you don’t know that story you don’t know the story of three of the four Brahman cross champions at San Antonio and Houston over the past two years.

The high “selling” heifer was GCC Sooner Miss 225W an $18,000 SLC Sooner daughter sold by Sahannah Livestock/KNP Cattle.  It was a rather surprising amount for that heifer to sell for considering the fact she was 4th of 7 two weeks ago in Houston (5th, 6th, and 7th in the class were also shown by Sahannah Livestock) and nothing else in the sale went over $3,500.  I'll give a free Cattle.com cap to the first person that spots that sale mentioned in an ad for the operation.

But I realize you don't care about local steer sales, that’s not what I’m wasting your time with this morning...

How Not to Do Fake Sales

If you’re ever in a situation where you want to run a heifer through the ring for an extremely high price in a setup sale, there are some very basic mistakes that you should avoid.

#1 – Don’t use buyer’s numbers that have been used as buy backs earlier in the sale.  If one of the buyers has bought a bunch of $800 steers earlier in the sale, don’t have him bid....hmmm.....let's think of a number....how about $17,500 on a heifer.  If another buyer has bought nothing but your other low priced cattle, don’t have him bid...oh...let's say $18,000.

#2 - If you ignore #1, just make sure the bidding doesn't go on long enough for people to look around and realize who it is doing the bidding.  Don't for example, go in $100 increments to $4,000 and then $250 increments to $18,000.  That gives people too much time to see who exactly it is doing the bidding.

#3 - Make sure your contending bidder at least acts like they are giving it a second thought on whether to bid again.  Don't bid like a machine gun to $18,000 and then just stop like...well, like it was setup.

#4 – Make sure to go somewhere private to tell your shill bidders what they are supposed to be bidding on.  Don’t do it right behind one of the biggest loud mouths on the Internet. 

#5 – Don’t bid on your own darn cattle.  Seriously, it only takes a few minutes to setup shill bidders.  Go through the effort to do so prior to the sale.  If you didn't make it clear to them prior to the sale and you need to get it straight with them, make sure to remember #4.

#6 – Don’t use the guys working your cattle as shill bidders.  It looks really bad when a guy comes directly from working your cattle, sits down, runs your cattle up, and then goes directly back to your stalls.


March Cattle Site Visitor Report

  1. Cattle Today Sites 21.11%
  2. CattleNetwork.com 14.45%
  3. Beefmagazine.com 12.41% (5)
  4. Cattlerange.com 12.13%
  5. Cattle.com 11.06% (3)
  6. Showsteers.com 7.01% (7)
  7. Drovers.com 6.78% (6)
  8. Steerplanet.com 3.78%
  9. Cattlepages.com 3.53% (10)
  10. Cattlegrower.com 3.18% (9)


ACCBA Sale

 

This late October Shorthorn steer by Maximus out of an Elbee Leader cow will sell with 31 other steers as lot #32 in the Atascosa Club Calf Breeders' Association Sale this Saturday, March 20, at 1:30 p.m. at the Atascosa County Showbarn on Hwy 97 here in Pleasanton.

For more information, please feel free to call Kotzur Farms @ 210-884-6254 or visit www.hkfarms.com

[Sponsored Post]


1st in Class -> Champion -> Grand Champion

If it’s not obvious, I’ve never gone through the struggle of attempting to come up with enough to put an ad together.  While I do sympathize with those that do, there's one pet peeve that doesn't trick anybody.  It seemingly comes up over and over at this time of year when people attempt to needlessly exaggerate accomplishments that are already good enough to stand on their own.

With few exceptions (breed shows, divisions, etc.)…

A class winner is a class winner or first in class.  Winning the medium weight class does not make a calf the champion middle weight.

In multi-breed steer shows a breed champion is a breed champion.  Winning the breed does not make a calf the grand champion of its breed.  Unless the calf was slapped at the end of the show while in the ring with cattle of other breeds, it was not a grand or supreme anything.


Skinner Cattle Company Private Treaty Bid Off

Skinner Cattle Company (home of Captain Morgan and Smilin Bob) is holding their private treaty bid off now through March 28th.  You’ll be able to bid online through Fatsteer.com later this week.  The cattle are located just outside of Bryan, Tx.

View All Videos Here

My personal favorites…


Tag #3

This time of year everything that’s red with four legs is a “possible Red Angus”.  This is a quality calf that is actually built like a Red Angus.  Add a tick of bone to him and this is what that Red Angus I sold that went Reserve Champion in San Antonio looked like at this time last year.


Tag #13

If you are a fan of neck extension and chrome, it’s going to be hard to find one that fits better than this.


Tag #27

Better than his picture, this little guy was a complete calf that knew how to setup.

For more information call..

Sam – 979-575-5357
Rusty – 979-595-4420
Beau – 979-574-1857

…or visit Skinnercattle.com.

[Sponsored Post]


Fort Worth Angus Champion

How mad do you think the Fort Woth Angus snobs are to see it openly advertised that the champion Angus was a Heat Wave?


Houston Steer Show

I took a trip to Houston yesterday to watch the majority of the American breed steers and one calf we bred.  Yeah, I’m a sentimental little dope.  As I watched that steer go to the floor truck (he was 13th out of 45 but they only sold 11) I had some disturbingly gay montage going in my head starting from the moment I vividly remember slapping his mother on the hip and telling her to have a steer when I AI’d her.

Randy Daniel Judges Market Steers Like You Eat Them

Crazy right?

I would like to send a big thank you to Mr. Daniel for actually emphasizing mass and finish in his reasons.  Yes, cattle had to be structurally correct and move to do well but he acted like he realized the junior heifer show is next week.

He also didn't go overboard on mass.  If he thought a steer was pushing 1,400 it was going to be tough to make the sale (see the first paragraph).

Randy Daniel Went Black

Yeah, about that whole slick shear color bias, it doesn’t really apply to Randy Daniel.

That picture was from the medium weight ABC class.  It’s all of the steers he pulled out of the lineup to make the cut up to that point.  If you saw the steers still along the rail about half of them would be colored and painted steers.  If I recall correctly that blatant Charolais cream colored ABC in the bottom right ended up 4th. 

Not only did he not shy away from using black steers, he used them heavily.  I missed the AOB classes (where he did use colored cattle heavily) but in general during the ABCs, there were more black steers being used than I've seen since the hair came off in the late 90s.

Comparing Houston to San Antonio

Let’s imagine a sceneario where you and I both breed and show two steers.

You flush 602 to Heat Wave multiple times and select the best calf from all of the flushes.  You put the steer on the best feed available and in a cool room every day.  You have the best fitters around groom the calf on show day.  Your steer sets up perfectly in the ring at every stop.

I go to a South Texas sale barn and find the best tiger striped steer I can find.  I put the calf on above average pasture, perhaps Tifton 85, with no additional feed, mineral, or supplements.  I wash the steer only once, the day of the show.  He gets away from me in the ring while we’re showing.

You are the Houston stock show, I am San Antonio.

-3

Skinner Cattle Company

Skinner Cattle Company, the owners of Smilin Bob and Captain Morgan, will hold their bid off sale through March 28th at 6PM.  We'll be uploading videos taken on Sunday of a few calves they're bidding off over the next few days.

The first is a deep bodied steer from one of the best nicks going right now, Ali x Heat Wave...

Skinner Cattle Company is a client of Cattle.com


Tuesday

Here’s some advice, if you want to kill a blog off, just stop updating it.

Between majors, steer sales, playing with CattleMax, and oh yeah, paying work it’s no surprise I’ve abandoned the blog over the past two weeks.  To make it worse, I’m heading back on the road to watch a few of the Houston classes later this week.

Skinner Cattle

We’ll be posting videos of some of the steers selling in the upcoming Skinner Cattle Company steer sale late tonight/early tomorrow.  As a Red Angus breeder (I can’t even type that without snickering), my favorite of the group we videoed was a stylish little Red Angus calf that in my opinion would class all day long.

Rachel Williams Engaged

I gave her plenty of time to announce it on her blog but Rachel Williams and Brandon Cutrer are now engaged.  From the few times I’ve been around him, Brandon is the prototype nice guy cattleman.  He was also an uncredited assistant for the Denver interviews this year.

With both of the Williams girls now married or engaged, there’s likely just over a decade before it will be a complete waste of time to try and compete for banners in the Brahman or Shorthorn heifer divisions in Texas.


San Antonio and Black Steers

While I’m in no way as hard on the man as most, I wasn’t a huge fan of McClintock in San Antonio.  The types of steers that were winning changed just a bit too much over the three days for my taste.

That being said, he did give solid black steers a much more fair shake than recent majors.  I didn’t see the entire show but based solely on Showchampions.com, 5 out of 15 of his champion and reserve champions in multi-colored breeds were black.  That’s nearly twice as many as have been used in Houston for the past two years.

The ‘official Cattle.com major show color count’ is now at 8 out of 51 champion and reserve champions in breeds that allow variance in colors were solid black.


Past Posts