Blog Archive June 2009
Jeff I'll give $100 to anybody who can tell me why our Google Custom Search box is displaying where it is on IE8. It appears just fine and properly formatted with IE7 and FF.
From Curlstylist.com by way of Drovers...
Full Story
Move over, argan oil and shea butter. Stylists are all abuzz about the latest miracle hair treatment: bull semen.
I guess the stylists got tired of steer jocks pretending to be hair stylists and decided to turn the tables?
Evidently, it was only a matter of a time once Mr. Courtney passed away but Triple C Farms will hold a dispersal sale October 3, 2009. More details here.
Their regular production sales were a sight to see for anybody who liked Simmental cattle. It's hard to imagine the quality at a sale including all of their high powered donors.
September 2008…
Dad - “Hey, your new Brahman bull got out with the clubby herd”
Me – “Eh, no biggie, there shouldn’t be too many opens in that group any way right?”
Dad – “No, at least I don’t think so.”
Me – “I really need to get some work done here in the office since I’m going to be down there quite a bit over the next month. I don’t know that I can make it down there for a few days, any chance you can get him back in alone?”
Dad – “Sure, I’ll see what I can do.”
June 2009…
...and...
...and...
Full Report Here
A rather wide range of cattle sold in the Dikoff sale on DVAuction with offspring from ranging from classic Angus bulls to even a Heat Wave heifer.
This brings the total amount of lots analyzed in our sire price report to just over 12,000 in the past three-years.
There weren’t any major changes to the actual ranking even though we did make a switch to a more open and verifiable algorithm.
- CattleNetwork.com 28.22%
- Cattle Today Sites 21.66%
- Cattlerange.com 10.60%
- Beefmagazine.com 9.76%
- Cattle.com 9.26%
- Showsteers.com 6.48%
- Cattlegrower.com 3.83%
- Cattlepages.com 2.77%
- Steerplanet.com 2.02%
- Cattleconnections.com 1.74%
I’m changing the algorithm to something completely open, public, and verifiable. The new algo consists entirely of the following sources;
40% - Compete
40% - Quantcast
20% - Google Ad Planner
We’re leaving Google Ad Planner lower because it doesn’t pick up as much traffic as the other sources. Also, to prevent rigging, sites with an anomalous spike in traffic are typically dropped or left out for a month.
Is it accurate?
Is it perfect? Heck no.
Nothing, (I repeat, nothing) is even close to 100% accurate in terms of third party tools for tracking third party website traffic. However, there’s a reason sites have tended to stay within certain groups in the traffic report.
Part of the reason we only list percentages is we don't want to mislead people into thinking that the numbers are accurate visitor stats.
If it’s not 100% accurate why do it?
It’s interesting data and if you know what you are looking at, stuff can be learned from it. Also, some sites still have no shame in claiming to be “the most visited site in the club calf industry” when there is no way they can know that and in fact, every indication is they are just plain old wrong.
Why don’t you use Alexa?
We don’t use Alexa because it’s just flat out terrible. Those three sources of information listed above all track very similarly. Alexa is like throwing a dart at a map.’
Why is Site A with a ton of users more active than Site B?
The data is based on visitors, and visitors alone. An example I commonly give is this site and Showcattle.com, which we also own.
On the surface, Showcattle.com gets a lot more traffic and is a much more active site. However, that’s because the people that visit it do so over and over throughout the day and leave tons of evidence they were there in activity in forums and other stuff. In reality, Cattle.com gets more visitors that spend less time on the site.
The stratification of users also plays a role in that. There is a very distinct difference between commercial and show people on the web. The sites that show oriented people visit most often are largely unknown/unvisited to commercial guys and vise versa.
The real question is why doesn't the American Angus Association have a dollar index for this yet?
The professor of agricultural, food and nutritional science completed primary tests using traditional techniques to breed efficient animals that produce 25 percent less methane than less efficient animals. But more work needs to be done before the long-term impact is known. Moore's study was published earlier this year in the Journal of Animal Science.
(MYFOX NATIONAL) -
Bigger isn't always better -- at least when it comes to cows.
And downsizing is a growing trend in the cattle industry...
We've added half a dozen videos sent to us by Trausch Farms to the site...
 Baton Rouge |
 Breathe Easy |
 Chasin Tail |
 Chore Boy |
 Cyrus |
 Naughty Pine |
For more information on semen contact any major semen supplier or call the ranch at 641-745-0323.
I'm a Microsoft guy through and through. I don't know if it's the smugness of Mac users, the fact that I cut my teeth in a MS based office, reluctance to change, or what it is but I just tend to stick with Microsoft when possible.
That being said, the fact that I'm now posting this from Firefox is a good indicator of how annoyed I am with Internet Explorer 8.
After the data from the Cream of the Crop sale was put into the database, there's a new top bull on our sire price report, MT-HLS Lead On 197/0.
He's the sire of the 06 Houston Grand Champion steer. However, his ranking in the sire price report is based purely on his performance in Kris Black's program where he's had top selling offspring in the past two sales. His 14 offspring have sold for 89% more than their contemporaries in both of the sales.
Another bull that's moved into the ranking off of the CoTC is Yellow Jacket who had several 10k+ type offspring in the sale on Saturday and has averaged a premium of 60% in the 41 lots we have on record.
For the time period May 17 to June 15th...
- Ranchers.net 36.1%
- Cattle-Today 32.0%
- Steerplanet 20.2%
- Advantage Cattle Services 6.1%
- 5BarX 2.2%
- Clubcalves 2.2%
- Breedersworld 0.6%
- Showsteers 0.4%
- EDJE 0.1%
Overall posts per day were down 14.8% from the previous time period.
Breedersworld activity is now down 87% since the change to a username system. Just to be a jerk, I ran numbers on posts per advertisement for the forums that sell advertising space (HIGHER is better)...
- Ranchers.net - 4884
- Cattle-Today - 2889
- Steerplanet - 607
- Breedersword - 56
iPower.com had a network outage today that dropped service for all sites hosted by them, including Collinscattlservices.com and Fatsteer.com. It happens to the best of them (our 30-million page view/month sites were down for a 7 out of 9 days one time before switching to Rackspace) but could you imagine the mess if that had happened last week?
Unfortunately for the folks at Fatsteer.com, it pretty much wasted the e-mail blast they sent out today for Homestead Gentics.
Things I learned over the weekend...
Yes, slow steer sales may have been common this Spring but it certainly didn't impact the Cream of the Crop. I couldn't help but try to ignore the irony of the 20+ steers that were still sitting in Kris's sale pen a week or two before Texas validation while the factories were still selling like hot cakes on the other side of the hill.
I'm going to use Torque on the extremely soggy Angus cows that I planned on using other bulls with. His daughters in the sale weren't the most feminine things in the world but screamed "cross with an Angus" to me.
It's embarassing to borrow a check from your grandmother because you forgot to bring one.
This is the first time I've actually attended Black's sale although we've bought cattle from it in the past. Take a four-wheeler or Gator.
Forgetting to check the alignment on your truck can get you stuck in Wichita Falls for an extra day.
I'm a big fan of listing anything you have for sale on Craigslist. However, if you do, just be prepared for these e-mails...
Sincerely
Hello there, i saw your ad in sanantonio for heat wave and am just wondering if its still avaliable? Can you ship overseas? I'm only in United States visiting and will pay you with cashier check but need to have it shipped overseas.
Until now, there were only two things me and my wife knew of that would keep Luke in a trance (still and quiet for you non-parents); Marlee Matlin on Baby Einstein and his Kumbaya CD.
Well, in one of the those moments all fathers hope for, we’ve found another…
…watching the “tows” on Superiorlivestock.
In just another 30 short years and he’ll be sitting at the auction barn shooting the bull complaining about his dad.
The head of a what can only be described as an icon herd within the Simmental breed, Peter Courtney, has passed away.
More from Steve Sellers at EDJE...
http://edjeblogs.com/blogdisplay.php?author=2&ind=368
Minneapolis St. Paul Star Tribune Obituary...
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/startribune/obituary.aspx?page=lifestory&pid=127929850
We're launching our newest simulation, Buckingbullbreeder.com (really clever name huh?) today at Noon. We're busting tail to get it right which is why I've put finishing the cattle for sale section on this site off.
The best way I've found to describe these games to people who don't know what they are is a mix of Simfarm, fantasy football, and rough stock. You start off with four random bulls, buck them through various circuits, breed them, collect semen, do embryo transfer, etc. which competing with a couple hundred other people doing the same thing trying to do it better than you.
If you're looking for a way to waste more time online, don't hesitate to go check it out this afternoon...
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