Cattle.com

Blog Archive September 2015

Showing Cattle Helped Me Learn Lifelong Lessons

I took so many lifelong lessons with me the day I showed at my last cattle show my Senior Year. I can remember thinking “This is it, I’ve gotta give it all I’ve got.” When I first started showing cattle I never thought I would learn much other than how to take care of a show steer. I would soon find out that I learned more in that show ring, leading around a one ton animal, than I would have anywhere else. 

After you leave high school and get thrown into the “real world,” you have to learn how to present yourself to get a job. You present yourself just like you did in the show ring. Nice jeans, no holes, preferably starched.  Clean boots, ironed shirt, and ready to go in and win it. You presented yourself in that show ring as someone respectable, and for my fellow peers that weren’t involved in showing, they struggled with that after high school. 

I knew how to balance a checkbook at 13 years old. I was that 13 year old that had a bank account set up for my show animal costs. To say that showing prepared me how to be an adult would be an understatement. Showing cattle taught me so much and I could go on and on about how it taught me the best money management and time management skills. 

I learned that shaking hands is key to success. When you when or lose a cattle show you always go up and shake the judges hand. It shows respect and showmanship. All are things you want a potential employer to see in you one day. A hand shake can help someone remember who you are, as well as set you apart from the crowd. A handshake is the key to success. 

I learned what hard work really was. I learned that opportunities don’t fall out of the sky, and if I wanted something that I had to work for what I wanted in life. I had to work hard to make money to take care of my cattle. I had to work hard to halter break my cattle. I had to work hard to prepare for the show and work hard to win that show. “Hard work beats talent, what talent stops working.”

I learned how to take care of an animal and what all went in to raising that show cow. It wasn’t an easy process and I had a greater understanding on what cattle producers go through on a daily basis. I found an even greater respect for them. These hard working individuals don’t get vacations, and get to spend their days guessing when that cow is going to have that calf and where she hid it once she has it. They sit around trying to find just the right feed rations to get those steers market ready. They are always on call and anything could go wrong. 

I learned so much from showing cattle. I think every kid should show cattle at least once, that way they could learn what hard work and dedication are really like. I know that I will never forget the lessons I learned in a show ring, and I’m grateful for how far showing cattle got me in the real world. 

18

Snooping on Contending Bidders in Online Sales

First things first, if you don’t like getting run up, don’t bid on cattle.  I’m not referring to online sales or live sales.  I’m referring to cattle sales.  There are people that won't run you (I never did on ours) but in general it's naive to think you aren’t going to be run if you are bidding in a cattle sale.  Bid what you are willing to pay and let the chips fall where they will.

However, if you ARE concerned with getting run in an online sale, how can you tell if you’re bidding against an actual person interested in the animal or getting run up?

There’s obviously no sure fire way to do it but there are things you can do to get a lot clearer picture of what is going on.

It starts with the fact that you can view the buyer numbers for individual bids across all of the online bidding sites.  You won't know who the person is but you can see what they’ve bid on and how much they've bid.

For example, if somebody is willing to bid $50k+ for an animal, personally, I don’t believe for a second that they’re going to get out bid on a $3,500 heifer in the same sale.  If a buyer is repeatedly the contending bidder on cattle and doesn’t actually buy one, that’s a strong indication to me that they’re not a legitimate bidder.

Another thing you can do is a site search on Google for the buyer number.

Let’s say somebody is “12345” and you want some indications as to whether you’re bidding against a person, the seller trying to get more money, or somebody trying to make an animal look like it sold for a lot more money than it actually did in order to promote it, the sire, or the operation.

Search for the term “site:[salecompanyurl]” along with that buyer number.  Google will typically pull up the sales that buyer number has bid in on that system, whether that be BWOS, CW, SC, SB, etc.

Does somebody have a tendency to bid on cattle that have absolutely nothing to do with each other?

Is it somebody buying cattle in Illinois who was also using the buyer number for good but not "haul across the nation good" barrows in California?

Is it somebody that repeatedly comes in second high bid but doesn’t win any of the sales?

All of those are strong indicators to me that you might not be bidding against a legitimate buyer.

8

Top Web Sale Lots Week of 9/21/2015

Top individual sale lots of the past week...

  1. $55,000 - Steer sired by Monopoly
  2. $54,000 - Steer sired by Monopoly
  3. $48,500 - Heifer sired by CRR 719 Catapult 109
  4. $44,500 - Heifer sired by DKF RO CASH FLOW 0245 ET
  5. $43,500 - Heifer sired by CRR About Time 743
  6. $40,000 - Heifer sired by DKF RO CASH FLOW 0245 ET
  7. $40,000 - Heifer sired by DKF RO CASH FLOW 0245 ET
  8. $40,000 - Heifer sired by NJW 98S R117 Ribeye 88X ET
  9. $40,000 - Heifer sired by NJW 98S R117 Ribeye 88X ET
  10. $32,000 - Heifer sired by CRR About Time 743


Ag Company Wins TechCrunch Disrupt

An ag company won the insanely competitive TechCruch Disrupt startup contest...




Not sure why it's messing with the formatting of this post.

4

Fitters

Cattle fitters usually don’t get enough recognition for all of the hard work that put in. They spend days getting unmentionables scattered on them, and trying to get all of that paint off their hands, and hair out of their face. These fitters get to travel the world, if they are good enough, and experience the show world in a different way. They deal with a lot and it seems like they don’t get enough credit at times.  Here are some reasons cattle fitters deserve a huge thank you, for all that they do.

  1. They have to get dirty. If you see a guy walking around in clean clothes holding some clippers, chances are he isn’t doing a very good job, or is trying to pretend to be doing something. Cattle fitters aren’t afraid to get dirty to achieve the end goal of that show quality calf.

  2. Cattle fitters have to cover every angle of cattle. The judge is going to look at the top, but those legs are just important. Strong legs make a sturdy top, just like a kitchen table. Fitters spend a lot of time on the ground to get that leg hair perfect. That is not an easy task, and hard on the body. They are always face to leg with cattle and sometimes they get beat up on by cattle.

  3. Fitting takes patience. It’s not something that you can just wake up one day and do. Cattle fitters work tons of shows to be able to get their clipping ability down.  There isn’t a better way to learn how to fit, than to just get out there and practice.

  4. They know a ton of tricks. Cattle fitters could put any Hollywood makeup artist or celebrity hairstylist to shame. They can take a decent heifer, and turn her into the “it” factor within a few hours. They know what the judge is looking for and know how to make the judge look at your cattle.

  5. Cattle fitters inspire a lot of kids to pick up a set of clippers. We all watch the greats constantly awing over their every movement with a set of blades. I know for a fact that watching some of those guys, makes us all wish we had half of the talent they posses.

  6. Cattle fitters are a cattle breeder’s right hand man. Some cattle fitters are the actual breeder, but sometimes the cattle breeder hires cattle fitters. These guys get to hang out with some of the biggest cattle breeders, which to us are like celebrities.

  7. Cattle fitters are celebrities too! We see these guys all the times in magazines standing in front of that prestigious blue display. So when we get to see them in work in person it is such an honor.

  8. These hard working men and women stand on the side lines and guide you in the show ring. After the clippers go off, the cattle fitters are sometimes just beginning. They stand on the side of the ring helping you. Some cattle fitters even come help you work with your animal before a show to ensure a better show day.

  9. Cattle fitters are better than magicians; they always have a trick up their sleeve. They now the best tricks and ways to enhance your cattle. Photoshop can make cattle look good online, but cattle fitters make your cattle look good in the show ring.

  10. Above all, cattle fitters help lead kids to the blue ribbon. They are the Disney of the show cattle world, they make kids dreams and goals come true. They are the people that help all of the hard work that those kids have put in, by adding that last competitive edge that is needed in the stock show industry. 

13

Willoughby Temporarily Switches back to Maxanet

Any time you launch anything new that is tech related you are going to have problems, and that happened to Willoughy Sales with their new auction system.

Even when it works properly right out of the box (which is extremely rare) your user base is accustomed to the old format and you'll get complaints that the old version was better, regardless of how much better the new one is.  Look at any and all changes to Facebook over the years.

It's unfortunate that it happens at just about the absolute peak of the cattle + pig sale season but at least they have a stable version to fall back to until the issues are figured out.

Here's the message they've posted on all of the sales today...


To Our Customers;

At Willoughby Sales, Caldwell Willoughby Sales and the Pig Planet Auctions, we strive to provide world class service with a system that delivers the best user experience possible. As such, as we stated during the launch of the new auction platforn, we make any and all changes with YOU the customer in mind. Last evening we experienced software/server issues. One could take the positive outlook that this is indeed due to the popularity of the site, which has brought an even higher volume of traffic to the program.

For this we continue to be grateful! However, for these same reasons we will temporarily be returning to our old platform to insure user realiability. We are truly sorry for any inconvenience this may cause you. 

Rest assured that your old buyers numbers and passwords are still active. Let us know if you need any assistance in this regard. For our new customers we do apologize but you will need to register for a number on the system. We would be happy to set this up for you. Please call Carol at 765-491-7899, Becky at 317-809-1282 or the general office line at 317-966-4332.

We launched the system initially to bring you live time bidding, text support, user anoymimity and more. To do this meant working from the ground up. The features have been a hit! And we intend to address the background support to have these up and running once again. In just two short weeks we have received much wonderful, useful and constructive feedback from our customers which will only prove to make our program better. Once again thank you! 

While we are improving the live-time platform to increase its capacity to host the magnitude of activity we will, for the meantime, be returning to the tried and true. We know what you expect from us, and we will work non-stop to live up to this incrediably high standard of delivery and service.

With much appreaciation, Dan and Carol Willoughby and the entire team at Willoughby Sales

1

Updated Cattle Sale Monitor

I've updated the cattle sale monitor to a new format you can leave open in a browser with it refreshing every few seconds all day long...



You can find it at http://www.cattle.com/sales

It takes about ten seconds to show initially right now.

4

Top Web Sale Lots Week of 9/14/2015

Top individual sale lots of the past week...

  1. $35,000 - Steer sired by Monopoly
  2. $28,500 - Steer sired by Monopoly
  3. $27,000 - Heifer sired by I-80
  4. $23,000 - Bull sired by Unstoppable
  5. $21,500 - Steer sired by Walks Alone
  6. $20,500 - Steer sired by Heat Wave
  7. $20,250 - Heifer sired by TR Mr Fire Water
  8. $19,500 - Heifer sired by Man Among Boys
  9. $18,500 - Heifer sired by Northern Improvement
  10. $17,500 - Heifer sired by Monopoly

1

Most Popular Sires in Fall Steer Sales

There have been 956 steers sold in online sales so far this Fall.


So.....are they ALL sired by Man Among Boys?
  1. Man Among Boys - 236
  2. Monopoly - 132
  3. Believe in Me - 57
  4. I-80 - 51
  5. Unstoppable - 31
  6. Fu Man Chu - 28
  7. Dakota Gold - 28
  8. Jesse James - 24
  9. Walk This Way - 23
  10. Heat Wave - 22
View the daily updated report here...

5

WeightBreaks.com Updated with 2015 Info

The little site I put together with weight break info for the Texas majors has been updated with information from the 2015 show season...


3

How to Explain Livestock Showing to Football Fans

Starting today, Breanna Viles will be contributing articles (just about) every Wednesday.  You probably recognize her writing from her blog at Raised in a Barn.  I'm excited to have her on board...

Not very many people probably think that livestock show and football games are remotely the same. Its really tough to explain how livestock showing works to someone that has no idea about anything but football. Here are some great ideas on how to teach them a little about livestock showing.
  • The referee is the judge. The judge is the man standing in the middle of the ring taking in every little detail on those animals.

  • Livestock animals are like athletes. They both get tested for drugs.

  • Both of these hobbies/careers have announcers. The football announcers talk during the whole game, livestock announcers talk when the class is placed.

  • There are rivalries. The big breeders all try to outdo each other, and it makes for a great competition.

  • There are “kickers” and “runners” in the livestock show world to. Those two are not good things though. If someone says they have a kicker in the show ring, you should probably step back. 

  • Fans are a must for both livestock showing and football. 

  • The “biggest fans” are normally family and friends. 

  • Football games are played on a field. Livestock shows happen in a ring. 

  • Livestock showing has cheerleaders. Football cheerleaders might be trained to shout and do jumps, but they haven’t seen my mom when I win. 

  • Both have uniforms. Livestock exhibitors have to wear a 4H and FFA jacket. They have where they are from and their names on them, just like a football uniform.

  • Halters instead of helmets for the show animals. 

  • You can win trophies in both events. 

  • Instead of rings you win buckles. 

  • You can get tackled in both. If you see one of those “runners” coming towards you better get out of the way!

  • Boots instead of cleats. You will want to wear those boots to protect those animals from stomping on your feet. 

  • Coaches are normally the agriculture teachers or breeders from where they got the animals from.

  • You shake hands with the people who won or lost after the show.

10

Taking the Crying Hole Too Casually

There have been a few judges that have taken that last spot between branding and not branding at Houston seriously the past few years.

Duello and that machine gun placing style most certainly did not.

Monetarily speaking, the biggest decision a judge at a show like Houston makes in each class is the decision between which steer is the last placing steer and which steer is in the crying hole.  Here’s why taking a moment to get that spot right is just as important as spending time picking your class winner.

Difference between…

1st and 2nd - $1,000

2nd and 3rd - $2,000

3rd and 4th - $250

4th and 5th - $250

5th and 6th - $250

6th and Rest of Branding Places – Nothing

Last Branding Place and Crying Hole - $3,788

2

2015 vs 2014 Labor Day Steer Sales

My annual unannounced vacation is over.


Percentile prices for the steers sold the week before and after Labor Day in 2013, 2014, and 2015...


Percentile 201320142015Change
95th927593258025-14%
90th752571506750-6%
80th57504250500018%
70th43253730425014%
60th3750325035008%
50th3250275030009%
40th27502380275016%
30th20702055250022%
20th18001900210011%
10th15901600190019%

3

Top Web Sale Lots Week of 9/7/2015

Top individual sale lots of the past week...

  1. $90,500 - Heifer sired by Loaded Up
  2. $55,500 - Heifer sired by Irish Whiskey
  3. $35,000 - Heifer sired by Red Blood
  4. $32,250 - Bred Cow sired by +JDH Karu Manso 800
  5. $29,500 - Steer sired by Man Among Boys
  6. $27,000 - Heifer sired by MR HOC Broker
  7. $26,500 - Steer sired by Man Among Boys
  8. $24,250 - Bred Cow sired by +JDH Karu Manso 800
  9. $23,000 - Heifer sired by +JDH Mr Elmo Manso
  10. $20,250 - Bred Cow sired by +JDH Sir Avery Manso

1

Top Web Sale Lots Week of 8/31/2015

Top individual sale lots of the past week...

  1. $100,000 - Heifer sired by CF Trump X
  2. $80,000 - Heifer sired by DF Vegas 310M ET
  3. $62,000 - Heifer sired by R-C WG Damn Proud
  4. $60,000 - Heifer sired by FREE K-KIM HOT COMMODITY ET
  5. $55,000 - Heifer sired by FREE K-KIM HOT COMMODITY ET
  6. $55,000 - Heifer sired by HD BLOODSTONE 603 ET
  7. $50,000 - Heifer sired by SULL RED REWARD 9321
  8. $40,000 - Heifer sired by CF SOLUTION X ET
  9. $37,000 - Heifer sired by CF SOLUTION X ET
  10. $30,000 - Heifer sired by HD BLOODSTONE 603 ET

1

Past Posts