Cattle.com

Blog Archive December 2008

My New Breeding Supplies

You can never have enough gadgets.  When I was setting up my office I thought it would be a dream to have a dual monitor system.  Then I realized three would be better than two.  Then I realized that a flat screen on the wall behind the monitors would make the time go by faster.  Then I realized that having a DVR instead of just DirecTV would free me from having to watch whatever is on...you get the point.

Apparently, the same applies to stuff laying around while breeding cattle...

Crest Pro Health - No matter how hard I try or plan, about one in ten cows seems to be able to whack me across the face with their tail.  While I like the smell of an auction barn as much as the next hick, the taste of a crap taco at 6AM isn't something I look foward to. 

AC to DC Converter - Now that we've got dependable electricity at the barn, I just leave the cito thaw in the barn and make sure it's plugged in before we plan on breeding.  It prevents me from having to drive the truck all the way in to the squeeze chute to keep the water at the right temperature.  They're extremely cheap...

Universal AC to DC Car Cigarette Lighter Socket Adapter (US Plug)

Microscope - I sometimes buy semen in auctions when the opportunity arises.  You can get some fairly good bulls cheaply to fill out a tank if you pay attention but you have no clue what kind of quality you are getting.  I looked around long enough until I could find an old school microscope for $80.  We now use it to test one straw of any bull that we buy at auction to make sure the semen is legit.  If a bull is somewhat expensive, I test the tiny bit of semen left in the straw after breeding. 

DO NOT buy a cheap microscope from Toys-R-Us or one designed for kids.  While they claim to be able to get up to 1200x magnification, they're virtually worthless in terms of quality.


Recent Sire Updates

Cattle.com Visitor Reviews

  • Pale Face
    "Over the last 3 years i have been more and more confused by this bull. We bred to him 3 years ago and got 10 calves on the ground all of those calves were plainer made and not worth keeping. This fall i saw 2 outstanding calves sired by him one was a heifer calf out of a herf x angus cow. The other was a steer who was the high seller at calf quest in columbia, missouri thought this was a really good claf but maybe alittle piecy, but was still a REALLY good calf. This calf was out of a heat wave cow. I think you need to breed him to your more powerful cows and hope for the best."
  • Bushs Grand Design
    "GD WORKS EXTREMELY WELL FOR US. CROSSING OR FOR PUREBREDS. THE FEMALES ARE BUILT FOR ANYWHERE IN THE COUNTRY. THEY GROW FAST AND MILK PHENOMONAL. "
  • Radio Active
    "bred to a shallow, big, typey short hef.. had small calf, not very good... didn't work"
  • Sun Seeker
    "produces great calves from what i have seen and i am currently showing one of his calves"
  • Heat Wave
    "i had a calf out of him and we won everything.. also he had the best personality!"
  • Chill Factor
    "Chill Factor has been around awhile, but still making a difference, has been easy calving, easy feeding, and if you get a heifer you better be selling it for big money or putting her back in the cow herd. The Maine Anjou version of Meyer 734, only better."


EDJECast and Subscriptions

 

"We do not currently charge a fee to view our sales nor will we ever"

That's what Mr. Stephen Linnebur just told me regarding charging a fee to watch sales.  EDJECast has never charged a buyers fee or subscription and has no plans to do so.  Quite frankly, they've got this right and I'd consider this a golden opportunity for the relatively new service to take hold.

Mr. Linnebur feels that with the economy as rough as it is, this is not the time to start charging people to watch sales online.  He also brought up a great point in that "no sale manager has ever charged for a buyer number."  When asked about security concerns, he said that they've never had an issue with their system.

For those interested in broadcasting their sale, EDJECast charges $1,750 to broadcast.  Their risk-free flat fee also guarantees that you will sell at least $1,750 through their system.  That's the kind of guarantee even a cheapskate such as myself would seriously consider.

Hey, if you read this blog, you know I've been tough on EDJE in the past.  However, when someone is doing something right it's worth giving them credit for it and this is definitely something they are doing right.  The difference in the EDJE attitude regarding the service they are providing relative to recent news regarding online auctions is something that impressed me.  This indicates to me their focus is where it should be: on the buyers and sellers without forgetting the potential future buyers.

If you are interested in contacting EDJECast about broadcasting your sale, you can reach them at...

Stephen Linnebur - 303-549-6557 or Steve Sellers - 866-957-6145

Edit: In response to a question I got, EDJE didn't pay me for this or contact me, I contacted them.  I also don't post on other forums under any identity other than myself.


Planning for Denver

With just over three weeks to go, we're making our plans for the Denver videos right now.  

Last year a combination of a very pregnant wife going into the hospital numerous times and our other sites held us back from getting them done as quickly as possible.  It ended up causing significant frustration not only on my part but the bull owners who wanted their videos up sooner.  Again, this is all out of pocket and we don't charge the bull owners a dime but I have set a goal to get ALL of the videos out no later than the Friday after the weekend in the yards. 

We're heading out to Denver on Thursday this year to hopefully do the Angus bulls a bit better job.  If you are taking a bull to Denver and will be available for video on Thursday, contact me at jeff@cattle.com or 210-380-7459.  We'll do everything we can to get your bull shot on Thursday and the video up by Sunday.

(I'm in the East Texas boonies right now so don't be surprised if I'm out of cell phone reception)

Also, if you're interested in sponsoring the Denver videos, contact us at the above e-mail.  Each of the videos from last year were viewed over 2,000 times when the previous and current formats are combined.


Liveauctions.tv Now Requires Subscriptions

[Check the comments for excellent replies from Brad Fahrmeier, owner of Liveauctions.tv]

I tried logging onto Liveauctions.tv today to watch the K- Ranch sale and was greeted to a welcome that I now need to pay $50/year to watch sales.

I'm the last person in the world that should begrudge somebody for charging a subscription fee for access to a site, over 95% of my income comes from subscriptions on our games.  For the record, I paid the fee with little hesitation. 

However, to put it as politely as possible, this is a strange move.  They claim that it is a requirement due to added bandwidth costs.  I know what hosting/bandwidth costs pretty darn well and have a hard time buying the idea that window shoppers cost Liveauctions $50/year in bandwidth.

After speaking with some people, the auction broadcasting thing isn't the cash cow you would expect but I didn't think it was so tight a margin that it's necessary to charge people to view the sale the ranch owner is being charged to broadcast to them. 

This move also brings to mind a recent article I read in the Harvard Business Review, "What Is a  Free Customer Worth?".  It was a detailed description of how to determine the value of buyers that don't pay a fee on an online auction site.  They came to the conclusion that free customers, in that case bidders, are extremely valuable (over $1,000 in that case) and explained how the company in the case study invested more and more in bringing buyers to their site.

It's hard to escape the irony...


PBR Out of the Chute

Yes, a video game review.  It's Christmas and I'm sure somebody out there is looking for a last minute gift.  Not that I'd recommend getting a Playstation for your kids but if you do have one, there's pretty much only one game out there with a somewhat agricultural tone...PBR Out of the Chute.  So if you don't have a Playstation 2 or you aren't looking for a gift for a kid, don't waste your time reading any more of this.

Last night while doing market research for our new bucking bull breeder simulation, I picked up PBR Out of the Chute.  There was a bucking bull game that came out in 1998 for the PC that was quite immersive and interesting.  I remember that it kept my attention for an entire night once in college.  This game is not that.

I'm sorry, I promise that I'm trying to go in a more positive tone for this blog.  I really did have high hopes that this game would help me do that.

Wow, this game is bad.  I don't know if I'm getting too old for video games (I'm 29 for another month, the supposed average age for gamers) but this game was terrible.  The graphics are mediocre at best and ten-minutes into it you've heard all of the audio they recorded for the game.  You can complete everything there is to do in the game within 30-minutes.

The twelve arenas are nothing more than the same thing with a stereotypical inflatable at each corner to let you know where you are.  They have inflatable peaches for Atlanta, waves for Anaheim, and yes, an inflatable bull for Dallas.  I can only imagine the creative session where they came up with that great idea.  It must have been after a rough night.

They claim to have included 12 real riders and bulls and on the surface they did.  The game includes the big names like Shivers, White, etc. and the big name bulls like Reindeer but once you get into the game play it might as well be any indistinguishable blog riding another indistinguishable blog.

Game play was extremely easy.  In fact, if you put the game on easy, you can actually ride a bull without doing a single thing.  That's something that might be interesting for a young child that wants to play on his big brothers computer game.

If you're looking for a $20 gift that will light up the eyes of a child who lives on a ranch and loves watching the PBR, this game just might work...for an hour.  But you know what, that might be exactly the type of game a kid needs to keep them outside playing where they belong instead of in front of a TV screen.


Why?

We recently added a top ten rated cattle to the "Rate My Calf" section of the site.  Last night there were two heifers submitted that got the following comments very quickly...

The first heifer

  • if she will stay as sound and functional as she looks then she should make a good steer mama
  • dark shadows but looks to be a great heifer accompanied by an exceptional fit job
  • a bit short necked but really nice heifer.
  • look to have a beautiful hair coat.  not the typical kadabra kink
  • strong top in this calf
  • maybe a tick straight but has that killer kadabra look.

Another heifer submitted by the same person...

  • stouten her up just a touch and she is as close to perfect as you'll make one.
  • excellent top and hip shape in this heifer.
  • now guys this one's a great one.  tremendous show calf as well as brood cow potential.  compliments to the feeder and groomer

I'm sure you can guess, all of the comments were submitted from the same IP that the cattle were submitted from.

Well, at least it's not some teenager cursing up a storm this time but we did have plenty of those types of comments from this same IP yesterday.  It's time to work on the ole' filter.


Bovigen Accepting CCS...errr..AM Samples

http://www.bovigen.com/calf_testing.php

They don't have the test approved yet but they're accepting samples.  Details at the link above.


Cattle Forum Actvity Index

For forum posts and topics since November 3rd...

  1. Cattle Today - 52.1%
  2. Steerplanet - 30.8%
  3. Advantage Cattle Services - 6.7% (4)
  4. Breedersworld - 5.2% (5)
  5. 5BarX - 4.4% (3)
  6. Clubcalves - .5%
  7. Showsteers - .3%

Total posts 634.7 per day vs 711.6 posts per day during previous period.

Previous period was 10-15-08 to 11-3-08


December Cattle Site Traffic Report

  1. CattleNetwork.com 28.52% (2)
  2. Cattle Today Sites 23.56% (1)
  3. Showsteers.com 8.65% (5)
  4. Beefmagazine.com 7.97% (6)
  5. Cattlerange.com 7.80% (4)
  6. Cattle.com 7.01% (3)
  7. Cattlepages.com 3.58% (nr)
  8. Cattleconnections.com 2.56%
  9. Clubcalves.com 2.39% (10)
  10. Steerplanet.com 2.26% (nr)

There’s nothing really significant to report other than the fact that EDJECattle.com is still sitting outside the top ten.  

We dropped Showcattle.com from the ranking because it’s more game than cattle site and it was personal bias that prevented me from realizing that earlier.  This entire thing came from simply making an internal stat public and obviously, we keep track of Showcattle.com.  It wouldn’t have been included at all if the ranking didn’t originate the way it did.

Cattle.com dropped significantly in the ranking and that was backed up by our actual traffic logs.  It was due to three things, in order of impact…

  1. Our Google referrals have dropped significantly in the long tail search terms.
  2. In addition to #1, the firestorm over curly calf syndrome is starting to die down.  The drop in referrals for the term “GAR Precision 1680” alone has had a large impact.
  3. The bull bracket over at Steerplanet has died down.  I highly advise looking into their new advertising options.


Kent Habeger

It appears Kent Habeger has died in a farm accident...

For those that don't know, he's one of those icons in the show cattle world that everyone looks up to.  Seeing an icon such as him pass on in the blink of an eye is a reminder of how lucky we are to have every day and how dangerous it is to do what you love on a farm. 

Funeral Information

Visitation will be Thursday, December 11th in Algona, IA

Funeral services will be held Friday, December 12th in Algona, IA at 10:30 AM.

The address for both visitation and the funeral services will be...

First Presbyterian Church
101 North Main Street
Algona, IA 50511

Please visit Oakcrest Funeral Services at http://www.funeralplan2.com/oakcrestfuneralservices/obits?id=151064 for more information.


Bull Plan

I haven’t added anything since last Wednesday because we’ve begun breeding season.  Our herd consists of about 70 Simmental/SimAngus/Angus/Maine/Composite females owned in a partnership between me and my father (I buy the bulls, medical, semen, he does the feed) and about 100 Simbrah influenced commercial females.

 

In trying to decide on a plan for our cattle, I came up with the following bulls to use and why…

 

Heat Wave One

 

On…large hipped cows that have proven themselves.

 

Because…I still have 30-40 straws in the tank and it’s too darn expensive to use on everything with a big pelvis this year.

 

I’m not one of those that believes there’s a difference between the original and the clones.  I also HIGHLY doubt that a good portion of the Heat Wave calves are out of the original and not one of the clones.

 

Warrant

 

On…the second tier cows with good pelvises.

 

Because…the local county extension agent is high on him and his opinion matters to the kind of people we sell to.

 

New Design 878

 

On…PB Simmental cows and a few PB Angus cows.

 

Because…I can always use some more SimAngus replacements.  I bought the semen somewhat cheap in an auction and tested a straw to see if it’s any good. 

 

BK Lifeline

 

On…Americans that I’m not using the bulls above.

 

Because…in addition to Charolais, he just plain old seems to work on American cows.

 

Dr. Who, Who Made Who, Mossy Oak, Ice Pick, DeJaVu, The Grizz, Manchild, others

 

On…Cows that aren’t being bred to the above listed bulls.

 

Because…I have remnants of canes of each of these bulls in two canisters.  When a cow comes through that I don’t have a planned mating for I play semen tank roulette and grab the first cane I can.

 

Mr JDH 990/4

 

On…females with cervix issues, the top 2-3 clubby females in the herd, and to clean up anything that doesn’t have Brahman influence or is PB Brahman.

 

Because…we bought this bull from Hudgins in April after dragging our feet last Spring.  With what we paid for him, we’re holding the top few composite females back to see if he can prove himself.  We’ve also got about half a dozen cows with either extremely large cervixes or cervixes with an extreme bend in them that I simply cannot AI with any confidence of not doing any damage.

 

Meyer 734 Son X Chritensen Donor Herd Bull

 

On…replacement heifers.

 

Because…our other heifer bull is the sire of 1/3 of our replacement heifers.  I bought this bull at the Sullivan sale in 07 with hopes of using him to get some replacements.  He’s more than impressed me with his first 5 calves in their structural correctness and plenty of beef but not the hard doing look. 

 

Witch Doctor Son Herd Bull (our old heifer bull)

 

On…replacement heifers.

 

Because…we’re going to pull the Meyer 734 son off of the replacements and move him to the commercial herd in mid-January.  We’ll take this bull’s daughters along with him so that he won’t be exposed to any of his offspring. 


Good Riddance

Today is a special day for me, it's the day I can being working cattle in peace again.  Five years ago, my father decided to buy two cows at the end of a sale I had bought some heifers at to fill out a trailer.  Unfortunately, one of those cows was what became known as "she" because me and my brother always knew what the other meant by "she's right there", "where is she?", and "look out she's coming".

Those kinds of cows have no place on most non-cowboy type ranches but she was profitable.  We could never quite convince him to sell that $600 bag of hamburger because she also put out four $500 bull calves in the few years we had her.  His excuse was that she never came after him in the open field.  Of course she didn't, she went after us because he stayed in the truck telling us what to do.  

"She" ran me into a tree, onto a tractor, into the bed of two trucks, and over more fences than I can count.  I've got a nice scar on my belly the time I didn't quite clear a barbed wire fence when she decided to come after me from 50-yds away.  When we retagged cows two years ago, fate somehow got her in the pen just in time to be tagged 13.

Despite all that, the bottom line is she was profitable, a person would have to be crazy to sell a cow like that.

I'm a bit disappointed I didn't get a picture of the old hag charging us one last time to post here.  Perhaps I could drive to the auction barn and get a picture of her putting the ring men behind the protective barrier.

Now the only truly mean cow we have left on the place is 57.  But she has the best American Heat Wave calf on the place..........a person would have to be crazy to sell a cow like that.


There's always one...

So while reviewing the comments left in the rate my calf section, I ran across a lot more negative comments than I had expected.  Well, surprise, surprise, it was all the same person.  Here's all of the comments they left...

  • Good luck
  • plain jane Looks like a nice calf a fitter picked up from a order buyer at a sale barn. Could of been sold for $400 and trying to turn a few bucks
  • Typical White shorthorn. Super groomed.
  • Maybe be he is why Texas passed the no fit rule
  • Great front and neck. Wondering about the top. To much pink needs some points
  • Good dude Would do beter as a commerical bull than a  show steer
  • Needs a good moma and grass. He has not had a good start Calf has way to much bone and no body
  • To much color and  to much bone just a good feeder calf. But the star and shoulder color burns him. These sell at Hol price
  • Fancy when will it stop growing bone
  • He toes out. He is going to be a big boy. Was he pulled

Like some other recent silliness on this site, people do feel more powerful when they're anonymous or posting under an assumed name.  I'm sure some 13 year old steer jock is feeling much better about his place in life now. 

Thank you everyone that has submitted calves to the system.  I've deleted the comments left by this little punk and hope it doesn't ruin the system in the eyes of others who want to post calves.  We're also adding a "other comments" link that will allow you to see other reviews left by the same IP address.


Past Posts