Blog Archive April 2012

Forum posting activity for the time period 2/9/2012 to 4/30/12…

1. Cattle-Today    41.8%
2. Steerplanet    26.1%
3. Ranchers.net    24.5%
4. Keeny's Corner    4.9%
5. 5BarX    1.0%
6. EDJE    1.0%
7. Clubcalves    0.6%
8. Breedersworld    0.1%
9. Final Drive 0.002%
   

The rise in EDJE’s share is due almost entirely the spam bots posting, something that's become a problem on many of the dynamic sites they manage.  I can't fault them too hard, it happens to everybody, including myself.  The difference is most people clean it up immediately instead of leaving links to Russian hacking sites on the 'profile' pages of kids for several months like they did on a recently redesigned site.

Overall posting activity is on par with a similar time period for last year.

It’s about time to tell momma to take the kids to town to watch a movie so you can have time to take a couple of these forums out to the back pasture and feed them a nice juicy steak before pressing the delete key.  I don’t know if I’d go so far as to go buy a fresh new baby forum to distract the kids when they get back though, there’s just not a need for most of them.

First four months of the year...

2011 - 3,718 posts

2012 - 7,111 posts

While having trouble submitting online add-on for the San Antonio stock show, at one time I put my last name in as "Test".

"Mr. Test" got his fourth thank you card this afternoon.

With 1,200 steers counted in 90 sales I’m going to say we’re close enough to an end point for the 2012 spring steer sale season to do a “what does a show steer cost” post. As far as I know, this is the only legitimate attempt anywhere to answer that question.

So, based on just under $14 million dollars of steers sold in just under 4,500 individual lots in both online and offline sales over the past two years…

Season	Fall 2010	Spring 2011	Fall 2011	Spring 2012
Steers Counted	650	690	1,946	1,201
Average Price	$3,039	$3,265	$3,022	$3,138
Percentiles
95th	$7,862	$8,362	$7,982	$8,500
90th	$5,750	$6,250	$5,570	$6,090
80th	$4,250	$4,250	$3,750	$4,000
70th	$3,000	$3,250	$3,000	$3,250
60th	$2,500	$2,700	$2,500	$2,750
50th	$2,000	$2,250	$2,000	$2,250
40th	$1,750	$1,800	$1,800	$1,900
30th	$1,500	$1,500	$1,500	$1,600
20th	$1,200	$1,250	$1,300	$1,350
10th	$1,000	$1,000	$1,100	$1,200

Prices

If you look at the median prices, they’re pretty much constant with ‘southern’ steers selling for $250/hd more. The prices above the median are all fluctuating within a range with no real outliers.

What goes against what everyone seems to think is the lower end steers. I’ve lost count of how many people have told me that the market for the higher end steers will remain strong or get stronger but the bottom will fall out on those sub-$2,000 steers. Those steers are holding strong and steadily moving up. The higher feeder calf prices are also reflected in that 10th percentile.

Sires

The only trend is that Heat Wave and Monopoly continue to sire a crap load of calves. Heat Wave has had anywhere between 7.1% and 13.8% of each crop and Monopoly has bounced between 7.7% and 10.6%.

The only other bull that came close to those two was Walks Alone which sired 6.9% of the 2011 fall steer sale crop.

According to Denny Rehberg...

https://twitter.com/#!/DennyRehberg/status/195630718691454977

Among the things in this world I just don't understand, the NFL draft is now pretty high up there.

Everything I've heard is that Ryan Tannehill is a great guy and a class act.

But what do I and a few other aggies remember him for?

• Oklahoma State – Threw interception that gave OSU ball at the A&M 34.  OSU gets FG and wins game by one.
• Missouri – Threw interception that gave Missouri ball at the A&M 30.  Missouri scores TD and later wins game in OT.
• Oklahoma – Throws interception that gives OU ball at the A&M 20.  Throws interception that gives OU ball at A&M 28, OU TD.  Throws interception that gives OU ball at the A&M 39, OU TD.  End up losing a game A&M out gained OU by 120+ yards by 16 points.
• Kansas State – Threw interception that gave K-State ball at the A&M 33.  K-State scores TD and later wins game in OT.
• Texas - Threw pick six – Lost by 2

When I listen to the experts gush over him it almost feels like I'm listening to somebody talk about a really good ABC prospect they found in Oklahoma.

I'm in no way, shape, or form a "domainer" but I can’t stop; I just keep buying domain names.  I get to the point that I think I have enough, then I buy freaking Showrabbit.com.  Then I get the idea to ‘corner the market’ on a certain type of domain and I now own Livestockjudging.com, Horsejudging.com, Dairyjudging.com, and Poultryjudging.com.

After considerable filtering and letting domains expire, I’m down to a mere 114 domains.  Some of them that make me question my sanity…

AlaskanMalamuteDog.com – Keyword registration.
AmericanCockerSpanielBreeders.com – The same.
Cattlemisters.com – I might actually keep this one unless somebody wants it for $100.
Cutenamesforgirldogs.com – I’m shaking my head pretty hard as I type this.
Dogbreedties.com – Now I’m covering my eyes while shaking my head.
Dogsafetycar.com – Now I’m added whispering curse words to the above.  I’ve paid to renew these domains for a few years now.

Livestockjuding.com & Livestockjuging.com – I used to have a lot more misspellings, a couple hundred for my big sites actually.  Why?  I’m paying $10 a year to make sure that somebody who forgets the first G in livestock judging is redirected to my site initially instead of having to go through the laborious task of realizing they had a typo.

Cattle.xxx – Protection registration but a waste of time and money.

Tifton85bermudagrass.com – Yet another keyword registration.  Not a bad domain actually.

JackSchroeder.com & TessaSchroeder.com – Do you know how I remember what day we finally decided on the names for the twins?  The registration date for these domains.

MMA-Sim.com – Because at one time I was going to launch an MMA sim, obviously.  

Firecoachturgeon.com – I registered it when he was hired by A&M not to do anything with it, just to make sure some other dip **** didn’t do something with it.  Somebody from A&M (I don’t think in an official capacity, just a marketing prof from what I could tell) actually contacted me about giving me tickets to a game or an autographed ball for it.  I said that wouldn’t be necessary, I had no bad intentions for the domain.  Joke was on me, Turgeon jumped ship a few months after that offer forcing A&M to hire a coach just three months after Billy agreed to a sentence to serve time in Lubbock.

Do those long term forecasts that said we wouldn't get any substantial rain in Texas until the May/June time period still stand despite the reasonably wet few months we've had?

Because it'd sure be nice to get a rain right now.

...because a dairy cow in California had BSE.

You dairy people just keep adding to the list don't you?

1. Veal
2. E6 Animal Abuse Incident
3. That smell that sticks to my boots when I video tape a dairy judging contest
4. Those Chick-Fil-A billboards
5. Case of BSE in California 

It’s not my job to defend Lautner, really.  They’re big boys that know how to stand up for themselves, and they have.  But can you imagine putting up with the crap they’ve had thrown at them on the forums over the past week?

False rumors that ABS reps are claiming one of their bulls has lepto.

Hissy fits over what was really nothing more than an in kind playful ad.

Now we’re supposed to be questioning the reproductive capabilities of Monopoly because one of the three most popular bulls on the market can’t keep up with demand.

A term adults use while buying, selling, and trading steers to describe kids that have eligibility to show.  The term is derived from the show stick that kids use to exhibit their animals.  

“Good stick” means a kid that knows how to show a steer.

Sticks are required for adults to continue showing steers.  A "stick" is not required to be the child of the person using the term.  Often it’s a niece, nephew, or child of an acquaintance.

Yeah, book reviews, that’s what you come here for.

This book came out on audio tape a few months ago and I’ve been listening to it on Audible.  It’s an ex-FBI agent talking extensively about tells we give people in our day to day conversations and how we can read the body language of others.  An example…

I watch Survivor perhaps 1 out of 4 seasons.  However, I wanted to see examples of what this book talks about in action and figured that would be a great place to find examples of it.

At one point in the show, a guy named Troyzan (how do you have a Troyzan AND Tarzan?) is trying to ‘flip’ members of another alliance over to his side.  If you have it DVR’d, go back and watch when he tries to flip people to his side…

First he goes to the short guy.  The guy clasps his hands together over his eyes, shielding them.  People have a tendency to cover their eyes when they are in a situation they don’t like.

Then he goes to the other bearded guy.  The first shot of that guy is sucking his lips in to where you can’t see them.  He’s then shown squinting at everything Troyzan says even though he’s in the shade and has no reason to squint.  Again, both of those are actions people take when they’re not comfortable with the conversation.

Lastly, he goes to the big bo Asian chick.  She’s blinking like she’s trying to send Morse code through a P.O.W. hostage tape.  Again, no secret, that’s a reaction to a situation somebody isn’t comfortable with.

At that point I say to my wife “they don’t go along with it do they?”  Sure enough, as soon as she got over once again blown away by my insight into people, she said they didn’t.  Then she realized the terrifying consequences of having a spouse that read your own body language and asked me how she could get the book on her phone too.

Average auction prices of semen for bulls with at least five different lots counted in the past 12-months...

Aftershock	$24.06	16
AJE/PB Montecito 63W	$310.00	5
Ali	$107.50	12
Asset	$217.83	60
Believe in Me	$47.60	40
BK Unlimited Power 472	$48.50	20
Black Bear	$145.00	7
Blaze of Glory	$255.00	9
Bojo	$88.23	47
Bud the Bull	$16.00	5
CEO	$105.00	5
Chunky Monkey	$59.29	7
Cunia	$235.00	6
DF Vegas	$82.00	10
DJ Salute	$426.19	7
Elbee Leader C087 Gizmo	$73.31	5
EXAR Lutton 1831	$218.50	5
Friction	$107.81	16
Full Flush	$32.00	6
GF Maximus	$88.00	15
GK Stud Monkey	$182.81	32
Golden Oak Outcross 18U	$216.17	30
Habanero	$72.00	5
Heat Seeker	$56.20	20
Heat Wave	$211.88	72
Heat Wave 1	$88.13	8
Hooter	$42.40	5
I am Just Rite	$34.08	39
I-80	$61.00	20
Irish Whiskey	$235.48	63
JF Milestone 999W	$101.00	5
JSAR Titan	$16.00	5
Lutricks Black Magic	$42.31	13
Made Right	$145.86	29
Maxi	$38.50	10
Meyer Ranch 734	$430.33	21
Monopoly	$85.77	61
N Bar Emulation EXT	$431.00	5
No Remorse	$23.82	38
O C C Anchor 771A	$76.00	7
Payback	$11.00	6
Plainview Lutton E102	$97.14	7
Remington Lock N Load 54U	$175.00	22
SLC Sooner 101M	$488.19	16
Sonny	$389.00	5
SVF Steel Force S701	$199.79	48
TH JWR SOP 16G 57G Tundra 63N	$655.00	5
The Creature	$69.50	10
The Maine Man	$27.00	5
The Situation	$16.33	6
TJSC OPTIMUS PRIME 12W	$103.13	30
Unstoppable	$26.00	5
Walkie Talkie	$54.64	7
Wave on Wave	$73.40	5
Who Made Who	$61.23	31
WS A Step Up X27	$180.38	13
ZKCC Chopper 884U	$38.32	19

After a very solid calf crop from our two primary herd bulls this year we’re cutting back on our semen inventory.  I’ve got a few straws of both of these bulls in the tank at the ranch but won’t be using the stuff in storage for quite some time.

Please feel free to make an offer (210.380.7459 or jeff@cattle.com) on the following…

80 Straws – B/T Smart Choice
143 Straws – RC Club King 040R

Both purchased from the Camp Cooley dispersal and stored at Integrated Breeders Service. 

Pretty good set of prices for comparison from the Gassman sale last night...

http://www.cattle.com/markets/sale_results.aspx?sale=Gassman+Semen+Inventory+Dispersal+2012
 
Did I ever tell you about the time we 'lost' a Saugahatchee SimAngus female?

She was a really good looking F1 and by 'lost' I don't mean she died, I mean we just flat out could not find her.  The only thing we can figure out is that she may have been stolen.

It wouldn’t have been the largest thing we had stolen from the place she was on.  That would be one of these things…

Somebody came in and stole an entire pumpjack, seriously.  It wasn’t on an active well, it was sitting being stored.  It was in the middle of some brush and you had to know it was there to even think of stealing it.

Was my fifth grade teacher the only one that used Shorthorn cattle as an example in genetics?

Some of you are going to think this is stupid, but I guarantee about 3 of our 14 readers, and a surprising number of small operations who raise Shorthorns ("but they're so preeeettyyyyy"*), don’t know this… 

White = Shorthorn white, not Charolais white, which is a completely different subject
Roan = Roan, either red or black
Solid = Solid, either red or black

White x White = 100% White

White x Roan = 50% Roan, 50% White

White x Solid = 100% Roan

Roan x Roan = 25% White, 50% Roan, 25% Solid

Roan x Solid = 50% Roan, 50% Solid

*What percentage of the Shorthorn breed exists solely because the pretty colors are the only way husbands can get their wives and daughters interested in raising/showing cattle?

There’s one really big problem with putting on and promoting a sale as a “no reserve auction” with starting bid prices high enough that a reserve is not necessary.

You are openly admitting that most of the bids at the lower end of your other sales are a waste of time and that you are open about the fact that you run your customers up in your other online sales.

Secondly, by saying you are making the auction service's job easier by not having a reserve, you are implying that the auction service is assisting sellers in running prices up on the other sales even though there is not a published reserve.

Flushes, embryos, and semen from a dozen top breeders...

https://www.maxanet.com/cgi-bin/mndetails.cgi?wendt55

Sale ends tonight.

Bill's always been very nice to us, leaving him until last was in no way intentional...

Don't forget to tune in to RFD today for the always entertaining Pharo bull sale.

We added a free class with questions on Livesotckjudging.com this morning...

http://www.livestockjudging.com/practice/?id=93

"Sale starts at..."

Pretty far off our traditional clubby path but worth the watch...

After about four years with the 'new' pens (we just bought 10 acres with pens/barn/well off a neighboring 180 acre place) the girls are finally trained to do what they're supposed to do.

Of course, now the Eagle Ford "Cut Up South Texas Into 5-10 Acre Blocks For Equipment Yards" Shale boom is now going to land lock the pens and force us to come from a completely different direction.

Not sure why there's a need for this to be a couple hundred megs in size but if you grew up in Texas about the time I did, you remember this...

http://repository.tamu.edu/handle/1969.1/129151?show=full

I’ve been blocked from following Darren Rovell on Twitter for a few months now?  

It wasn’t because I said something obscene or anything.

He posted statistics related to how many Twitter followers Dan Wheldon had gained in the 24-hours after he died last October.

I then asked him how soon after he heard about Dan Wheldon’s death the thought came to his mind that he needed to go get a baseline number of followers to report on the impact his death had on his social media presence.

He blocked me a few minutes later.

For BIM and Walks Alone sexed bull semen last night...

Full Report Here

For once my lack of posting hasn’t been due to laziness, I’ve actually been busy.  

Pile of Video

My wife thinks the only reason we launched Livestockjudging.com was so the end of my busy period of the year could be extended from February to mid-April.  I just added it up and we’ve got two videos more than a crap ton of livestock, horse, dairy, poultry, nursery, and floriculture video ready to edit.  That’s the primary reason I’ve been away from posting the past week.  We’ve now got…

Area X Dairy Contest – 6 placing and 2 linear
Boerne FFA – About 6 placing and a feeder class
Panther Creek FFA – 4 halter and 5 performance
South Texas Invitational – 5 placing, 3 keep/cull, 1 feeder, 1 slaughter
Area X FFA Livestock – 6 placing, 3 keep/cull, 1 feeder, 1 slaughter
Area X FFA Poultry – I was 3rd high at state in this contest in high school but I now find it as strange to judge a frozen turkey as everyone else did back then
Area X Floriculture and Nursery – 6 Placing, 60 identifications, and 3 keep/cull (yes, they keep/cull plants) .  Would have had more but I ran out of tape.

We’re not doing any more contests this spring but if we are able to finalize what we’re working on taping next week we’re going to have something on Livestockjudging.com that will absolutely kick tail for FFA team coaches.

I Wonder

…if people that compete in floriculture competitions in high school critique the arrangements while at funerals.

BTW, the floriculture stuff will likely go on a completely free site.

Keep/Cull Classes at Livestock Judging Contests

Is it just me or are these a waste of time and animals?  I get the idea of judging pedigrees but the classes all end up being nothing much beyond marking the top three weaning weights, twin status, etc. and then judging the one pair in the middle.

The folks that I've asked to teach me how to clip are going to wonder what the heck I was wasting their time for but I kind of like what we found on this guy Tuesday...

Ryan's always been one of the nicest and most accommodating owners we've dealt in The Yards...

The last of the Trausch bulls...

The first of a few interviews with Chris Wilson from Trausch...

From Texas Tribune...

---

Margo’s circumstances are emblematic of a larger problem in Texas, where a shortage of rural veterinarians persists and grows worse each year. The shortages can greatly hinder the careers of ranchers, whose numbers have already dwindled because of drought and an industry-wide profitability drop in the last 30 years. Many long-time rural veterinarians have no successors. And because most veterinary graduates want to practice in urban areas on small animals, the prospects for solving the problem are grim.

---

Yeah, no ****.

When you have kids begging and pleading to get into vet school but they’re only really smart, not the exceptionally smart and active kids you require, and they don’t get in, what do you expect?

I want to be clear that I’m in no place to judge the admissions of any vet school.  Any dream I may have had of having a high enough GPA to get into vet school went poof about half way through my first engineering calculus class my freshman year.  That being said, there’s no shortage of really smart ag and biology teachers who started college hoping to fill that gap of rural veterinarians.

Dear Vet Boards,

There’s no shortage of people who want to become rural vets.

Teach more dang students.

Why on earth we lament the lack of supply of rural doctors and veterinarians without pointing figures at the gatekeepers of the professions that ensure that lack of supply is perpetuated is beyond me.

Today is the first day I don't have to drive anywhere out of town since last Wednesday and it feels nice.  The wife has her Suburban and I didn't have to worry about paying for a new one (who buys those $70,000 Suburbans any way?).

Friday I Taped a Dairy Judging Contest

We hope to have it available for free on Livestockjudging.com within a week or so.

I also Went to Tombstone Luensmann

Another sale highlighted by a Milk Man.

In Plan Ahead News

People who go to steer sales either expect to be run up or are new to watching steer sales.  I’m really not a fan of it and have only had a starting bid put in, we don’t sell many calves through sales any way.

However, if you are going to do it, show your buyers the respect of setting up the floor prices for your calves before the sale.  If you are going to be working the ring at a sale, a person in the crowd can figure out pretty easily that every time you touch your mustache, nod your head, or scratch your nose that the guy you are making eye contact with on the front row bids.

Saturday We Taped the Boerne Livestock Judging Contest

To be available in a few weeks.

S&S Sale on Sunday

Overall sale average was about $3,350 on right at 100 head.  The Schroeder steers averaged about $4,150.  High sellers were a West Covina and a Milk Man. 

I wonder how much traffic Tommy Schroeder's place gets thanks to Google Maps on the day of Charles Schroeder's sales.

Yesterday I Video Taped A Horse Judging Contest

…for starter content on our next project, Horsejudging.com.  I’m not a horse guy.  I understood what was going on with the performance classes about as much as I do when I watch figure skating.  Evidently I wasn't alone as the contestants averaged a whopping 37.5 on all of the performance classes and a record for any placing class I've seen 29.51 on reining.

Milk Man

…steers are killing it in the 71 sales we have a record on this spring, averaging nearly $2,500 more than any other bull with 15 calves sold.

Frick Frick Frick Frick Frick Frick

If you’ve never had an unemployed mother-in-law you don’t understand this, but one of the most calming things that has happened over the past year has been that mine got a job.

With Pinnacle Airlines.