Black cattle

[Ruchian]

I know that we have had the discussion about the color of cattle before, but I am wondering what people are seeing for price differences between black and non-black cattle.

 

[GONEWEST]

Commercial cattle at the local sale barn are 10-12 cents a pound in favor of black cattle. However from time to time a high quality red or smokey calf will equal the black ones.

 

[Show Heifer]

The two biggest barns around here are all equal. Good calves sell high, regardless of color. Bad calves don't sell, regardless of color.  One barn doesn't even sort colored calves from blacks unless quality is an issue.

 

[shorthorns r us]

The two biggest barns around here are all equal. Good calves sell high, regardless of color. Bad calves don't sell, regardless of color.  One barn doesn't even sort colored calves from blacks unless quality is an issue.

and just where are these mini-utopias?

 

[chambero]

I don't know what the difference in price is, but where we see it is in order buyers that are buying cattle straight out of the pastures.  The cattle are usually sold at a premium above "market" price (anywhere from a few to 10 cents a pound typical in our experience).  The high end feedlots that are targeting the premium carcass programs just don't want colored calves.  We'll usually have a handful of red or smokey calves and they'll take them with the group, but they aren't interested in large groups of colored calves. 

I guess this is splitting hairs, but I don't know if its that colored calves are discounted but that they will pay premiums for large groups of fairly uniform blacks. 

Regardless of color, the good groups of cattle in our part of the world never see a sale barn.  There are so many opportunities (source verification, hormone & antibiotic free, etc) for increasing prices on cattle that sale barns just aren't a part of.  I strongly recommend folks start looking at those programs.  You are leaving money on the table if you don't.

 

[bradycreek]

blacks sell 10 cents higher per pound average around here in the sale barn, red roans seem to sell cheaper no matter the quality of the calf.
dh

 

[Jill]

blacks sell 10 cents higher per pound average around here in the sale barn, red roans seem to sell cheaper no matter the quality of the calf.
dh

Ditto here

 

[justme]

we sell our calves in southern Iowa that doesn't make it to the show ring...a roan is almost like the kiss of death, no matter what it looks like.  Blacks top the sale.  That is one of the big reasons we won't breed to a shorthorn bull anymore.  I will admit I do have one shorthorn plus here...but she's getting bred to a black maine, just in case her calf has to go to sale barn.

 

[kanshow]

...a roan is almost like the kiss of death, no matter what it looks like.  Blacks top the sale.

Add grays and wild white splashes to the 'went too cheap' pen.    That's why most of our freezer meat comes from the off colors. 

 

[daydreamingacres]

Went to a sale in Maine this weekend they sold about 100 head of "feeders" ranging in size from about 300- 1100lbs. small black topped the sale at $1.50/lb. sold a few red not to much lower in the same weight ranges. Brought a pen of charloais in and i picked up choice on the pen for .88/lb....auctionneer gave me a hard time about buyin a white one...told him i got whiter ones at home and he shoudl be worried.....i alos bought the last calf through the ring (beltie) for .70 nicest calf that i think went through the sale......again he gave me a hard time...... when it came time to load my two walked on the trailer like a dream while they fought with some of those blackones for a good wile. i brought mine home and turned them right out...thinkin about convincing the hubby to put a halter on the betie......moral of the story if you wanna buy cheap buy an off color one....my dad didnt believe me and kept wantin me to bid on some black ones.....he couldnt believe it when he saw it! the only thing that almost kept up with the backs were a group of fancy hereford heifers about 800lbers. its sad bc the quality i got for leww was better then what i would have paid more for...i feel bad for people who raise "off colored cattle" i think they deserve to have an equal market... and no matter how bad a black one was it sold and it sold for more then i think it was worth. sorry again for my ranting!

 

[dori36]

I know that we have had the discussion about the color of cattle before, but I am wondering what people are seeing for price differences between black and non-black cattle.

I'm not in the showsteer biz - never have been.  But I have spent 'way too much time' in sale barns and Superior Livestock's Bell Ringer sale in Denver and the other mountain states.  My observation has been:  1.  Sorted cattle, by type, kind, and color, always bring more than the "hodgepodge" groups.  2.  Blacks sell about 10 cents better than any other color .....unless...3.  If the cattle are being bid to go to Mexico, Central or South America, the reds will sell higher.  As someone already noted, good cattle sell better than poor cattle, no matter the color!  Also, silver, roan, and anything with a white belt seems to be severely docked.  Black baldies sell the same, generally, as the all blacks.

 

[Ruchian]

thanks for your replies.  I was just wandering if it was like it is here.  Here black sell for about 15-20 cents a pound more.  Off colored cattle have to be quite a bit better to bring the same price.

 

[4Ts4H]

Lets all give a big thank you to them marketing geniuses with the certified angus beef group.  Here in the plant, all it takes to qualify to recieve an angus stamp is that the hide be at least 51% black.  You would think that that would open up for a multitude of cattle types to make the angus programs.  It would if the people buying from the packers would never visit the plants.  We here kill less than 1000 head a day and only about 2 days go by in any given month that we don't have visits from prospective or current customers.  Each time a salesman sets up a visit, they press us to provide a full yard of 100% black cattle!  Assuming this holds water in most all areas in the country, you can see why the packers are willing to pay a premium for solid blacks with only a sprinkle of color in the pen.  Although I personally don't taste any difference between meat from black hided animals and say red or smokey hided animals, I do appreciate the visual appeal of 500ish head of straight blacks lined up in pens for harvest!

To further illustrate this, let me ask; has anyone been to say NYC's zoo.  They actually have cattle there.  Guess what they look like?  Yeah, black and whites, yuk!  Now go to the upscale meat markets and look at the pos material in the beef case.  What do you see there?  The most beautiful sillouette of a perfectly proportioned black steer with the word ANGUS in print.  So, to those that never get out of the city, there is a stereotype as to what good beef is.  Sorry, but the masses in so called "civilization" are driving us to market!!!

 

[Show Heifer]

I sell my calves in southern Iowa. And the "mini-utopias" sell around 1000 to 3000 head during per week during the fall rush. And I guess roans and speckles do sell a bit cheaper. But all solids (reds, blacks, whites, greys) sell for the same if they are of equal quality.

My calves usually are near the top....but....my calves are double vaccinated, weaned, poured, age/source verified and I have a reputation of selling good calves. And anything that has had a serious illness is noted.

So maybe it is reputation, and not so much the color of the calves that make them sell well????

And yes, the CAB program is genius....doesn't everyone wish their breed assoc created such a program for them????