Putting on a Sale

[LinZ]

Hey...Kina early I know but we're thinking about having a sale next fall.. Focus will be about 25 open heifers(showbroke) 5 breds, 1-2 steers and a few frozen lots maybe. That being said... I know everyone here have been to a few sales or alot of sales... What are some of the formats you do and don't like? on anything....even opinions about food... having the cattle tied...or viewing them loose in pens, auctioneer...etc...any opinions will be appreciated.

LinZ

 

[husker1]

Figure how much work you think pulling off a sale will be and take it times 5!

Never too early to start planning.

Imagine with numbers such as this, you will just do a private treaty bid-off or something of the sort.  The tough thing with a few lots is that any advertising, etc....will really cut into proceeds.

You need to have my mother-in-law cater (we always get a ton of positive comments), but the logistics of getting food there from Nebraska might be too expensive!!!!!!!!!!!!!

good luck.

 

[The Show]

Hire Eberspacher or Doug Parke. I personally like cattle loose in pens so you can get in there and push them around a little to make sure their sound. The lone star revue was pretty good I thought.

 

[LinZ]

Advertising is not a problem..We will run ads inthe breed magazines..NLE.  I want to have a bag of feed to send with each calf along with a halter..  Management wise we will most likely do ourselves..It's not going to be a huge sale.. I think the Lone Star was run very well but being Easter weekend there was noone there and we ended up bringing our heifer we consigned back home... I had the idea of Friday night having heifer up..blown out and tied to where they can be walked, put hands on etc upon request and having a really nice buffet for those that come out that evening before to look and then Saturday having Donuts/Coffee for breakfast and a nice lunch..such as Pulled Pork BBQ..chips..and baked beans.. and having heifers out in pens for people to walk through and move around. Not sure what to do sale catalog wise...to have one of to have a brochure of pedigrees, prices etc out.  I also want to have a picture of every heifer in the sale along with a video up on a website.

LinZ

 

[herefordfootball]

I would definitely leave them loose in pens for folks to look at. Have maybe a five pens for heifers,(seperate by age), a pen of breds, and a pen of steers. I like the auctioneer format. Then if you want to take phone bids make sure in your advertising to include sale day phones. Probaly have at least three or four sale day phones. Sounds like you got the food end of it planned pretty good, I think people really appreciate that, when they dont have to go out and get a meal before the sale. If you're going to do what sounds like a 30+ head sale, I would probaly invest in getting a sale catalog printed. I think a bag of feed and halter sounds really good, but you have to think about the cost you're going to have already invested in the sale. I'd say definitely give a halter with the animal, I think that should happen at every sale, but a bag of feed is going to be pretty expensive. And before you know it, its going to take more than one calf to pay off your sale investments. I know we give a bag of feed with every calf we'll ever sell, but we're only running ten cows. and selling in a first come first serve basis.

 

[JSchroeder]

I stopped and took a second look at your heifer at the LSR, she was nice and caught my eye.  It wasn't so much the Easter timing that resulted in that price, it was that she was an open yearling.

Those types of females have always been fairly cheap there and your heifer brought a better final 'bid' price than virtually any of the open yearlings have in the past.  In fact, I've only missed that sale one time for the birth of my son and the only opens I recall bringing more at that sale were the fall baby heifers.

 

[The Show]

I like the bag of feed idea, that'd make getting them to change feeds a little easier. How many calves do you plan to sale? Are you going to have anybody else consign or just your cattle? edjesale can set you up with catalogs(both paper and online) I'm pretty sure. I'm a huge fan of online catalogs and like the general ad, just a pedigree with a brief description and a good picture. I think a video for every lot might be a bit much. I would maybe put a note  in the catalog that you can get videos on request because really the only need for a video is for someone buying over the phone and they want to see that the calf is sound. JMO though. Where are you going to have the sale at? Sounds like something I'll be attending.

 

[LinZ]

The basic idea is about 25 open heifers..however we want to cull them down hard to make sure every lot is above par for quality...I don't see the point in having so so animals in the sale just to make the numbers bigger.. 3-5 bred heifers.. 2 bulls top..if any.. and maybe a coupe of steers... Most everything will be Purebred or % and we have a couple of consigners that have agreed to let us go through their herd and pick out choice heifers.. a couple of Maines and Chi's. The sale will be in East Central, TX..Probably just South of Waco.  I myself can do pretty good videos..and other than my labor it's free that's why I would want videos on everything I could in the sale..

LinZ

 

[LinZ]

Thanks Jeff... She's an April 20th so she wasn't quite a year before the sale is why we didn't go ahead and breed her.. For what I have seen at the LSR sales I have been to she went up pretty high for most but for the price we can keep her and breed her and get more out of her ourselves than letting her go that low.  We're breeding her in May to Grandmaster(sexed semen) and we'll get her out to Jr. Nationals, Ft. Worth and Houston.. Their just didn't seem to be as many people at the sale this year as there have in years past...and noone on Friday night before the sale.

LinZ

 

[Ms Ray]

I like the bag of feed idea and halter, the last sale we went to we were not planning on going and just stoped by and of corse brought home a steer if they had not given us a bag of feed we would have had to try to find a feed store open to get some, it also helps if you are changing feeds.,  I also like the chance to see animals in a pen walking but also like to see them tied and if they are going to be a show animal, to see if they are really halter broke.