kiblercattle said:
As of now out here in the western states what I see is that there is such a small market for. Shorthorn bulls is that the people who want them do not care about papers.
It is not the job of any breed organization to sell your cattle. This is the job of each and every breeder to do. The breed association should promote the breed as a whole in the industry, but it should never promote one or a few breeders over others. I have seen so many cases where a breed field man buys cattle in a sale and gets bad mouthed for months from other breeders who he did not buy from. In regards to papers, I have never had a single commercial producer tell me he did not want papers on a bull. A few years ago, I had a very good bull in my bull sale that was out of a Shorthorn cow ( most likely a purebred) that was not registered. She was a cow I bought to use as a recip but she was so good I decided to breed her for a natural calf. I put this bull in my sale because I thought he was one of the best bulls in the pen that year. He was the only bull that passed in the sale. He went in our deep freeze. I suppose if you are only interested in selling cheap bulls to people who only want a bull of any kind to get their cows in calf, you can probably find some buyers who do not want registration papers. I have yet to see a leading commercial producer not want a pedigree and some documentation of what he is buying.
So many people think that a breed association should do their job. The last purebred herd I had besides my Shorthorn herd, was a herd of 100 PB Charolais cows. I never had anyone from the Charolais association ever help me sell my bulls. Before that, I had herds of several other breeds. In every case, it was the quality of my bulls and the work I did that sold my cattle. I will also add that customer service is also a huge part of selling cattle. This was brought home to me this year again, when I delivered 3 bulls to a commercial producer who bought in our sale for the first time this year. His 3 yearling bulls averaged $6850 each and he told me that the reason he decided to buy in our sale was that I told him that I would bring the bulls back to our farm after the sale and deliver them closer to when he needed them. I brought these 3 bulls home and they went back in the same pen and on the same feed for 3 months and then delivered them 270 miles to his farm... and did not charge him anything for this service. I also took the time when I was at his place to go through his cows and calves. He told me I was the first person he had ever bought bulls from, that had took the time to see his cattle. This producer has 700 cows and the hour out of my life to see his cowherd, will probably be one of the best investments in time I have made in a long time. It was very obvious to me, that this man was as proud of his cows as any purebred breeder's herd I have ever visited. This guy and his wife have already come to our farm this summer and gone through our herd as they wanted to see the bulls on their mothers. He says he will be at our sale next March. The breed association had nothing to do with this sale. I will add that when I first spoke to this man on the phone prior to our sale, he asked me if I would supply registration papers on the bulls. He said he would buy his bulls elsewhere if registration papers did not come with the bulls. I hear so many people complain about how much it costs to register their cattle. To me, it is one of the best investments I can make on my cattle. If I don't think it is worth the $25-$50 extra per head to have documentation on my cattle, then I think it is time I should turn a bull of another breed in with my cows.
Being negative about your breed or the breed association, without ever offering possible solutions just never works and only makes your own life miserable. There is so much more involved in being successful in the purebred beef business than just producing them. Marketing, promotion and customer service are also key components of any success you might have.
Here is another example of customer service. Two years ago, I had a commercial producer come to our sale and he purchased 4 bulls. This was the first Shorthorn sale he had ever attended, and this man runs 800 cows. One of the bulls he bought cost him $9750. I always urge buyers to insure their purchases especially if they are coming back to our farm after the sale. About two months after the sale, I found the bull that sold for $9750 in the pen with a broken leg. I called the buyer and he told me he had not insured his bulls. I really don't think this bull broke his leg because of anything I had done, but I told him I would give him a $5000 credit in our sale last spring. He showed up and bought 3 bulls at $23,000 with a top price of $8000. I probably didn't need to do this, but I felt it was a very good investment to make to retain a customer who potentially could buy numerous bulls every year.
