Latest / CattleUSA Daily / 132: Get Your Cattle Market-Ready and Buyer-Approved with John Campbell

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132: Get Your Cattle Market-Ready and Buyer-Approved with John Campbell · CattleUSA Daily

0:00
Welcome to another episode of the Cattle USA Daily podcast.
0:03
Today we are welcoming back John Campbell on to the podcast and
0:07
today we are talking all things animal health and bringing
0:12
cattle to the market. What does that look like for
0:15
producers? What should you be doing?
0:17
What shouldn't you be doing? And just our thoughts and
0:20
opinions on everything, animal health concerns related to
0:25
bringing your cattle to the auction and how you can be the
0:27
best producer possible to all the work that you've put in for
0:31
the months leading up to the auction, how you can make that
0:34
the best day possible for yourself and your operation.
0:37
Before we dive into that though, we do also hit on the live title
0:41
market and what is currently happening, what John is seeing
0:44
right now. And we recorded this on Monday,
0:46
This is coming out on Tuesday. So it is one day delayed for you
0:50
guys. Just so that you are aware, if
0:51
anything has come up and we don't touch on it, that is why
0:55
so, But without further ado, let's go ahead and jump into
0:57
this episode with John. But before we do, I would love
1:00
it if you guys could take 5 seconds to like, subscribe, rate
1:03
review, do all of the things to support us here at the podcast.
1:06
It takes 5 seconds to do those things, guys, and it truly means
1:10
the world to us here at the team.
1:12
All of those reviews we look at personally and talk about every
1:16
single week internally as a team and really just appreciate all
1:19
the love and support that you guys have given us thus far.
1:22
Oh my gosh, I can't believe we're already on like this is
1:24
100 and to is the episode number on this episode, which is crazy
1:29
to think about. So thank you guys for all of
1:30
your support and all the time that you have taken to pour back
1:33
into us as we've poured into you.
1:35
So take a few seconds to go, like subscribe, rate review, do
1:38
all the things. We appreciate it here at the
1:39
team and let's dive into this episode with John.
1:45
Welcome to the Cattle USA Daily podcast, your go to source for
1:48
the latest livestock markets, industry insights and the update
1:52
shaping agriculture today. I'm your host, Lauren Moylan, a
1:55
passionate advocate for agriculture, here to keep you
1:58
informed and connected. Now let's dive into today's
2:01
episode. John, welcome to the podcast.
2:07
We are so excited to have you back for another week where we
2:11
are talking all things cattle health and prepping cattle for
2:16
the market and what that looks like.
2:17
But first, before we dive into that, I would love to have a
2:20
little conversation about an update on the markets, what's
2:23
happening right now, the live cattle market, just some of your
2:26
thoughts, opinions, all the things.
2:28
OK. Yeah, no, great.
2:30
You know, this market, man, it's just really, really resilient.
2:34
You know, we, we saw a pretty big sell off there Friday.
2:38
Some said it was kind of rumoured by the maybe a
2:41
screwworm in, in Oklahoma and they ended up it just ended up
2:47
being bought flies or something like that, but really shot out
2:50
ahead. The commodity market did ahead
2:53
of the cash in terms of the feeders and you know it, it's
2:59
interesting about two months ago, you know, you could sell A9
3:04
weight steer $10 over the board. And then right after the 4th of
3:09
July, why it got to be about $10 back because we saw this big
3:14
influx of cash into the feeder market, which there's not a lot
3:17
of volume there. So it, it can really be
3:21
affected. And then those cattle started
3:23
trading at a discount to, to the August board, which would be the
3:27
closest one. And I even noticed there last
3:30
Thursday after we saw another couple big days, some of these
3:34
big heavy feeder cattle were as much as 20 back of the board.
3:40
And the reason that's relevant is because a lot of people
3:44
haven't participated in this big ride up in the market.
3:49
They, they have either taken out some insurance or they've
3:52
shorted the board thinking that the feeder market, you know what
3:56
we're talking about the basis, maybe a nine weight steer, just
3:59
part of the board or or maybe a nine weight steer.
4:02
You know, if I'm selling 5/8 pin back, that's what they're using
4:07
for a break even when they're buying those cattle.
4:10
And when that gets out of whack, it's no different than when the
4:14
reverse takes place. That's why they're pulling so
4:16
many fat cattle forward because they're they're against a
4:22
further out month and they can sell the fats at such a premium
4:26
or a positive basis to where their position is in the board
4:35
that they're going to sell them. You hear the term basis jumpers.
4:38
Well, that's what those guys are doing.
4:40
It's all about it's all about the money, honey.
4:43
They're going to take the money and they're going to pull them
4:45
ahead and sell them and that's always going to happen.
4:48
Well, the reverse has happened in the feeder cattle market.
4:52
Doesn't matter so much on the LRPS.
4:54
That's why that's a pretty good tool.
4:56
And those will probably be a loser again, but better to have
4:59
the big up in the cash then then what it's cost you on your
5:03
insurance. But if you're a pure hedger and
5:06
your base in the sale of your feeder cattle on the basis of
5:10
the feeder cattle board, boy, the last two or three weeks been
5:14
pretty devastating because the commodities have just outrun the
5:18
cash. So Friday and then again today,
5:22
we're kind of seeing that kind of drop back down and and get a
5:26
little more in line. The commodities market are not
5:30
that's for not the faint of of heart that that's for sure
5:34
there. There's been some huge margin
5:36
calls and a lot of people really kicking themselves because in my
5:40
lifetime it's happened about three times where you just seen
5:44
a windfall like this and it is very, very non traditional what
5:49
what we're seeing going on it. It's just just a frenzy out
5:53
there. And like I said, the market
5:55
really resilient. Everybody is panicking about a
5:59
shortage of cattle. There is a big overabundance of
6:03
cheap commodities, of cheap feed and case in point, these new
6:09
crop calves, usually about the time people turn out in our
6:13
country around a lot of times the middle of April for sure by
6:19
the middle of May, what they are very, very hard to sell because
6:24
everybody's done what they're going to do.
6:26
You know, they've closed the gate on summer grazing.
6:30
So these new crop cabs, almost 10 years out of 10, you'll see
6:35
them cheaper this time of year starting about May, right on
6:39
through the summer. But by golly, this year is just
6:43
completely different. It's just a frenzy.
6:46
Everybody worried about the shortage and they want to get
6:48
their hands on these calves, and they're already trying to get
6:52
little tiny peewee calves put together to get them prepped for
6:56
the wheat. Why?
6:58
Because the wheat's not worth anything.
6:59
Corn's not worth anything. Hay's not worth anything.
7:02
So if you're in that production agriculture, you got to find
7:07
something to do with all these commodities that you got the the
7:11
bright spot in AG commodities no question is the cattle.
7:17
So I think you're seeing them start earlier and earlier and
7:20
trying to surround themselves with these cattle here in a lot
7:24
of we're just so seasonal. That's one thing that doesn't
7:27
change. We don't have any fall cavers,
7:30
we're all spring cavers here. So we've had good moisture and
7:35
the gates are shut and nothing's nothing's coming to town.
7:38
Where is if if you cab in the fall, while you've already got
7:42
some pretty good sized calves. And and this market is pulling
7:46
these cattle forward because they're able to sell them at any
7:50
weight at unprecedented levels. And when you have the
7:54
opportunity to sell one higher than you ever have in your
7:56
lifetime, it's pretty hard to say.
7:59
Oh, I think I'll just wait for for the market to get better or
8:02
I'll put a few more pounds on it.
8:04
Why? And a lot of people will do
8:05
that. But that is east of here on the
8:09
fall calves. That's what's what, what, what's
8:12
kind of pulling those forward. But it's, it is dry West of
8:16
here. You get in western, far western
8:21
that some of you heard about the fires around Meeker and Craig,
8:24
Colorado. That's a an area that we draw to
8:27
here in a lot. And they are extremely dry.
8:30
They made some grass early, but they're really, really dry now.
8:33
And the fires going and then that Durango, Four Corners,
8:37
Cortez, we're getting a few cows from that area over there
8:40
because of the dry. And then extreme Southwest New
8:45
Mexico is still awfully dry. But other than that, I think
8:48
most everybody in pretty good shape and everybody loving,
8:52
loving the cattle market. Yes, everyone's loving the
8:55
cattle market right now. Well, let's go ahead and dive
8:58
into today's topic. Thank you for that update, John.
9:02
We appreciate it. So when we're talking prepping
9:05
cattle for the sale barn, where does the animal health sector of
9:09
that fit in for you and what's that process kind of look like?
9:13
OK. You know 20 years ago, I just
9:16
say it's a non event. We just did not see any
9:20
difference here on the cattle that were vaccinated versus the
9:24
ones that weren't, mainly because it's not because the
9:27
vaccinated cattle maybe weren't a little more predictable, but
9:31
nobody did it. So if you, Lauren brought your
9:35
100 to head in and by the time we sort sack them and sort them,
9:38
you've got 10 calves or 15 or 20, the buyer would sit here and
9:44
say, well, those are nice calves, man, I really appreciate
9:47
Lauren giving all those shots, but I've got to surround them
9:50
with 90 others that have had nothing done and make a truck
9:54
load of them. And and so there wasn't enough
9:57
competition for those 10 or 12 because they were the only
10:01
cattle in the sale that had been handled that way.
10:04
And you only end up getting a dime or 1/4 more than the guy
10:08
that didn't do it. And so, but really within the
10:12
last 10 years, it has become more and more important all the
10:17
time. I would say to answer your
10:20
question, it probably ranks about fourth in, in selection
10:26
criteria. And some people say, well, man,
10:27
oh man, it's got to be higher than that.
10:30
Quality is still job one. And and you can't take a plain
10:37
calf and vaccinating up into a market Topper.
10:41
So if, if, if you're starting with crap, you're probably going
10:46
to end up with crap. And I don't mean that, but a
10:48
plainer set of calves. I don't care how many shots you
10:52
give them, quality still Trump's any kind of a health program.
10:56
So does condition and, and sometimes there's nothing we can
11:01
do about condition. The grass is good.
11:03
All the calves are fat. Well, if they're all fat, well,
11:07
then it starts to have a little more significant.
11:10
But again, if you bring in a set of just overly, overly fat
11:14
calves that don't have the quality and, and you give them
11:18
every shot in the world and it handled them perfect, you're
11:22
still not going to get for those cattle what a thin set of calves
11:26
or a medium flesh set of calves because the average buyer looks
11:30
at those and he said, man, those calves are going to back up.
11:33
I don't care how many shots they've had.
11:35
I'm going to have some recovery time for those big fat, sappy
11:39
calves. It's kind of like asking a, you
11:43
know, a fat 14 year old kid to run a marathon.
11:46
He not set up to do it, you know, I mean, one with the
11:49
thinner and running gear will kick his ass every time.
11:52
So the next thing would would be and we talked a little bit about
11:55
that last time is the number of cabs that you're presenting to
11:59
sell and just reflect on on what we talked about last week.
12:02
You could have the 2 greatest cabs in the United States,
12:06
everything perfect about them, every shot quality da da da da
12:10
da. But the fact that you've only
12:12
got 2 will not trump the guy that's got 100 that has done
12:18
absolutely nothing. But he's got a lot size that we
12:23
ship 50,000 lbs. And, and granted, and, and those
12:28
Big Lots that have the same program, that have the same
12:31
genetics, that have the same husband tree are going to come
12:34
together and feed us a lot better then your two calves with
12:39
this guy's 8, with this guy 734. All these different types of
12:45
husbandry practices, health genetics, you name it, to try to
12:49
get them to come together and feed as one pin versus somebody
12:54
that's got 100 and they may do a better job than the guy that
12:58
feed better than the guy that's got 100.
13:01
But the, the 100 head deal, the fact that everything is
13:05
consistent in them, they're going to out bring the onesie
13:08
twosies. And so that's, that's just a
13:11
fact of life 100% of the time. No, not always, but most of the
13:15
time. So that brings us to #4 which is
13:19
the health and, and more buyers now versus when I started for
13:25
sure 40 years ago. But even in the last 10, they
13:28
want a list when they come to the auction here in the fall and
13:33
we'll have lots of cabs 789000A week hearing a lot of.
13:37
They want a list of the Cavs, the real pros, the guys that
13:41
know what they're doing of the Cavs that have had two rounds of
13:43
shots and they are not interested in the other list at
13:49
any price, 100% of them know. But the real Shark guys, the
13:53
really good order buyers, the guys that have been through the
13:56
ups and downs and through the brakes, we're we're seeing an
14:00
education go on with those guys to where they want to know the
14:04
calves that have that have had a shot you, you can't
14:06
overemphasize that. And the other calves, luckily
14:09
there's still enough of the buying population that will
14:12
support the market on those other ones, especially when
14:15
you're in times of shortage like there is now.
14:18
But at the end of the day, we're getting more interest in in Cavs
14:22
that have had two rounds of shots.
14:24
So I think the vaccination program is only as good as the
14:29
people administering it. So if you're going to take the
14:33
time and take the expense to do it or do it right.
14:37
And if you don't know, and I'm not saying I'm the animal health
14:42
professional, but call your veterinarian and, and, and ask
14:45
him what's the right way to do it and, and, and what are the
14:49
time restraints involved in doing it?
14:52
I've said that a million times. If you're going to pull your
14:56
calves off 5-6 days before you sell them and give them every
15:00
shot in the world, you might as well, you know, slam your head
15:03
in the door and shoot the damn vaccine out on the ground.
15:07
Be because you have defeated every possible advantage that
15:11
you would have gained in the vaccine by the way you handled
15:14
the cattle. So forget it.
15:17
The guy would rather have one that hasn't gone through that
15:19
additional round of stress. Pull it off the cow and sell it.
15:23
I'd way rather have those than ones that have been jammed
15:26
through a shoe and weaned for six 810 days.
15:30
So how how do you do it right? Well, at at Brandon time you
15:34
need to give a seven way. That's just a basic Clostridium,
15:38
whether you want to give an N switches up in the nose, but
15:42
some kind of a four way respiratory that covers your,
15:46
you know, BI 3B VDBRSVIBR. And then if you're going to
15:52
precondition those calves pre weenum in four to six weeks
15:57
after you brand, you need to come back again with another
16:01
seven way and a modified live product if you're going to put
16:05
them back on the cow. And some people I worry about
16:08
getting my cow sick. They've improved these medicines
16:11
to where I'm not saying that never happens, but give them a
16:14
Bulba gold 5 titanium. Every drug company has their
16:19
answer to that and and then also treat the bacterial aspect of it
16:27
too. By I get more and more people
16:29
wanting to know Abdocalves had a pascherrilla in the second round
16:34
of shots. And that's really important for
16:37
a lot of guys in our country where it's a dry.
16:40
We don't deal with worms or deal with bugs back pour or a warmer,
16:44
not really important. You get Easter here and it's
16:47
very, very important. So again, know your your country
16:51
and and what it needs here. We have very few people that
16:54
worm or back poor cab just because we we don't deal with
16:57
it. But in those second rounds of
16:59
shots, you know, deal a little bit with the bacterial aspect of
17:03
it as well. And you know, Warren, these
17:06
calves, they're they're still going to get sick.
17:09
The biggest wreck I've ever been into.
17:11
It has been a big string of calves that everything was done
17:15
right. Excellent quality.
17:17
They the time frame on when they vaccinated these calves were
17:21
perfect. But that's just one NASA and we
17:26
all want the silver bullet. What do I do that just answers
17:29
all my problems? Well, there's so many variables
17:32
out there that we have no handle on case in .2 years ago, it
17:37
didn't matter what you did. The calves just got sick and and
17:41
it whether it was the weather pattern, when we got moisture,
17:44
the dust, when it froze, when it didn't freeze, the composition
17:48
of the feed of what they came off of, you name it, starting
17:52
the calf. I don't care what shots he's had
17:54
or if he's pulled right off the cow.
17:56
What was a complete wreck last year, Everybody got along great.
18:01
Didn't matter if they were vaccinated, weren't vaccinated,
18:04
this, that. But you know, by vaccinating
18:06
your calves, you give them an opportunity to respond to
18:12
treatment and recover. That's really all you're doing
18:15
versus a ball and calf right off the cow.
18:19
Some years you'll get along great.
18:21
And we buy them from here, there, everywhere.
18:24
And I bought a set of cabs, not a set of cabs, probably 2000
18:29
ball and cabs. We loaded them.
18:31
We hold them 150 miles from here.
18:33
I told the guy, you are in for the biggest wreck that you have
18:38
ever had in your life. You know you and we did it over
18:42
a period of about 3 weeks. Put together that many of them,
18:46
why, Christ sakes, Oral Roberts couldn't have saved the deal.
18:51
I just said this, this is a mess.
18:54
I, I said I, I want no part of it.
18:56
I'll buy you the cattle. I'm happy to do it.
18:58
I'll buy the best we got fresh. I know the history, but that
19:02
can't be done. That's putting too much pile in
19:06
too many cattle. And they were all going to one
19:08
facility. And I said, you guys got a rat,
19:12
got along great, got along great.
19:14
If they'd have done the same thing the year before, they'd
19:17
have lost 30% of them or more. So again, it's just a tool.
19:24
It's one of the things that we do that help us along the way
19:28
and that's why is it the most important?
19:31
No, but at least if you've got a good program and you're working
19:36
towards an end, it's part of part of the equation.
19:40
It it's not a cure all, it's not an answer for everything, but if
19:44
you've got good genetics, good husbandry, health is definitely
19:49
part of that equation. That'll that'll help you down
19:52
the road. A. 100% leading up to the
19:55
market, those pre those few weeks before they are taking
19:58
their cattle to the market. What are the most important
20:00
things that people need to be doing during that time period to
20:04
as far as animal health goes? You know, and some of this, like
20:07
we said that the timing of those shots is, is really important.
20:12
Weaning calves. You know, we have a lot of
20:14
people in this big dry country that we live in.
20:18
You know, a lot of our buyers. Why don't they wean them?
20:21
Why don't they we, they're not set up to wean them.
20:23
I have one guy that has one pasture that has got 80 sections
20:29
in it. I mean, it's all he can do to
20:31
get them branded and vaccinated rather than go through that
20:34
process again. And so the country that help the
20:38
facility, all those things dictate to them what they can do
20:42
and what they can't do. But if if you are going to wean
20:46
these calves, there's a minimum and that's 45 days.
20:50
And, and to reiterate what I said, you might as well use the
20:55
bottles as target practice for your BB gun if you're going to
20:59
do it. Short of that, you're, you're
21:01
wasting your time. Why is that?
21:04
Because it takes, once you buy a cap, it takes him about two
21:08
weeks to really get sick. And that can vary ±10 days, 1618
21:15
days. But if he's going to get sick,
21:17
that's when he gets sick. OK, You're going to spend the
21:20
next 10 days in recovery trying to find them and you're pulling
21:25
on three today, five day one today.
21:27
This is with your own chaos. So you got 10 days just in
21:31
recovery. OK, what are we up to?
21:34
We're up to three weeks now. And then you mean to tell me?
21:37
OK, boy, I'm on top of it. Then let's just stress them all
21:41
again and load them up, haul them off the third time.
21:44
I mean, it's it it's insane when you think about it.
21:47
Why would just, when you got them going, would you run them
21:51
through the wringer again and stress them all?
21:54
And, and I don't care if you're loading them, hauling them 20
21:57
miles and unloading them, They're not ready in anything
22:01
short of 45 days for, for, for them to go through that.
22:06
And, and that's why the 45 day is kind of the magic number.
22:10
More is better, less it is worse.
22:14
And and I'm back to what I originally said.
22:16
You're way better off rather than and I get guys that call me
22:20
John Lean 21 days. I'd say Lauren 2128 thirty am
22:26
doing you the biggest disfavor to tell somebody a pro or
22:31
somebody that knows what they're doing, which the guys that are
22:34
handling cabs and straightening them out now or and they know
22:37
what they're doing. I would be doing you a huge
22:40
disfavor to say that they're wean 30 days because that's
22:46
about you. You got them prep perfect for
22:49
the wreck that's coming. Not all of them.
22:52
How far da da da, but in general terms, if they're not weaned 45
22:56
days, folks, they are not weaned.
22:59
And don't tell me they're weaned because they're not.
23:02
And, and, and, and it, it's not to put the producer down, but
23:06
most of them have never gone through that.
23:10
Yeah, it it's one equation to wean them right there at your
23:14
place. The cows are right across the
23:16
fence. Dota, Dota, low stress, all
23:18
this, all that. And boy, John, I've just never
23:21
had any trouble. Well, guess what?
23:23
In two weeks, 21 days, you've never loaded yours, hauled them
23:27
to the sail, unloaded them, introduced them to new feed, new
23:31
surroundings, and then load them, sell them, run them
23:33
through the ring, load them, haul them off another 300 miles.
23:36
You've never done that. So it's not that you're
23:40
ignorant, it's just that you have never experienced that.
23:43
So until you have, you don't realize the significance behind
23:48
the timing of, of, of when you wean us.
23:54
The other thing I, I would say once, once you've weaned them
23:59
and all your vaccination program really goes out the window and,
24:06
and, and a lot of people say, well, what do you mean?
24:09
I give this shot, I want to know the fact that they're weaned and
24:13
I'm just talking in an auction setting.
24:15
That's all the buyer is wanting the shots for anyway.
24:19
Once you get them through the weaning process, and I'm not
24:22
saying there's some residual value to a lot of that, no
24:25
question, but you'll see A and again, I'm back on my quality
24:30
deal. But if you've got that set of
24:33
fat preconditioned cabs and they just had two rounds of shots,
24:40
that thinner cap that is weaned especially in the spring of the
24:44
year will outselling and it's because they've already gone
24:48
through the sweat. I can buy those cabs and I can
24:52
just pretty well write off my 2 or 3% death loss.
24:55
So I can put that on the value of what I can give for the cap
24:59
of similar quality. And so most buyers, if you say
25:04
wean for over 45 days, it's not that they don't care about the
25:08
shots, but you've already accomplished what you set out to
25:13
do with the vaccination program. So I, I, I think that's
25:18
important to remember the other two things prior to selling them
25:23
is to dehorn your calves if, if you're still using bulls that
25:27
have got little stub horns or this or that.
25:30
And and granted that is hard, that's hard on on cattle.
25:34
I'd rather cut 100 bulls as Dehorn 2525 calves.
25:40
It it's tough and it's hard on them.
25:42
But boy, it is a big value determining characteristic at
25:46
the auction because the guy buying them is going to have to
25:49
do it. And those horn calves are tough,
25:53
tough to sell. The other thing I would say is
25:57
cutting your calves, castrating the calves and use a knife in
26:03
IFP knife knife. I can show you count and and the
26:08
guys that know what they're doing with the rubber bands that
26:11
that's great, but we don't advertise if your calves have
26:16
have been castrated with, with a with a rubber band or a calc
26:20
crate or what, whatever the the the system was and and I'm not
26:24
those are all good tools if you need to use them, but boy, those
26:29
rubber bands will break. You have a poor application with
26:33
them and you want to see some wrecks you can get into some.
26:37
I had a guy buy a bunch of calves one time that had been
26:39
banded with a rubber band. I think he had the FFA kids come
26:43
out and do it and not the seniors, the 9th graders.
26:46
And every one of those testicles was shoved up in that animal's
26:50
abdomen and they got the scrotum, but they didn't get the
26:53
job done. He, he didn't know, I mean, and
26:56
could have had is lucky he was a friend cuz he could have great
26:59
recourse on you. You're selling these catalyst
27:02
steers and, and they're not anyway, two in the hand beats 2
27:07
in the belly every time. So, and, and, and we've got a
27:12
few guys, not very many, but for a while there was a, it was
27:16
called Bordizio and that's a clamp.
27:21
And you leave the scrotum intact, but you clamp them, you
27:24
know, they still look like a bull from behind.
27:27
And in the 30 seconds or 2 minutes that we have to sell
27:31
those calves, to think that we're going to convince
27:34
everybody that those are steers, you know, when it looks like a
27:39
Suffolk ram when you look at him from behind.
27:41
We don't have enough time to educate everybody on what, what
27:46
the Hell's going on, you know, but, but these Bordezio and it,
27:49
it seems like we get a few of them, but no order buyer is
27:53
going to touch those. And it may be right.
27:56
And you did it perfect and everything was great.
27:58
But it's and it's not necessarily new, but you know,
28:03
you're you're dealing with so many dollars and you're
28:07
competing against, like I said, knife cut cabs or something like
28:10
that. And any order buyer would talk
28:13
to Elise Blue in the face. But if he wants to get a set of
28:16
cabs turned down, send somebody a bunch of those, is it right?
28:20
No, they're steers just like everything else, but more
28:23
incidents of problems and then trying to convince the
28:28
uneducated sector that, oh boy, you know, these, these are great
28:33
and they're steers and that's a bloodless way of doing it.
28:36
And that's the new deal. You're you're, you're not, you
28:39
know, you're, you're, you're still trying to compete in, in a
28:42
steer event. What what I say it's kind of
28:44
like an Olympic diver, you know, that's got his junk tucked in
28:48
the back of his Speedo. Why you're going to have a hard
28:51
time fooling anybody that that you're not a man.
28:54
So some, some something to think about if you're using a
28:58
Vordisio. I think also it's a good time it
29:01
when you're weaning those calves and cleaning them up, just that
29:05
that's a good time to, to pull any needed ear tags.
29:10
And, and that's not that you're trying to deceive anything, but
29:14
I will see calves come to the market that have got 2 ear tags
29:19
in one ear and four in the other.
29:22
And they are red, yellow, white, some are not, some got a hole in
29:26
them. Some are this big around and
29:28
some are this big around, you know, a true set of ranch
29:32
calves. And it's not that you're trying
29:35
to be deceptive, but that's all a buyer can see is when those
29:39
cattle are running around in the ring, they got all these ear
29:41
tags flopping around. And really, it serves a great
29:45
purpose for you. And I'm sure there's a reason
29:47
why you do it. But boy to the buyer, all it
29:51
does is present questions for him.
29:54
You know, why does that cap have a hog ring in the bottom of his
29:58
ear tag? Why does he have a notch out it?
30:00
Why he's got a whole throat? Well, it's probably be because
30:02
that animal has been treated at one time or the other and they,
30:06
they got the, the calf's name on the back number on the front
30:09
clean all that crap off and it just makes the cattle more
30:13
presentable, just so much more appealing.
30:16
And it, it gives more of a wholesome presents to the buyer
30:20
if you're not distracting with, with all those ear tags.
30:23
Plus, you know, another thing, if you've treated some calves,
30:26
which everybody does, probably not a good idea to have a bright
30:31
pink mark down the forehead of about five of them.
30:34
The calves, fine, he's healed up and he's going.
30:36
But if you're going to run him through the chute anyway and
30:39
give a second round of shots or clean them up and and do
30:43
yourself a favor. And and that's not trying to say
30:46
that you're, you know, not saying that the calf wasn't sick
30:49
one time. Well, yeah, he was.
30:51
But if he's still sick, they're going to cut him off the sale
30:54
and sell him separate anyway. But if he's healed up and going,
30:57
boy, don't put yourself behind the 8 ball because again, a
31:01
farmer may look at that and say, well, hell, that casts all
31:03
right, I don't have any problem, he's got a mark.
31:06
But try to convince an order buyer that's got to sell him to
31:09
a guy in Iowa that where's bib overalls, that there's nothing
31:14
wrong with that calf and you'll end up getting him back.
31:17
He doesn't want it. He's not going to pay for it.
31:19
And you talk to your blue in the face about what's a bizzio or
31:24
it's a just a pink mark in his forehead.
31:26
So what do you do? You you just shy away from
31:29
those. That's a conversation you don't
31:31
want to have with your guy on on the other end that's paying you
31:35
to do a job. It may not be right once again,
31:38
but that's that that's. So as we start to wrap all of
31:42
this up, how does everything translate to the day of the
31:46
sale? We've we've talked about all of
31:47
these things that you should be doing.
31:49
And I think it's probably on everyone's mind that like, hey,
31:50
if you're doing these things, you're going to perform better
31:53
at the sale. But how does it translate in
31:54
your mind for those sellers out there?
31:57
Well, I think right before the sale, you know, you want to keep
32:01
your calves as fresh as you possibly can, take every
32:04
advantage to help merchandise those cattle and and there's a
32:08
lot of things that you can do at home that will help the
32:12
appearance because we're still buying those calves out of
32:15
emotion, out of how good they look, how their hair looks,
32:19
whether they're bright eyed, they come through the ring.
32:22
You want those calves to, you know, really have their Sunday
32:26
best on when they come through the ring.
32:28
There's a way you can facilitate that.
32:31
You know, don't again, and I'm beating a dead horse.
32:33
Don't wean them 456 days ahead of time.
32:37
A cap will go stale in about a week and, and so or, or or even
32:43
less time. So if you're going to pull them
32:46
off the cow 4567 days ahead of time, you're doing yourself a
32:50
disfavor by taking those calves and trying to merchandise them.
32:55
They get a little dull eyed, they get a little snotty nose,
32:57
their hair starts laying down. They just look stale.
33:01
And so try to stay away from that if, if at all possible,
33:05
handle your calves as fresh as you can get them to the sale if
33:10
you're pulling them off the cow just as soon as you possibly
33:13
can, because things start to go South the longer they're they're
33:17
off the cow. And that's a good thing to
33:19
remember. That's going to happen on on the
33:21
buyer side and he knows that. But if he's already looking at a
33:25
set of stale calves, he knows he's behind the 8 ball before he
33:28
ever even starts, so you might introduce them to a little loose
33:33
hay. Alfalfa for a day or two usually
33:35
doesn't bother him, But if you've got some grass hay, if
33:38
you've got some rough hay that you can kind of at least
33:41
introduce them to, are they going to tank up on them?
33:44
Probably not, but at least it won't be foreign to them.
33:47
Whether it's that or some pellets for the places that feed
33:51
pellets at the auction, at least they know what it is before they
33:55
before they get there. Try to settle your cattle down
33:58
some and, and a lot of times that's that's an ongoing
34:01
process, but ride through your Cam, drive through, drive
34:05
through your Cam. Make them used to the presence
34:08
of people being around. That way it's not the first time
34:12
they've they've seen a human when they hit hit the auction.
34:15
If you are set up to do it, anything that you can do to
34:18
eliminate any more handling at the auction then is absolutely
34:22
necessary. I've got guys that not only sell
34:25
cattle at the auction, but also in terms of the video, if they
34:29
are set up to do it. In a perfect world, once they
34:32
give those second rounds of shots, they'll pair those by
34:36
sex. Some of them that have enough of
34:38
them will even pair them by size.
34:40
So when they go to deliver the cattle, I've got all my steers
34:44
on this truck and all my heifers on this truck.
34:47
And, and you think, man, oh man, that's a hell of a lot of work
34:50
pairing them all one at a time as they come out.
34:52
But just going through your calves and steering a heifer in
34:57
them, I would dare say we'll shrink those calves 2 or 3%.
35:02
And Lauren, at these levels, when you start talking about 3,
35:07
let's let's even say 3% of a £600 animal that's 18 lbs and 18
35:14
lbs times even $3 a pound, you're looking at 50 some bucks
35:20
a head just because what else are you going to do for your
35:24
outfit that'll make you 50 bucks a head?
35:27
And I'm just saying on leverages and if you're set up to do it,
35:32
if I can pair all my steered cabs over here and all my heifer
35:35
cabs over here, a lot of people aren't aren't set up to do it.
35:38
But if you can it, it's a quick way to pick up another twenty,
35:43
30-40 bucks a head just because that's one less time up and down
35:48
the alley that you've got to shrink those cabs once, once
35:51
they get once they get to the sales.
35:53
Something to think about the other thing I would say is man,
35:58
old man, keep those calves clean and if that means if you're
36:01
going a long distance you put a little sawdust down on the top.
36:05
What the Hell's $1520 worth of sawdust if you can keep the crap
36:09
off the backs of the ones below because of member we're buying
36:13
these off presents. That's the first time these
36:16
buyers have ever seen your cattle in their life and man,
36:19
you want to put your best foot forward and if it looks like
36:22
they've had 5 gallons of shit poured down their back, that's
36:26
not leaving a very good image. And the day you sell them is a
36:31
piss poor day to let the whole thing go to hell.
36:33
If you can do that haul those cattle empty and wean calves
36:38
especially I get people that come from a long ways away and
36:42
they think, oh, they get there, they'll be unfamiliar with the
36:44
water, unfamiliar with the feed. This is the last decent meal
36:48
they're going to get right here at my place.
36:50
And to fill those calves up and and to leave an leave them on
36:54
feed and water the day before you haul them is just, I unload
37:00
loads and loads and loads of them that they have just ruined
37:03
them because they've gotten them so dirty.
37:05
Haul them and and getting them here.
37:07
They'll eat once they get here. And I've yet to see cattle that
37:12
won't drink the water, you know. Yeah, well, that's different up
37:15
there and it's different. It's this and it's that.
37:18
Well, hell, they're going to empty out before they get here
37:20
anyway and get them here in time that they'll drink of water,
37:24
they'll eat the feed. So don't worry about it.
37:26
But even if they don't, you're so much better off having a
37:30
saleable product here then then a lot of crap that you're trying
37:34
to sell somebody that is so dirty that they're they're
37:37
they're unmurchable. And so anyway, that's what I
37:42
would say before you sell them, the timing of course is
37:45
important, how the cattle handle what the disposition, the cattle
37:49
and you need to share that with with your auction guy.
37:52
Once again, the buyer will forget the cattle that perform
37:55
really well, but he usually doesn't forget the ones that he
37:58
had problems with. So, and those are just tools
38:02
that I've seen over the years that seem to work for most of
38:05
the producers to get the best result.
38:07
Wonderful, John. Well, well, this was an amazing
38:11
conversation and so insightful and if nothing else, at least
38:14
gets the wheels turning for a lot of people on what are they
38:18
doing in their operation. And again, it all goes back to
38:21
communicating with your local auction and your person is going
38:26
to be merchandising your cattle because they're going to know
38:28
what's best for you. We talked about a lot of things
38:30
today that are up to the odds on whether it's best for you to do
38:33
this or best for you to do that. So talk to someone who's going
38:36
to know. I'm going to have that answer
38:38
for you. So that, like John, you can show
38:40
up at the sale barn and have the best possible outcome you can
38:43
without kind of just shitting all over yourself at the end of
38:46
the day. So John, thank you for your time
38:48
to all of our listeners out there.
38:49
We will see you all tomorrow on another episode.
38:52
Have a good one y'all.