Latest / CattleUSA Daily / 141: "Quality Is Still Job One": How to Sell Smarter at the Auction with John Campbell

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141: "Quality Is Still Job One": How to Sell Smarter at the Auction 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.
0:06
John has been coming on the podcast for the past few weeks,
0:08
but John is also someone that if you have been around the Cattle
0:11
USA YouTube channel for a while, he is someone you are familiar
0:15
with. John is an amazing person that
0:17
we are welcoming on to share just thoughts about the cattle
0:21
market, what is going on in the auction world and what is going
0:25
on just in the markets in general.
0:27
We start out this podcast with a little bit of of a cattle market
0:31
update, what John is seeing out at their market in Colorado.
0:35
And then also just kind of what we're seeing as far as the
0:39
temperature of the world goes as far as the cattle market.
0:42
Kind of our candid thoughts for the fall, what we're going to be
0:45
seeing in the next few weeks as far as all of that goes.
0:48
And just thoughts on this wild ride that is the cattle market
0:51
right now. And then after we get through
0:54
that, we are jumping right into a main topic for this podcast as
0:58
well, where we are talking the buyer side of the auction and
1:02
what are buyers looking for when they come to the cattle auction
1:07
and just everything that that entails specifically for our
1:11
sellers out there. What do our sellers need to know
1:14
about what our buyers are looking for?
1:16
And how can we help bridge some communication and just have the
1:19
best possible outcome that we can have when we take cattle to
1:23
the market. So without further ado, let's go
1:25
ahead and hop into this podcast with John.
1:26
But before we do, if you guys could like subscribe rate
1:29
review, you do all of those things.
1:31
We really appreciate it here at the team.
1:32
And if you are listening on a podcasting platform, make sure
1:35
you head on over to YouTube. It is always fun being able to
1:38
watch these videos and see them put out there as well.
1:42
So make sure you head on over to our YouTube.
1:44
We've got all of those links linked down below for you guys
1:46
where you can like subscribe rate review, do do all the
1:49
things. We we always appreciate it.
1:51
And let's go ahead and just get into this podcast with John.
1:58
Welcome to the Cattle USA Daily podcast, your go to source for
2:01
the latest livestock markets, industry insights and the
2:04
updates shaping agriculture today.
2:07
I'm your host, Lauren Moylan, a passionate advocate for
2:09
agriculture here to keep you informed and connected.
2:13
Now let's dive into today's episode.
2:19
John, welcome back to the podcast.
2:21
Happy Monday. I tell me what's going on in the
2:26
world of Colorado right now at your markets.
2:28
What happened last week? What are we seeing in the cattle
2:31
industry? All the things.
2:32
You know, it's a boy, it's an excellent time to be in the
2:36
auction business. We're we're seasonal here and a
2:38
lot as I hit on last week, you know, everybody's got grass and
2:43
and pounds is dollars. So really pretty typical.
2:46
You know, we, we are very, very seasonal and pretty right here
2:49
through the summer. But man, oh man, what an
2:51
excellent time to be headed to the auction to be in the auction
2:56
business. Everybody's happy when they
2:57
leave and they're happy before they even get here.
3:01
But you know, I, I don't think there's ever been a time when
3:06
the auction way of selling cattle in the auction atmosphere
3:10
just really couldn't couldn't be more more timely.
3:13
You know what, anytime you have big swings in the market, like
3:17
we're going and we're just going straight up, if you want to be
3:20
on the cutting edge of the market, boy, the public auction
3:23
is the place to be. And that's because we have seen
3:26
nothing but increases it in the market on, I say a weekly base,
3:31
but almost a, a daily basis. And anytime you got that much
3:35
competition and that much demand and you don't have to, you know,
3:39
be any kind of a market analyst to figure out that this market
3:42
is just getting higher and higher and higher everyday.
3:45
Who knows? It knows how long it's going to
3:47
last. But the atmosphere and the place
3:50
to take advantage of that is live competitive bidding at the
3:54
auction. You are getting the most current
3:57
market for any particular class at the public auction at that
4:02
particular time. So, you know, people are not
4:06
going out into the country, especially not now, but never
4:10
they don't leave the house saying, well, I'm going to go
4:12
out so I can pay more for one. You have to provide that
4:16
atmosphere if you're going to get somebody to pay more for
4:18
one. And the auction is, is really
4:21
the really the place to go. And I'm optimistic right on out
4:26
through the fall, you know, and we we have of course a shortage
4:30
into the fall. I think we're going to go into a
4:32
shortage of fed cattle that's going to that's going to keep
4:36
the supply of beef on the market.
4:38
And we're a couple steps removed from that, but not really on our
4:42
feeder cattle. So supplies are tight.
4:44
We have have an overabundance of feed and it is cheap.
4:48
I, I was talking to a farmer today that farms over around
4:52
Lamar Co and farms a lot of corn and some of it has to do with
4:56
high-priced cattle. But he said John, 1 steer is
5:00
worth more than an entire truckload of corn.
5:04
And, and I thought, how can that be?
5:07
He said, well you get 2500 bucks for a steer.
5:10
I said, yeah, we can sure do that.
5:11
He said a load of corn won't bring $2500.
5:14
So a lot of hay, a lot of corn. Sordrum Weed aid Trita Kaylee
5:21
from this country E la Hana E. There is an over oversupply of
5:29
feed and it is not worth much and it is in such a a
5:34
composition that it's about got to go through cattle.
5:37
So you're dealing with another aspect of the market, people
5:41
that might normally be selling commodities or about the only
5:45
way you get rid of tons and tons of baled triticali or baled weed
5:50
a or, or to this point, even corn, you're going to have to
5:53
put it through some cattle. So we're going to see the normal
5:56
onslaught of demand from the cow, the calf guy, the stalker
6:02
operator, the yearlin operator, all classes of cattle there in
6:06
the market. Plus we got this abundance of
6:08
feed and we're going to see a lot more farmers and a lot more
6:12
grazers in the market this fall, which helps demand on on a
6:17
shorter supply of calves that we're going to be able to offer.
6:21
I think those are going to be paramount into the price.
6:24
As far as the forecast goes. The greatest motivator there is
6:27
is all segments of that industry what whether it's even the cow
6:31
calf guy wanting to buy replacement females wanting to
6:34
buy stock cows. You got the stalker, the
6:38
background operator and you got the feed yard guy.
6:41
Every entity there was profitable last year and it has
6:45
been the last couple years and there's no greater motivator
6:49
than coming off a profit. And you combine that with
6:52
shorter numbers of Cal, abundance of cheap feed barn,
6:56
any catastrophe somewhere like like I mentioned, somebody falls
7:00
over dead at a Burger King, why we always run the risk of that.
7:04
But I am super optimistic about what's going on and what's going
7:08
to happen that this fall once these farmers get in a posture
7:12
in a position and once we start seeing some numbers coming to
7:16
the auction. I, I think the market has got
7:18
potential to go even higher. And I get asked every day, how
7:23
much better, how much better can it be 9 years out of 10, we're
7:26
going through the doldrums, the summer doldrums right now.
7:30
Now's when the market is usually pretty tough and Christ, were
7:33
putting money on it every day. What what's it going to be when
7:36
people are ready for some cattle.
7:38
So really optimistic. Again, the auctions, a place to
7:41
bring them where you've got a full complement of buyers for
7:45
every class of cattle all assembled one place versus
7:49
trying to, to trade with one person in, in the country.
7:52
But I would probably always be guilty of saying that especially
7:56
this year. I, I think everything's great at
7:58
winter livestock. We will have a series of special
8:02
calf sales starting October the 20th and we'll run every Monday
8:08
through November the 10th. And, and here we're fortunate we
8:11
deal with enough gabs that we dedicate a day on Mondays to
8:17
just merchandise calves for the calf sellers.
8:21
And then we have yearlings on Tuesday and cows and bulls on on
8:24
Tuesday every Tuesday as well. But we set aside five Mondays
8:29
every year that we service just the calf seller.
8:33
And like I said, I, I, I'm really looking forward to, to
8:36
it. It's fun to sell them when
8:37
they're this high. A. 100 percent, 100%, That's so
8:41
exciting. Last last week, Lauren, we saw
8:44
some awfully good prices. He had, you know, 9 weight
8:48
steers up to 322, which, you know, that's kind of like, well,
8:52
what's a car worth it? It depends what, what kind of
8:54
car you got and what your, what you bring to the sale and what
8:57
you're driving. But these were good cattle, good
9:00
steers, but 3 colored cattle. I mean, they, it wasn't like
9:04
they were all one reason. They were bought throughout the
9:08
spring and put together and put into a grow yard, which we get a
9:11
lot of those kind of cattle here.
9:13
We're not a big wheat area. So the kind of cattle that you
9:17
don't always see top in the market like a, a set of home
9:20
raised all one color coming off grass might, but still really
9:24
good cattle. They weighed close to 950 and
9:28
brought 3/22 and the heifer mates off of them weighing just
9:33
a little over 7 at 3:36 and some 8 weight eppers at 321, which
9:40
for the condition that they were in the cattle all had some flesh
9:43
on them and and sure carry an adequate feel that that's where
9:47
you come to the auctions you recuperate some of your weight.
9:50
But I thought it was a tremendous sale, had some little
9:52
light 3 weight cabs bring 540 a pound.
9:56
And we're just talking about packages that cattle in these
9:59
calves. And again, I I can't believe
10:02
what they'll be worth when we start getting into some loads of
10:05
some of these reputation calves. So be fun to find out.
10:08
Yes, absolutely. It's a very exciting time to be
10:13
someone in the cattle business, in the auction business.
10:15
And it's one of those things that we've talked about it
10:18
before, John, that we don't really know what's coming around
10:20
the corner, but darn it, we're we're holding on and we're here
10:23
for the roller coaster ride and it's a fun one right now, that's
10:27
for sure. So talking cattle market and
10:30
bringing cows to the market. We've been kind of on a routine
10:33
in the past few weeks where we've been talking about
10:35
different things that sellers, buyers look for all of these
10:39
different aspects. We've talked nutrition and
10:41
health, we've talked transport. Gosh, we've talked so many
10:44
different topics. Today we're going to kind of
10:46
dive into what buyers are looking for specifically when
10:49
we're bringing couch to the market, how to market our
10:52
animals the absolute best. SO diving into that topic a
10:55
little bit, John, I would love to hear what your thoughts are
10:59
on what are buyers looking for when they are coming to the sale
11:03
barn? What are they looking for as far
11:05
as these animals go? Right.
11:07
Well, and I think the nice thing about the auction, you've got a
11:11
buyer for, for whatever you bring, whatever you've got.
11:15
Is there an ideal? Yeah, there there could be.
11:19
And what we kind of hold true as well these, you know that here's
11:22
the optimum of what's offered today at the auction.
11:25
Well, that may be for one guy, but not for the next guy.
11:28
So the beautiful thing about the auction, you, you have somebody
11:32
and depth at every weight, every classification, every color of
11:37
whatever you have. And so that's the fortunate
11:40
thing about the auction. You can get rid of your good
11:43
cattle, you can get rid of your middle class cattle or if you
11:47
got some cuts or some cattle that need to come off the loan,
11:50
it's a one stop shop and they'll be competition for every class
11:55
of that, regardless of of what you got to sell.
11:58
And that's a beautiful thing about it.
12:00
Mostly, you know it. To reiterate what we talked a
12:03
little bit about last week, quality is is still job one and
12:08
quality is is made-up of not only the frame and the bone and
12:12
the confirmation, but also the condition that that the cattle
12:16
are carrying. You know, frame is really
12:18
important anymore when these people are finishing these
12:22
calves and when the cap buyers taking them to a stock or taking
12:26
them to a yearling, they're getting these cattle bigger all
12:29
the time. Now, that's not something you
12:31
can change in one generation, or maybe you don't even want to.
12:35
But as far as far as what a buyer is looking for,
12:38
especially, he wants to know how much outcome those cattle have.
12:43
And that's a combination, like I said, of the frame, you know,
12:46
can I make them big? They're wanting these cattle at,
12:50
at, at, at harvest to be 1600 lbs.
12:54
Will some you got to have the composition to do that And, and,
12:57
and some some don't. You can make anything weigh
13:00
1600, but have they done it cost effectively getting at that
13:04
point? So, so that's, that's one thing
13:06
that they're looking at. There's some contracts out there
13:08
for premium for some of these heavier carcasses.
13:13
You, you can have frame a Longhorn or Coriandi's got frame
13:17
at 400 lbs, but you still got to hang some meat from them, meat
13:22
on them and, and they got to have some, some composition to
13:26
them. And, and a lot of these exotics
13:30
have entered into the market mainly because of the substance
13:33
of bone those cattle are carrying.
13:35
So the first thing that a buyer's looking at is he wants
13:38
to distinguish, OK, they've got a lot of frame, how much bone
13:41
are they standing on? And that's where you'll separate
13:43
maybe some of the inferior performing cattle from the
13:49
higher performing cattle is what we call the, the substance of
13:53
bone or what, how much bone do those cattle have to, to hang
13:57
this muscle mass to? And, and you got to have frame
14:00
on them in order in order to make them big.
14:03
And of course confirmation is important and the muscle like I
14:07
said it attached to the frame. They can look down the top line
14:11
of these cattle and and look by the condition it now it is that
14:15
muscle composition or is that flash or is it compensatory gain
14:19
on cattle that are thin view them from behind just the basic
14:26
4H livestock judging. I I would tell you know the
14:29
higher volume I have your muscle cattle that that have more
14:32
confirmation and combined with an adequate amount of condition
14:37
are certainly going to be the ones that merit the the highest
14:40
price condition. Very, very important how fat
14:43
those calves are. The buyer is looking what can I
14:46
buy that will take best advantage of the feed that I
14:50
have to give them. And so if you're you're taking,
14:53
you can take calves maybe with a little more flesh if you're
14:57
going into a grow yard situation, you know, if you're
15:01
going to put them right back on feed.
15:03
And of course, the buyer always wants something that's thin and
15:06
flesh because he wants to take it advantage and he wants to
15:10
recognize the compensatory game that that animals got.
15:13
But versus a guy that's going to buy, say, a calf in the spring
15:17
and turn him out on grass, well, he doesn't want to let the
15:21
condition score of that animal decline until the grass kicks in
15:27
and he can start appreciating how much those cattle will gain.
15:31
So you'll see that in the spring of the year a lot of times
15:35
because it's the difference in in in the buyer, you've got a
15:39
guy that is buying cattle and he's wanting to go to grass with
15:43
him. So he doesn't want cattle that
15:45
he's going to have to let down before he can start and going
15:49
again. And you'll see some cattle that
15:50
are thin and flesh a lot of times might outsell cattle that
15:54
maybe have superior genetics, you know, but their composition,
15:58
it is wrong for that for that time of the year, in the fall of
16:02
the year. It varies by area, but in our
16:05
area, other than over W, everybody's had a good summer.
16:09
So all the condition scores of the Cavs are probably going to
16:12
be pretty comparable. The Cavs are all going to be
16:15
pretty adequate in their flesh, probably medium flesh on up,
16:19
medium plus. So when you go to the grocery
16:22
store and that's all they got to sell, that's what you buy.
16:24
Ideally, yeah, we'd like to find a starved out gap that's thin
16:28
and had a rough life and has more outcome and frame to really
16:33
explode. But you're probably not going to
16:36
find that, at least in this area that this fall.
16:39
So all those things you you kind of have to weigh out.
16:42
Disposition is another thing, you know, if these cattle, as I
16:46
mentioned it, if you've been out handling them, feeding them,
16:49
riding through them, and that doesn't mean with a motorcycle,
16:52
but horseback are on foot. But boy, disposition is
16:57
important. And if you got cattle that are
16:59
bouncing off the ring here, they're probably going to bounce
17:03
off the bend when that guy gets a home too.
17:05
So you can have really, really good cattle.
17:07
But if they are just so cotton picking wild, it makes a
17:10
difference. And all of those
17:12
characteristics, Lauren, have a value attached with them.
17:16
And granted, we're at such elevated levels now and you're
17:19
dealing with such a short supply of cattle, all of those can
17:23
conditions may not be as significant as they would be in
17:28
times of bloody if you got all the cattle in the world to
17:31
choose from. Buyers get a lot more picky at
17:35
what they want. And small differences in
17:37
conditions, small differences in confirmation, in bone, in
17:41
disposition, boy, oh boy, they'll just back right off.
17:44
But because they know there's another lot or another lot or
17:47
another lot behind them that maybe will fit their mold a
17:50
little bit better again back. That's the great thing about
17:54
coming to an auction. We're going to be dealing with a
17:57
lot tighter supplies this year. So you're going to see that
18:00
discrepancy between all of those characteristics shrink because
18:05
supply trump's all of that. And if you're going to get them,
18:09
you got to get them because they're probably going to be
18:12
higher next week and they'll be less of them to choose from.
18:15
So all those, all those factors kind of kind of weigh in.
18:20
What are some immediate turn offs or things that like maybe
18:23
they're not fully a turn off, but they're like you said
18:28
earlier, there is a buyer for everything at the market
18:30
thankfully, but some indicators that might damage or just kind
18:36
of impede on the performance of that animal in the ring.
18:40
We're fortunate here in Lana in that we have a lot of
18:44
independent buyers, farmer feeders that are spending their
18:47
own money. So what priorities to those guys
18:51
may be a little different as a whole, They're they're a little
18:54
easier to sell to, They're a little more forgiving on a lot
18:58
of those things because they're spending their own money.
19:00
And boy, they're looking right at the product that that they're
19:04
going to take possession of. So, you know, things like
19:07
uniformity, condition, color, those things are all really
19:11
important because those are physical aspects that we can
19:15
reach out and touch and we say, oh man, we like that.
19:17
You know, that's, that's another attribute to the auction.
19:22
You know, you're not ordering it over the phone or through Amazon
19:26
or picking up a phone and, and ordering a set of tires.
19:30
You know, anytime I can get the buyers or we can get the buyers
19:35
here where they can physically inspect the cattle, they're
19:38
always willing to give more than they would give Lauren you as an
19:42
order buyer or me as an order buyer.
19:44
They're going to cushion that order a little bit versus what
19:47
they would give if they're here physically looking and and and
19:51
buying the cattle. So when you're when you're
19:53
dealing with professionals and when you're dealing with order
19:55
buyers, why health, of course, it is important.
20:00
If you want to know what a turn off is, try to sell a, you know,
20:04
a load of cans that has questionable cattle that in the
20:07
mix, You know, cattle that are just maybe about to break.
20:10
They don't show the freshness of their hair is kind of laying
20:13
down. Their eyes are getting a little
20:15
more dull for the professionals will pick up on that.
20:17
So. You know, that's really
20:20
important. And Cavs are the bad, you know,
20:23
2 rounds of shots. As we mentioned before, there's
20:26
getting to be a growing concern that way.
20:28
Guys want the list of those calves.
20:31
Of course, obvious things like the uniformity of the lot, the
20:34
size of the lot, the color of the lot and the condition all
20:38
the way through a, a, a particular draft.
20:42
If you've got cattle at varying condition, which if they're
20:45
coming off the cow or coming off the faint same feed source, they
20:48
ought to be be pretty uniform condition wise.
20:51
But so anyway, those things are all really critical and then
20:55
important and order buyers are trying to fill an order.
20:58
So they're looking at weights, they're looking at numbers
21:02
because of the transactions here on the people going very far,
21:06
they're dealing with 50,000 lbs and that's what they're shooting
21:09
for. So, you know, the closer you can
21:13
get to that ideal weight with your consignment, the more
21:17
merchantable though those animals become.
21:20
But that's pretty hard to do. You know, unless you run 6700
21:24
cows, it's pretty hard to have a draft of a hundred 500 LB cows
21:29
because by the time you steer an heffer and then size them three
21:32
ways, you're probably not going to hit 105 hundred pounders
21:36
exactly. So the fires are going to have
21:39
put some cattle together and, and, and so it it, it doesn't
21:45
have to be the bigger lots like we mentioned.
21:47
Usually they demand a little more presence and, and, and a
21:52
little more respect than than some of the onesie twosie
21:55
threesies. But you'll see that at at the
21:58
end of the day also or at the beginning, guys are wanting to
22:01
get started and they may have to fill out a load with eighteens
22:07
20s just to make that magic number.
22:09
And that's a pot load of cattle because it cost them the same
22:13
whether they're transporting 28,000 lbs or 50,000 lbs.
22:17
So for that, that's kind of what they're looking at.
22:19
And they want Cadillac complement one another, which if
22:23
they're at an auction of very much volume, that that usually
22:26
doesn't pose much much of a problem with them.
22:29
And, you know, getting back to the auction atmosphere, one
22:33
thing I don't think a lot of people appreciate is that you
22:36
you've got an auction operator or a guy up in the block that
22:40
really stands behind the cellar. He's taking on the
22:44
responsibility of the seller at the time the cattle are being
22:48
sold. Any auction operator worth his
22:50
salt is going to represent your cattle of the way you would like
22:54
them represented. And, and he's already shaped
22:56
them up to sell. And if there's any cattle that
22:59
needed taken off, any cattle needed evened up size, they've
23:03
already done all of that on your behalf.
23:05
So not only as a seller can you sell with more confidence that
23:09
way because you know, the auction, if there's any little
23:12
odd cattle, they're off. We've sized the cattle so we
23:15
have uniform lots that look really good, but also he's the
23:19
go between guy for the buyer and the buyer appreciates that as
23:23
well too. I don't call up Lauren and say,
23:26
hey Lauren, you had a Ding Dong on that load of cattle I bought
23:29
there at Winter Livestock from you.
23:31
You know, one held his head this way and had a foot about the
23:35
size of your head. He goes back to the auction
23:38
operator for that. So as a seller, you're relieved
23:41
of a lot of that pressure and a lot of that negotiation that has
23:45
to take place between a buyer and a seller.
23:48
That's where the Commission comes in.
23:50
You hired a guy to be your representative.
23:54
That will take the heat on all of that.
23:56
And plus he'll hand you all the gratitude.
23:59
Did any of the buyers may have presented in with a man?
24:02
I sure like those Moylan cabs. Those things were great.
24:06
Let me know next year when those cabs come through.
24:08
They, they just did a great job for you.
24:10
Or boy John, I had, you know, I had one that just wasn't quite
24:13
right on that taking the sale, selling or else bring him back
24:17
to me and I, I'll make it right. You know what I mean?
24:20
So the buyer appreciates that because he knows who he goes to.
24:24
We're fortunate we don't make a lot of adjustments, but if you
24:26
do, hey, you've got a representative right there in
24:30
the auction guy that handles all your troubles for you.
24:33
And even though they're limited, he's an intermediary for you
24:37
when when you're selling the cattle.
24:39
And he's also there in terms of market support too.
24:42
You know, he, he's going to make sure those cattle bring full
24:45
value. So it, it, it's a win win
24:48
atmosphere and just full circle going right back to what we
24:52
talked about today, man, what, what, what a great concept to be
24:57
involved in when the markets going straight up like it is.
25:00
Yes, it absolutely is talking a little bit about.
25:04
So we talked how like the you are being represented at the
25:08
sale barn as a seller and it takes a little bit of the
25:11
pressure off of you, but at the same time you still kind of gain
25:14
a reputation, especially if you go to the same sale barn week
25:17
after week, year after year, you you gain a reputation, right.
25:21
How much does that impact the way that those cattle sell in
25:25
the ring? Well, again, you've got a
25:28
seasoned professional representing you, not on not
25:31
only you, but your operation, your health program, your
25:35
genetics, the numbers of cattle you raise, the the quality of
25:40
your program. You've got someone that should
25:42
be so well versed in all of that and should know you well enough
25:46
through your reputation. There's nobody can do as good a
25:51
job at, at representing you than your auction operator.
25:55
He he's been to your place, he knows your operation, he knows
25:58
the insurance and outs, he knows your health, he knows your
26:00
genetics. And he can kind of summarize all
26:04
of that in a fashion and in a language that every potential
26:08
buyer can comprehend. Just kind of like, you know,
26:12
don't do your own taxes. You don't pay somebody that
26:15
knows what they're talking about and how they're doing it and can
26:18
communicate with the IRS or whoever may be as your
26:22
representative. And, and it's the same way in,
26:24
in the oxygen atmosphere. But because as far as a
26:27
reputation, it takes years to develop one.
26:31
But as you, as people become more accustomed with your
26:35
cattle, they have more experience with them.
26:38
Like I said, they, they remember those names and, and, and also
26:42
there's a lot of behind the scenes activities that take
26:45
place way ahead of auction time, not only in advertising, but the
26:51
same way, if you can sign your cabs, I look at who's bought
26:54
those cabs the last two or three years.
26:56
Hey, Warren, we, we, we got those XYZ cattle coming up next
27:00
week. I know you bought them in the
27:02
past. And, and so you reiterate to
27:05
those people, remember those were the ones that were this
27:09
that were this, that were this. And we start qualifying those
27:12
cattle to fit a specific buyer because we know what class and
27:18
what kind of cattle that buyer is buying from week to week to
27:22
week. So we tried to mold that
27:25
consignors cattle and and granted we have some that won't
27:28
fit you at all. OK, we have another and buyer in
27:32
mind for those specific galley it it's not just a general dart
27:36
board deal where well, hell, whoever shows up, I guess that's
27:40
who's going to buy them. And that's true, but don't think
27:44
that a competent auction guy hasn't done his homework.
27:48
And and if he's not, you probably ought to look look
27:50
somewhere else. You know, if, if you have
27:52
numbers of, of any sufficient amount whatsoever, we've got
27:57
cattle every week and you know, we have my gosh, 880 years worth
28:02
a list of buyers that have participated here and do so on a
28:06
weekly basis. And some come and some go.
28:09
But we have to be on track of who's buying what.
28:13
And then make sure that we have an offering that, you know, that
28:17
they'll be able to come to the sale and, and fill what, what,
28:20
whatever orders they need. I think quality sellers, they
28:25
are quality buyers really want, want the cattle that, that are
28:28
right for them. And, and they trust the auction
28:31
guy to put two and two together that way.
28:33
You know, I mean, we get a lot of information from buyers.
28:37
John, here's what I've got. I've got a guy that is going to
28:40
weed. He wants to buy some little
28:42
lightweight calves and start some little 3 weights and da da,
28:45
da, da da and Lauren, I may say, and he's going to have a tough
28:49
time get a load out of here this week.
28:51
But in two weeks, I've got those boiling calves coming and boy,
28:55
they're, they'll fit in perfect, you know, and they're this and
28:58
they're this and they're this. So there's always a
29:00
communication going on that way with the buyer, but also with
29:04
the seller. You know, I'd stay away from
29:07
this week. You know, we got a holiday Labor
29:09
Day coming up. Let's wait a week.
29:11
I can surround you with more like cattle, like what you have
29:15
got and buyers will be able to make loads out of them.
29:18
So it's a, it's a constant communication between buyer and
29:22
seller and an auction operator is kind of the intermediary
29:26
that, that that's putting the two mindsets together.
29:30
And as you have more experience, not only with the buyer, but
29:33
also with the seller, that trust grows and grows and grows.
29:38
And we'll have a lot of sales. And I already tell you who's
29:41
going to buy them because we've identified that individual or
29:45
two or three or four of them. And it'll be one of these three
29:49
guys that end up with them because we've tracked that guy
29:52
down and said, hey, I know what you want.
29:55
And we got so like I said it it, it's more in depth I think than
30:00
than people realize. Yeah.
30:02
As someone who's kind of like the intermediary person, you
30:04
work with sellers, you work with buyers, you work with everyone
30:07
else in between across the spectrum.
30:09
Is there anything that you talk to buyers all the time and
30:12
they're like, I wish more sellers understood this aspect
30:15
or I wish more people just understood this aspect of of
30:19
kind of like what happens to their cattle after the market or
30:22
just what are your thoughts there?
30:24
Is there anything that just kind of gets lost in the weeds that
30:27
either side needs to understand a little bit more of?
30:30
I guess the first thing that comes to mind would would be
30:33
what's involved health aspect wise, numbers wise.
30:38
I think the seller really, and and it's hard because they're
30:42
not put, they're, they're not wearing that hat, but put the
30:47
buyer's hat on and think about what questions he's got the
30:52
answer to his people that he's buying from.
30:55
He may be convinced that they're the greatest thing in the world,
30:58
better than sliced bread. You know, it's just perfect.
31:01
Yeah. But today for what I got, you
31:04
know, I can use them, right? I, I can't use them.
31:06
They don't fit my specific order that I got today.
31:09
Tomorrow. Yeah, maybe next week, maybe
31:12
you'll you'll have it. And and I think a lot of times
31:16
buyers don't or sellers maybe don't appreciate that how
31:19
important the freshness, how important the health is.
31:22
Because we've got a whole nother scenario that's taking place
31:26
after the after the cattle leave the ring.
31:29
And, and some are just going to go and get turned out.
31:32
Some are going to get shut up. They're going to be fed in a
31:35
bunk, new surroundings that they've never seen before.
31:38
And the buyer is dealing with a lot of variables too.
31:42
It isn't just A1 size fits all. When the buyer comes, we have
31:46
differences in confirmation, differences in color,
31:49
differences in condition, depending on who's actually
31:53
buying the cattle. Do I have a guy that just wants
31:55
commodity cattle, 3 colored, that's OK to put together and
32:00
da, da, da, da, da, I have a price for that.
32:02
I have a home for those. Or do I have just the toughest
32:06
guy in the world to buy for and everything has just got to be
32:11
perfect for him to participate? He'll participate at crazy high
32:16
levels if everything is done just right.
32:18
And, and again, that's where your auction operator comes back
32:22
in. He ought to be able to classify
32:25
those cattle according to where the demand is based on your
32:30
specific consignment. We'll color a lot of cattle here
32:33
if it looks like the black deals are runaway or the Reds or, you
32:39
know, red Angus females. If that's the case, well, you
32:42
don't want to stick a black in there when you're getting $500
32:46
they had or $100 they had more for a straight set of high
32:50
influence red Angus cattle. You're better to help the seller
32:53
to cut the black off and it may work in, in in the opposite.
32:58
And it depends on on how many cattle you have.
33:01
If you only have 5, you're kind of defeating the purpose to
33:04
color them three ways and then size them and sell them one at a
33:07
time. You're better off to bunch them
33:09
off at the end of the day. So again, that goes back to the
33:13
guy you've got representing you not only as being a buyer, but
33:17
Mr. Seller, the same guys representing you and kind of put
33:22
it in his hands and know what questions they ask.
33:25
But how's the best way to merchandise what I've got to
33:28
sell? Yeah, makes perfect sense.
33:30
As we round out the podcast, is there any other closing
33:33
comments, Anything else that you want to leave with our audience
33:36
today, John? I think we're great.
33:38
I appreciate it and I hope that everybody is maybe not getting
33:42
an education, but but getting a different viewpoint on maybe
33:45
some questions that that we all have in different philosophies
33:49
that are out there. And, and just a little bit of
33:52
the why the results ended the way they did.
33:56
When I had a great experience at the auction, maybe what what
33:59
took place behind the scenes that way that that created the
34:03
environment that that I was able to sell into.
34:06
And sometimes that can be bad. And if it is, why?
34:09
Those are questions you need to ask as well.
34:11
Yes, 100%. Well, John, as always, thank you
34:14
so much for your time and all the knowledge and thoughts and
34:18
candidness that you share with us and our audience.
34:20
We appreciate it as always to all of our listeners out there,
34:23
we hope you have a great rest of your week like subscribe, rate,
34:28
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34:30
today, make sure you let us know.
34:32
Leave us a comment, leave us all the things.
34:33
We appreciate it here at the team and we will see you all
34:36
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