Load Calf Lots Bring Higher Prices
Cattle Producers Get Load Lot Prices for Smaller Numbers
It is hard not to envy operations that can market calves in uniform truckload lots. All you have to do is sit ringside in a sale barn and compare the prices your handful of steers brought with those sold by the semi load.
Producers in southwest Virginia, even those with smaller herds, can get big herd prices, though. Their secret is the Abingdon Feeder Cattle Association (AFCA), which didn't stay secret for long. After selling 500 head in its first sale in 2005, the group is now topping 100 loads a year. Lebanon, Virginia, cattleman Zac Ketron said the reason is simple. "People who don't have a load can get load lot prices."
The process starts on the farm. First, producers wean and precondition their calves according to Virginia Quality Assurance (VQA) guidelines. This includes at least a 45-day post-weaning time when calves complete a double round of respiratory vaccinations as well as clostridial vaccinations and an RFID tag. They're dewormed and healed from castration and dehorning if needed. The calves also learn to eat out of a feed bunk, drink from a trough and get over the stress of leaving their mamas.
Two to three weeks before sale day, a Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDAC) grader and a county agent go to the farm and get an estimate of the calves' weights and grades. This lets them match those calves by computer with similar calves from other farms to form a truckload.
Russell County Extension agent Scott Jessee also videos the calves while he's on the farm, then edits and uploads them to DVAuction, which puts them on its website and broadcasts the sale. The sale is held at Tri-State Livestock Market in Abingdon where a conference line is used to help connect buyers and sellers.
A week after the sale, producers bring their calves to Tri-State -- steers on Monday and heifers on Wednesday. Each calf is weighed, graded again and sorted into truckload lots, then shipped. Each calf on a truck gets the same price per hundredweight (cwt). Buyers get a uniform truckload, often with only a 50- to 60-pound weight spread between calves.
PUTTING GROUPS TOGETHER HELPS PRODUCERS
Ketron sees this as a real plus. Even with tight 60-day fall and spring calving seasons, he said, "There has been a year or two when my weights would have been enough, but my calves haven't been uniform enough for a load lot of their own."
If all your calves aren't ready to sell at the same time, don't worry. AFCA now has seven sales spread throughout January, March, July, August, September, November and December. "We have a lot of calving seasons, spring, fall and 365-day seasons," said Jessee.
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It isn't a free ride by any means. If you've weaned calves on the farm, you know how quickly they can destroy a fence to get back to their mamas. Then there are the feed and vaccine costs. Abingdon producer Wayne Campbell figures he spends around $200 to $250 a head to precondition, then graze them until sale time. That includes paying himself minimum wage, the cost of the health products and the cost of leased land. In return, his black baldie calves usually go from 450 to 550 pounds at weaning to 800 pounds at sale time.
He likes the return on investment. Besides the increase in pounds from grazing the healthy calves, after almost 20 years of participation, he estimates the per-head premium ranges from $20 per head to $100.
Jessee, who has been a leader in the group from the start, as well as a participant with his own calves, said the average premium for the last 20 years is closer to $105 per head. For expenses, he said, "If they are preconditioned in confinement, it runs around $40 for hay and $45 for grain. The added weight gain during backgrounding helps to offset the feed expense. Grazing helps to cheapen it even more."
Sale fees are minimal, usually around $25 per head. Tri-State Livestock Auction charges $13.50 for commission, yardage and insurance, as well as clearing the transaction and loading the trucks. AFCA gets $5 per head, which includes advertising, the electronic tag and DVAuction expenses. The Virginia Cattlemen's Association (VCA) gets $4 per head and VDACS gets $1.75 per head.
Besides the enticing economics, participants say there is a list of reasons the sales are successful. "We all work together," said Campbell. That includes an alphabet soup of AFCA, VDACS, VCA, Tri-State Livestock Market and the Virginia Cooperative Extension Service. He emphasized, "If it wasn't for Scott Jessee and Phil Blevens, the county agents in Rusell and Washington counties, we wouldn't have a sales association."
GROUP HAS BEEN HELPING PRODUCERS FOR MANY YEARS
The group also has history in its favor. AFCA was formed in the 1960s when unweaned calves were sold under the group's name. VCA, with help from VDACS, also has its successful, long-running graded in-barn, board and Tel-O-Auction sales. AFCS sells under the board sale category. AFCA also uses VQA health guidelines, which were developed by the Extension service and VCA.
Jessee noted that Tri-State Livestock Market is a key player with its many pens to help in the sorting process. Since they also handle the money, the sales are bonded.
In addition, the Abingdon group has quality in its corner. The VDACS grader is quick to pull out calves that don't fit. "I tell them I want them to hurt my feelings here on the farm, not after I've hauled them to the sale barn. We want to sell the best," said Campbell. In his case, his feelings usually stay intact. Out of his last 51 head, not one was turned down.
If he does have a calf that doesn't make the grade, Campbell sells it at Tri-State's regular sale day on Fridays or he takes it to a nearby buying point.
"To be a successful marketing group, the producers have to buy into it and stick with it," said Jessee. "Most producers have learned by now and know which animals work, but it doesn't happen overnight."
AFCA also helps boost the genetic quality of area commercial operations by holding a spring bull sale. In addition, the bull sale gives its purebred members another marketing opportunity.
In Zac Ketron's case, if he doesn't feel his purebred AI-sired SimAngus and Angus calves are seedstock quality, they're castrated and sold as feeders. He said the AFCA sales also add value to the heifers he doesn't keep as replacements.
One of the few downsides, as far as buyers are concerned, is calves do have to be co-mingled rather than coming from one source. Jessee said, "We used to have some concern, but once the buyers tried them and were successful, there hasn't been much of a problem. Some of the cattle have even gone to Canada."
Buyers are also protected by guarantees. Males are guaranteed to be steers, and a rebate is given if a stag slips by. The same goes for pregnant heifers.
"The buyers really like the cattle and wait for the Abingdon sale," said VCA field representative Butch Foster, who goes with the VDACS graders to participating farms. In addition, he serves as an auctioneer for the sales. He also has his own stocker operation and gives one of the best endorsements for the group. "I try to buy some of the cattle, but they are so expensive I can't afford them!"
For more information, see:
Abingdon Feeder Cattle Association sales and DVAuction, http://afca.dvauction.com/…
Virginia Cattlemen's Association, Virginia Quality Assurance program,
Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, graded feeder cattle sales, http://www.vdacs.virginia.gov/…
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