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Soapweed

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northern Nebraska Sandhills
This little story came out of my dad's autobiography. The time period was the fall of 1951, all of 1952, until February of 1953.

"We had 20 steer calves left over after selling the biggest 50 head for 40 cents a pound. I decided to buy 20 more to put with them so we would have a load to sell as yearlings. I went to the Gordon sale and bought 20 nice steer calves. At that time, cattle went on the scale after they left the ring. From my vantage point on the top row, they looked small. I paid 42 cents a pound for them. It turned out they weighed more than the calves we had sold.

"Winter really set in about mid-November. We had to start feeding hay to the cattle and I knew, and was reminded by Dad and Stan, that we had too many cattle. To take some pressure off our feed situation, we made a deal with some neighbors that they would keep all 40 steer calves until the following fall for half the gain in weight.

"Our partnership calves wintered well and gained well during the summer, but cattle prices fell drastically from the all-time high of the fall before. That fall I found a buyer who was willing to pay 26 cents a pound for the 38 remaining yearlings, two having been casualties for one reason or another. Fritz thought we should hold out for 27 cents, and the market continued to drop. I couldn't find anyone willing to buy them at that price.

"Verle Lantefield had bought my calves a couple years before. I made a deal with him to pay half the shipping expense and take them down to North Bend, near Fremont, and feed them out for half the gain that he put on. Fritz still held out for 27 cents a pound for his share of the gain which amounted to about 200 pounds per head. I bought his share.

"They were in Verle Lantefield's feedlot until February (1953) and topped the market at $22.75 per hundred weight, bringing but very little more per head than I paid for them as calves. Actual loss per head amounted to about $100. I wasn't a very enthusiastic speculator for some time after that."
 
Boy what would sale barns look like today if the scale was on the other side of the ring? Interesting that they weighed after the sale. That's cattle trading in a nutshell however! (My losses on those good Shorthorn show heifers I bought a while back have made me a more cautious and thoughtful buyer.) I love the old stories Soap, always entertaining. Also, if you could use an extra hand in the spring to brand, I will pack myself and my rig up and day work for the price of meals!
 
mytfarms said:
Boy what would sale barns look like today if the scale was on the other side of the ring? Interesting that they weighed after the sale. That's cattle trading in a nutshell however! (My losses on those good Shorthorn show heifers I bought a while back have made me a more cautious and thoughtful buyer.) I love the old stories Soap, always entertaining. Also, if you could use an extra hand in the spring to brand, I will pack myself and my rig up and day work for the price of meals!

That sounds like a great offer, mytfarms, but we don't brand very glamorously anymore. We use Polaris Rangers to round up and corral the cattle, and a calf table to brand them. It's not very photogenic, but does seem to be easy, functional, and efficient.
 
Yes, that is a fast way to do it! Dad still insists we rope and drag, but the other day I heard talk of a 4 wheeler purchase for the ranch. Father must be getting soft in his later years lol.
 
One can get an education in economics in a down market.

I sold my yearling strs this year at the top of the market but still have all my calves,
hope the market warms up a bit in the new year.
 
I know a handful of barns that weigh after cattle are sold. If you want an education sit there and watch awhile.. You can make a killing buying OR lose it all quick.
 
Reminds me of Ben Green the horse trader, decided to get new glasses then went to the sale barn....can't remember if he was buying mules or horses but after the sale he went out to survey his purchases and found out his glasses made the critters in the ring look 200 lbs bigger than they actually were......
 
MY Dad bought a lot of calves in the country. One time he was looking at some calves and the farmers dog was running along spooking the cows so he couldn't get a good look. Well when he weighed them up they were quite a bit heavier then he thought.
Another old boy figured he "would be 9lbs out on a rooster?"
 

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