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Selling calves on video? Pro & Cons

tenbach79

Well-known member
I am thinking about selling my calves on superior this year. Wanted to know what people like or disliked about this service. Thought that I might try something diffrent this year don't know if it would be a good idea or not. Like to hear some views on this.
 

DejaVu

Well-known member
I sold on Superior several years ago. The calves sold well because of health guarantees I offered. Documented shots, weaned and BVD tested free. You don't pay for trucking, that's the buyers responsibility. You must know the weight of your calves because of the slide. I thought the commission was high compared to local sale barns, but you are getting wide coverage. My calves went to a buyer 60 miles away! So, the "wide coverage" sure wasn't a big deal! Long hauls aren't affordable or good for the calves. (Superior recently sold but I'm told it's business as usual. No changes, we as sellers, would notice.) About 10 minutes before my calves sold, a rep called on the phone. I had the sale on TV. As they sold, I watched and had the option to "no sale" at the end. You have to put it all together to decide if it pays. Commission and trucking to a local barn or higher commission and no trucking thru Superior. It's probably a wash when you figure it up. I've got no problems with Superior. You pay a small fee up front to have them film your cattle and placed in the sale. At sale time, the buyer makes a down payment
to Superior which is sent to you. At delivery time, which is specified at the time of sale, the Superior rep is there and figures all the "damages", and you get a final check issued thru Superior. You also need a certified scale somewhere for the truck to weigh empty and loaded. Shrink and slide will be figured at that time. So, you are either running scared or totally bewildered now?
 

WyomingRancher

Well-known member
We haven't sold on the video it before, but it does look like a good option. When I got the go ahead to try and market the calves differently, I made a bunch of calls to buyers. I lucked out and found one which has bought them for several years now. Here's a link to a site which has cattle buyer contact information if you want to explore the private treaty route.

http://www.wyobeef.com/

Good luck! :D
 

Cedarcreek

Well-known member
This will be our 8th year selling on Superior. A good rep can make a difference on how your cattle sell. We have been satisfied with the way ours have been selling In that tiem we have had several repeat buyers. Our calves have went to buyers in Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota and last year one of the lots went to a neighbor 20 miles away. It's been working good for us.
 

tenbach79

Well-known member
A couple guys around here sell there cattle on the video and they really like it and have had good luck with it. I have had really good luck at our local sale barn but just thought that this might give me a big area and hopefully a better price. Thanks for all your comments on this.
 

Jassy

Well-known member
We bought some bulls off of Superior, of course hubby had talked to the guy beforehand and knew which bulls he wanted..but everything went good for us...I think it's worth a try for ya...
 

rancherfred

Well-known member
We have been selling our calves on Superior for several years now. We like the increase in exposure that it gives us. Instead of taking the cattle to the local barn and hoping that there is someone there that thinks they are worth good money you now can have exposure to buyers over the entire US. Our calves have gone as far as Texas. Most of the time they end up in Nebraska and Kansas. We have had several repeat buyers and I think that helps to get us a better price.

The only draw back that I think Superior needs to work on is their reps. We have a good rep, but I think they end up with a conflict of interest because until the calves are sold they are your rep but once the calves are sold then they become the buyer's rep as well. It hasn't caused us big enough problems to make us quit selling on the video but it would be nice if they could set up a couple reps per area so they could have one being the sellers rep and the other being the buyers rep exclusively. The only other wish I would have is that they had a two way slide but I don't know any auction that has that so I guess that is just wishful thinking.

We are planning on selling our calves on the Sheridan sale in August.
 

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