In Demand

Earlier in the month the guy who bought my calves last year came up again and looked the calves over. He also shared with us some kill sheets he had just got from the packer on how some of the calves did at the slaughter plant. It was all gobbledygook to me but here the other day I did show them to a guy in town who runs feedlots and fattens quite a few cattle. He thought the calves had dressed out fairly well. So I asked if this was normal dress out for critters that were about 15 months old. I thought his jaw was going to hit the ground. He said if these were only 15 months old and dressed out this good that these are excellent calves. We must be doing something right around here.

Last years buyer did want a price for the calves but I begged off saying I wanted to see how the market would shake out and get back to him. He said he understood and would wait to hear from me. A few days ago I got a call from a livestock representative of a well known video auction company saying that they had a couple of buyers interested in my calves and would I want to put a price on them. How this person knows about me or my calves is beyond me but I said I would consider the offer and they could call back in a few days.

Last night the guy who bought the calves in 2003 and 2004 called and was interested in buying the calves and was wondering if I would price them out.

What's a guy to do? I put a price out to the buyers of $1.25 and will see what will happen. From the auction reports I have been seeing that is higher than things are going now but who knows. If so many people want the calves I might get a good price. Time to wait and see what will happen.

We've tapped into a huge demand, and it's up to us to fulfill that demand and to be creative doing it. Jim Barksdale