Who me? I sell at weaning…
April 18, 2011
….so your messages don’t apply.
Mythbuster Monday says, “Not so fast!”
Everybody knows that the cattle industry has historically been segmented, with each link (from cow-calf producer to stocker to feeder) most concerned with how they can make the most money for themselves. But in the past few decades, much progress has been made toward building relationships and making cattle that work for every segment.
That’s why it kills me to hear people talking about how weight is the only thing that matters in this business. (I know it will always be a top profit driver.) And it really gets me when I hear folks utter this misconception:
Myth–I sell my calves at weaning, so it doesn’t matter if I focus on quality.
Fact–Cattle buyers and feeders pay attention to cattle history, and they’ll only get burned once.
At Wilke Cattle Co., near Columbus, Neb., they say records help dictate procurement.
“There are groups that we used to get that we just don’t anymore because of performance and health problems,” Paul Wilke says.
Of course he and his brother, David,also care about quality, because they own nearly half the cattle in their yard and sell almost all of them on the grid.
Like many feeders, if cattle don’t measure up to expectations—both gain and grade—they won’t buy them from the same producer again. Going beyond your immediate next customer in line, think about the consumer. They continue to demand higher-quality beef and if we as an industry don’t deliver, we’ll lose them to competing proteins.
Sit in on a cattle sale for a day and you’ll notice a big difference in the cattle that top the market and which ones don’t. Those buyers keep records, and if you’ve been building your reputation that’s a good thing.
For all those feeders who say weight is the only profit driver, watch this clip from cattle-buyer Tim Schiefelbein who says, “Even if you don’t grid your cattle, you do grid.”
So, in every segment of the business the message is clear: quality matters.
I know I’m not alone in this thought process (I know I’ve at least got some other CAB employees in my corner), but let me know how quality is relevant to you. Just leave a comment below.
May your bottom line be filled with black ink,
~Miranda
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