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What You Need to Know About Buying Cattle at a Livestock Auction

Author: Jack Brant
by Jack Brant
Posted: May 06, 2018

Beef cattle are some of the most profitable livestock to raise. Although there are many ways to develop your herd, one of the most effective ways to buy cattle is at a auction. Before you buy at auction though, there are some things you should know. Below are some of the most important things to know before buying cattle at a livestock auction.

Why Livestock Auctions are the Most Effective Way to Buy Cattle

Sure, you could buy from a broker or from an individual farm or ranch, but the most popular and most effective method for buying cattle is from an auction. The main advantage is that you can usually find a variety of breeds and lots to choose from. If you went to a breeder or through an individual farm, you would be stuck with whatever they happened to be offering at that time. The advantage of this is that different breeds are good for different uses. Black Angus, for instance, are very popular and easy to sell for beef, whereas Jerseys are harder to sell for meat but make great dairy cows. If you are planning on a diverse herd for varying uses, you can’t beat the variety of an auction.

Livestock Auction Prices

Because cattle and other livestock are bought and sold on the open market as a commodity, the price will vary from day to day. On any given day, the most choice lots might bring in premium prices. You should be able to easily find livestock reports online, but one of the best free market reports is found at AgBuySell. Included is commodities, grains, meat, precious metals, futures, and many more up to the minute prices.You can get these free market reports at https://www.agbuysell.com/market_reports/.

Types of Auctions

There are basically two kinds of auctions: regular sales and special sales. Regular sales are held at the same time and place on a regular basis. For instance, an auction barn might hold a regular sale every Friday at 10 am. Special sales occur at a specific time and date set by the auction house and usually pertain to a certain kind of animal. At a special sale for beef cattle for instance, you are likely to find young feeder cattle to help start your beef herd. There is a new way to find and participate in auctions online as well. Sites like https://www.agbuysell.com/ let you post and bid on live lots for sale. You can also find regular and special auctions held near you, or view other listings from producers all across Canada.

What to Buy

Before auction, determine what kind of cattle you want to buy. Even if you’ve narrowed it down to beef cattle, you will still have lots of decisions to make. Not all beef cattle are the same. Some are bigger than others when fully grown, and some grow faster than others. You will want to research what kinds of cattle thrive in your area, what’s popular, which types will bring a good price, and how much return you will get on your investment.

How to Find Healthy Cattle market

Although sellers work hard to cull sick animals from the herd, there is always a chance of finding sick animals at auction. Look out for bumps, bruises, cuts, sores, etc. when inspecting your prospective purchase. Evenif you have extensive experience, it is never a good idea to buy animals in anything less than premium condition.

Age of the Animals You Want to Buy

The more experience you get, the easier it is to determine the age of cattle. Study the breeds you are interested in and get a good idea how a healthy animal should look at each age. Many experienced buyers can tell the breed, weight and age of an animal from far away.

How to Buy at an Auction

There are many ins and outs to buying at auction. You can find step-by-step information online and in other articles available on the Internet. A new way of buying and selling cattle, genetics, feed crops and farmland has been recently introduced to producers living in Canada. This website is called AgBuySell. It is a website that brings buyers and sellers from all across Canada to 1 central location, and provides a platform where producers of all sizes can trade inside a profitable environment.

Take more control of your AG Business and Visit https://www.agbuysell.com today.

Your Business | Your Prices | Your Rules!!

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Author: Jack Brant
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Jack Brant

Member since: May 31, 2013
Published articles: 6211

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