Put on your feeder calf buyer’s hat for a minute. Squint your eyes and calculate the value of two 500-pound steers coming into the sale ring. What’s the value of each?

Calf A, with an unknown health background, was weaned on the way to the sale barn, and still must be dehorned. He has never seen grain and requires two to three weeks to adapt to your feedlot ration.

Due to stress and getting sick, he experiences excessive shrink on the way to the feedlot. His feeder grade is “Large 1”. That means he’ll have a reduced quality grade at slaughter and you’ll earn no market premium on him.

COLOR ME BLACK? Color and pre-sale management practices have as much as a $200 premium value for feeder calves. Okay, it’s the same critter. But management makes the dollar difference.

Calf B is polled, received a defined pre-sale weaning and health program. He was started on feed for 45 days ahead of the sale.

His feeder grade is “M1” and he’s part of a large group of uniform, similarly handled calves. He was sired by a performance tested bull. At slaughter, he’s eligible for several premium programs.

It shouldn’t surprise you that Calf B is worth about $200 more than Calf A.

Consider buyer’s discounts

Feeder calf auction prices paid can differ as much as 30% to 50% from one calf to another, even among those appearing similar. Here’s what goes through buyers’ minds:

1. Without background information, calf-hauling shrink and time lost getting them on feed is a real guessing game.

2. Weight arriving at his facility can be 8 to 10% less than what was paid for at the sale barn. And, it may take 10 to 20 days on feed to gain back to that purchase weight.

3. How many will get sick or die? A Texas ranch-to-rail study found that healthy calves that never became sick were worth about $22.50 a hundredweight more than sick counterparts. And yes, live ones are worth a whole lot more than dead ones.

4. Are the calves docile or wild? Part of it is genetics. Studies verify that docile calves have higher daily gains and lower death losses than aggressive ones. Percentages grading out choice were 74% vs 58%. Another study noted that docile calves were worth $70 a head more than wild calves.

5. Are the calves dehorned and castrated? Count on at least a $60 penalty per head for bull calves.

6. Will these calves bring potential market premiums (i.e., 75% black hide or other quality grades)?

7. Feeder frame size and grade matter. Medium grade 1 calves tend to fetch highest prices. Putting that value at 100%, relative prices received for other grades are: L1, 91.5%; LM1, 92.2%; ML2, 95.5% and S1, 81.9%.

Capture the biggest payoffs

The biggest payoffs are in these fall calf pre-sale management practices:

* Use sound genetics

* Avoid grouping extremes in calf frame size.

* Castrate and dehorn calves long before weaning.

* Minimize stress as much as possible at weaning.

* Carry out a comprehensive health program on your cow herd and calves in consultation with your veterinarian.

* Wean calves 45 days before sale, and start them on a palatable high-fiber feed.

* Make sure they’re acclimated to mechanical waterers.

Hold ‘em or ship ‘em

If you aren’t locked into shipping out calves to feedlots and if conditions are right, retained ownership for later sale can be more profitable. If you’re blessed with extra feed, labor and facilities, wintering all or a part of that calf crop for sale next spring can make economic sense. Your options include:

* Sale to a stocker looking for calves to put on grass

* Direct sale to a feedlot

* Feed out to market – a traditional sale to a packer or self-marketing as freezer beef sales as conventional grain-fed, organic, and/or grass-fed

It takes a sharp pencil – or computer app – to calculate the best marketing option in a given year. It’s worth the time. Don’t just follow your “same old, same old” plan.

Harpster is a beef cow-calf producer and retired Penn State animal scientist.