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Get your calves sale barn ready

Here's a checklist to make sure you’re optimizing your calf crop’s auction market potential.

Jennifer M. Latzke, Editor

September 26, 2024

3 Min Read
Farmers and calves
STAY CALM: Planning and strategy can go a long way toward making sure your calf crop brings top dollar at the sale barn.Courtesy of the K-State Research and Extension News Service

Before you back up a trailer to the chute and load this year’s calf crop up for a one-way trip to town, make sure you’re optimizing its potential to bring top dollar at the auction.

On a recent episode of the Cattle Chat podcast, Brad White, Bob Larson, Phillip Lancaster, Dustin Pendell and Brian Lubbers — experts from Kansas State University’s Beef Cattle Institute — offered up their checklist for cattlemen as they work to build their reputations for high-quality calves year after year.

  1. Plan ahead. Pendell, an agricultural economist, says cattlemen need to decide a month or so in advance which sale or special marketing program they may want to use to market their calves. Auction barns have special calf sales that may target calves with a special vaccination program or a preconditioning protocol that make them stand out to order buyers. “Look at the marketing options to see if there is a certain program that matches with your management system, and then follow the protocols of that program,” Pendell says.

  2. Vaccinate in time. Larson says it’s not enough to just vaccinate a calf, it must be done in a timeframe that will optimize the vaccine’s effectiveness. “Vaccines work best when they are delivered at a time when the calf isn’t particularly stressed, so if we can vaccinate them and then turn them back with their mothers, they are likely to respond well,” Larson says. “Also, these vaccines need time, so if they are administered the day before we co-mingle them, it doesn’t provide much of a benefit.”

  3. Keep them calm. There’s plenty of debate over preconditioning calves over pulling them off the cows and taking them straight to town. Preconditioning gives the weaned calves a leg up by giving them time to adjust from the stress of weaning. Lancaster says preconditioning exposes them to the feed bunk and a 30% forage diet, as well as contact with people and machinery. Remember, changing a routine causes stress, and stress causes calves to lose weight and not eat or drink, which then causes them to be susceptible to health challenges in co-mingling environments such as the sale barn and the feedlot.

  4. Protect precious cargo. “Research has shown that the driver matters — how they approach corners and stop signs is important,” Larson says. “Remember when you are delivering your calves, which is your paycheck, it is important that they arrive in the best possible shape.” Check that the trailer flooring is sound and not slick so calves don’t slip. Make sure the right number of calves are loaded on the trailer at a time. Check equipment the night before and have things set up as much as you can so the morning load out can be low stress for cattle and humans.

  5. Get the word out. Whether you share over social media that you’re taking your calf crop to town or you participate in other advertising offered by the sale barn, let people know that your calves will be at the sale. Help build your own reputation for quality calves.

In short, a trip to the sale barn requires planning and strategy if cattlemen want to get the most out of the sale ring.

The Kansas State Research and Extension News Service contributed to this report.

About the Author

Jennifer M. Latzke

Editor, Kansas Farmer

Through all her travels, Jennifer M. Latzke knows that there is no place like Kansas.

Jennifer grew up on her family’s multigenerational registered Angus seedstock ranch and diversified farm just north of Woodbine, Kan., about 30 minutes south of Junction City on the edge of the Kansas Flint Hills. Rock Springs Ranch State 4-H Center was in her family’s backyard.

While at Kansas State University, Jennifer was a member of the Sigma Kappa Sorority and a national officer for the Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow. She graduated in May 2000 with a bachelor’s degree in agricultural communications and a minor in animal science. In August 2000 Jennifer started her 20-year agricultural writing career in Dodge City, Kan., on the far southwest corner of the state.

She’s traveled across the U.S. writing on wheat, sorghum, corn, cotton, dairy and beef stories as well as breaking news and policy at the local, state and national levels. Latzke has traveled across Mexico and South America with the U.S. Wheat Associates and toured Vietnam as a member of KARL Class X. She’s traveled to Argentina as one of 10 IFAJ-Alltech Young Leaders in Agricultural Journalism. And she was part of a delegation of AAEA: The Ag Communicators Network members invited to Cuba.

Jennifer’s an award-winning writer, columnist, and podcaster, recognized by the Kansas Professional Communicators, Kansas Press Association, the National Federation of Presswomen, Livestock Publications Council, and AAEA. In 2019, Jennifer reached the pinnacle of achievements, earning the title of “Writer of Merit” from AAEA.

Trips and accolades are lovely, but Jennifer says she is happiest on the road talking to farmers and ranchers and gathering stories and photos to share with readers.

“It’s an honor and a great responsibility to be able to tell someone’s story and bring them recognition for their work on the land,” Jennifer says. “But my role is also evolving to help our more urban neighbors understand the issues our Kansas farmers face in bringing the food and fiber to their store shelves.”

She spends her time gardening, crafting, watching K-State football, and cheering on her nephews and niece in their 4-H projects. She can be found on Twitter at @Latzke.

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