Our Customers Speak. We listen.

Seedstock production doesn’t end at the ranch gate. Transparency and constant communication with our customers are priceless in our pursuit of adding value to beef cattle. We continue to focus on a balance of economic traits, from calving ease to carcass. Our 2023 sale offering is a culmination of generations of genetic selection for elite, profitable Hereford genetics.

Market volatility plays a huge role in feedlot profit margins. Yes, feed prices have been on an upward trend, but no one could have predicted that a megadrought and a war would simultaneously skyrocket inputs across all categories.

Johnson says he planned to have a cost of gain on steer calves purchased last summer of $1.10. Since the drought worsened and the conflict in Ukraine began, those gain costs are between $1.25-$1.30.

After doing all they can to study futures markets, lock in feed prices as far as a year in advance and lock in calves five to six months in advance, Johnsons are relying on 3rd-party-verified all natural calves to bring their balance sheet into the black.

Since Johnson Livestock sells direct to the packing plant, they can garner bonuses from branded programs.

“Above everything else now is if they are all natural, those are the ones that will bring a big premium,” he says.

Raymond markets his 850-pound steers and heifers to finish feedlots in western Idaho. For his operation, cattle that feed efficiently will make money before cattle that do anything else.

“Efficient cattle are No. 1. Cattle that will grade is No. 2,” he states.

Locking in a $20 profit, at least guarantee’s some wiggle room on the back end and hopefully the genetics pull through and give you a quality premium on top of it, summarizes Raymond.

Making a profit and surviving from year to year is always the end-goal for anyone in the cattle industry, obviously Briggs is no different. He works hard to limit death loss and market uniform cattle in semi loads. But above all else and like most, he says he does it, “for the love of cattle and a family operation.”

“I wanted to give you our final close out on our steers. You can look at the numbers, but in a nutshell, we averaged 4.4 lbs/day (dry matter conversion of 4.45:1). This was sending them in the middle of December, weighing 620 lbs. We are selling them on the grid, with a base price of $137.00. Scott Hall, Circle 3 Feedyard, said this was the best cost of gain and daily gain he had fed in a very long time. We received a net savings from efficiency and carcass premium of $251/head, or over $20,000 for this pen.

Kevin, I believe much of our quality is a function of the good bulls and females we have gotten from you. I so much appreciate your cattle quality and the way you have been very helpful to me. Thank you!”

— Jim Whitfield, Estancia Valley Cattle, McIntosh, New Mexico

Sandhill Farms

Hereford Production Sale

Saturday • March 25, 2023 • 1 PM

At the farm near Haviland, Kansas Selling Approx. 280 Head

With Highest Average “Across the Board” EPDs to Sell to Date

130 Bulls

25 Registered Cow-Calf Heifer Pairs

100 Open Coml. Hereford & Baldy Heifers