Be a Responsible Buyer to get the Livestock you Actually Want

EDITORIAL BY KATIE SONGER

You will read some variation of the phrase “the cattle business is a people business” in every catalog that you pickup this spring. It has become a cliché fora reason—there is no tool more beneficialto your herd’s genetic advancement thanbuilding relationships with other like minded producers, especially when you aredoing the buying. But somewhat ironically,in an era where producers have more toolsthan ever at their disposal in the form ofEPDs, genetic testing and cell phone videos,this essential skill seems to have been abandoned in many respects. Crisp photos,online sales and an endless stream of datahave granted the illusion that all of one’s buying can be done from one’s cell phoneand the result has been predictable: too many cattle getting off the trailer at the buyer’s end that do not live up to the buyer’s expectations. Unfortunately, there is notmuch that’s more detrimental to a programthan inadvertently buying livestock that doesn’t meet your goals or that you just don’tlike looking at.

This is not to diminish the value of innovations that have made it possible to source genetics at times that are inconvenient due to location, traveling distance, conflicting events, poor weather and the list goes on. Removing the absolute necessity for cattlemen and women to actually attend sales events has had tremendous advantages for buyers and sellers alike. One of the pitfalls, however, is that more livestock are being bought without the buyer making a visual appraisal of the animals and, perhaps even more adverse, without a conversation about the goals of the buyer’s program. When an unsatisfactory animal shows up, it is often blamed on unscrupulous sellers or overly edited pictures (and this has certainly sometimes been the case), but the buyer also needs to take some responsibility for the end result. Did they do everything possible to set themselves up for success? It does, in fact, take some effort to buy the bull (or show steer or breeding female) you actually want, and there are a number of ways to maximize the genetic advancement you can make with the minimum dollar input.

Photo by ShowChampions

It is still most often true that you get out of a project what you put into it. You may have considered your program goals, examined the EPDs, crunched the numbers and evaluated the picture and video, but the bottom line is this: if you're not going to see a bull in person, you may be doing your program a huge disservice. This is especially true if you are potentially doing business with a seller you haven't bought from before and holds several key advantages. The first among these is that it allows you to start to build a relationship with another breeder. It gives you the chance to evaluate whether your goals align with theirs and discuss your needs in person. You should go to their operation with a checklist of requirements they can assist you with—“how are the bull’s mother's feet” and “what is her calving interval” are questions that cannot be answered by a picture or video.

Like any industry, the cattle industry is not without its bad apples, but by and large most cattlemen recognize the advantage of a repeat buyer and want to find you the bull in their pen that will satisfy your criteria to the best of their ability. Simply put, buyers who are easy to work with are the ones a seller will work harder for, and in some cases, accept less money from because they enjoy having that customer. You can believe that if you have problems with a bull and the seller goes out of their way to provide a solution, telling other cattlemen about the issue at your local sale barn will not result in the seller working quite as hard for you next time.

Furthermore, the best way to evaluate structure, muscle and performance compared to a bulls’ contemporaries is still to take the time to actually lay eyes on the bull. I realize that going to see a bull that is several hours away can be a real commitment of time and resources, but if you want “the” bull and not just “a” bull, consider the impact the right bull can have on your herd for years—and inversely, consider the impact the wrong bull can have—and then ask yourself if you would drive for a day to take advantage of potentially years of genetic progress or prevent years of headaches. The number of times that you will get to an operation and find a different bull than the one you thought you wanted is enough to encourage the trip.

Sometimes the distance or expense to see a potential purchase is insurmountable. If that is the case, call someone who appreciates the same kind of cattle you do and send them to see the livestock and give you an honest, unbiased appraisal. This includes, but is not limited to, sales management and consultants. Again, I cannot emphasize enough the value of relationships within the industry, as these consultants have many customers that they are marketing livestock for. They don’t need to find you a bull at one sale the way a potential seller does, and the chances are good that they can you something that will meet your needs among the many sales they manage. The more matching reviews you can get on a potential purchase, the more confident you can be that the livestock are what they are advertised to be. Again, trust is paramount and establishing the dependability of your proxy is hugely important.

Photo by ShowChampions

Even with your proxy in place, if you can't be there in person, the first order of business is to call the breeder. Thinking that you can choose the best bull at their operation off a picture, video and pedigree alone is trying to outsmart someone who has likely spent years breeding those cattle. Too often buyers see a set of pictures/videos and decide from that limited view which the best lot in the sale is, and it can be impossible to change their minds. Calling with a set of questions on a specific lot only to confirm what you already think, instead of laying your their criteria, generally results in the seller marketing only that lot to you. There is no one who knows the cattle selling better than the breeder selling them—and if you think the seller will not be honest with you or will point you towards a lot that doesn't fit the bill, you are buying from the wrong operation altogether.

Obviously, building relationships within the industry is a natural progression and trust is earned rather than given. However, I would discourage buyers from requesting additional pictures and videos once they have received one good quality picture and video of a specific lot. Firstly, one good-quality picture and video is enough to decide whether a lot is worth you or a proxy traveling to see. There is the general assumption that the often-requested cell phone picture or video is more honest and transparent than one taken by a high-quality camera, and this belief is quite simply false. On a purely mechanical level, all lenses (cell phone or otherwise) display a certain level of distortion and the focal length of the lens and distance the photographer is standing from the subject will determine how close the representation is to what the human eye sees. Cell phones, even those with the newest cameras produced, typically use a wide angle lens designed to capture the whole family at Christmas or a sweeping landscape photo on vacation but not necessarily to accurately depict the stoutness or soundness of our potential new herd bull; never mind that background elements such as the height of the panels can give a distorted representation of the size and scale of the animal. Further, it is still possible that you got the best cell phone video or photo out of several dozen takes.

The implication when additional videos or photos are requested is that the buyer doesn't trust the seller to either accurately describe the cattle or send them media the first time that accurately represented them, both of which circle back to the issue of the integrity of your seller. Recognize that just as your time and resources are limited at bull buying time, the seller will appreciate the buyer not wasting their time. Both parties will get far more out of a good conversation about the lots selling or a tour of the cowherd than they will out of the seller chasing a bull around with his or her cell phone. And if a seller is actively trying to deceive you, remember they are not limited to lying with their mobile device.

Building a relationship with an honest seller is far more advantageous than trying to outsmart a seller with good cattle but few scruples. Though this article primarily addresses bull buyers as that is the season, the same holds true for any livestock you buy, be it shows steers, open heifers or a large group of breeding females. Go see the cattle, call the breeder, start a dialogue and prioritize your industry relationships to maximize your genetic advancement. Ultimately, once you have built enough trust–maybe you won’t have to go see the bull at all.