The Market report 3-6-24

This spring holds one of the most exciting times for selling cattle in the last 50 years.
The real value in program cattle has been experienced by a lot of customers right here at 101 livestock. We have been able to get the cost of participating down for small producers then commingle their cattle to get them load lot prices on all they sell. Last year we were able to sell 40 loads of these calves to buyers all across the country.
I want to show you a few examples of loads we sold where there were 4-5 different owners in each load. That’s right we are able to take small bunches of like cattle of the same weight and turn these small bunches into load lots. Cole had the idea of commingling a few years ago and we did some of it then but the real jump in cattle value and prices came in the program cattle sales. These cattle week after week brought $40/ 100 premiums to commercial cattle. That’s not a misprint these commingled cattle consistently brought $40/100 over the prices paid for program cattle. Here are a few examples of commingled load lots sold.
June representative sales
850# steers $231 /# or $1958.88/ head
773# steers $247.75 /# or $1951.11/ head
666# steers $270.25 /# or $1799.87/ head
707# heifers $239.50 /# or $1693.27/ head.
July representative sales
823# steers $250 /# or $2057.50
778# steers $259.50/ # or $2034.48 / head.
611# heifers $270/# or $1649.70/ head
697# heifers $248/# or $1728.56/ head.
August representative sales
829# steers $253/# or $2097.37/ head
718# steers $264.25 or $1897.32/ head
694# heifers $244.25 or $1695.10/ head
674# heifers $250/# or $@685/ head
These are just a few representative sales we sold last year. It’s an attempt to let everyone know the opportunity is there and we expect better prices this year. Don’t ask how prices will get better this year but I think they will for sure.
Ok here are some important things to keep in mind for this year.
  1. we will only be taking program cattle the Friday or Saturday prior to the sale. It’s time consuming to get the cattle sorted, weighed and commingled. Because we are anticipating a lot more producer participation in these new markets get your calves here early
  2. don’t wait till the last minute to get your cattle approved.
  3. Trucks will be critical this year so please keep us informed just when you plan to sell. Because more and more people are going to take advantage of these exciting markets keeping us informed will help a lot.
SPECIAL NOTE. !!!
We are having a special open heifer sale on April 15 so if you have some open heifers to sell that will be a great time to get the job done. We will be commingling these cattle into load lots to increase their value, we will also be selling yearling steers and heifers at that time. Yearlings will be in short supply this spring so it will be a good time to sell. We have had several calls from buyers requesting when they can come buy some cattle. We’re expecting the best spring market we’ve had in years. 🙂
In the past we have tried to have meetings across the central coast to help keep producers informed on critical issues and these new market advantages. This year I am trying to go meet with 3 -4 ranchers at a time to explain some of these issues. It’s a little more informal and questions are easier to ask. So if anyone wants to get 3-4 people to gather I’ll make a plan to come and discuss these new issues on a one on one basis. Change is never easy and we want to make it as easy as possible.
This week cows and bulls were steady to higher and in short supply. We did sell 8 pairs small calves and young cows $3100. We also had 6 black steers that weighed 642#’s that brought $256. That’s $1643.52/ head.

Jim