Jack Payne is having a feeder sale this Thursday at Nevada Livestock Auction with nearly 6,500 head of cattle coming from Northern California, Idaho, Utah, Montana, and Wyoming, as well as local cattle from Northern Nevada.
That number he says, is pretty unusual for February, “Usually you get your big fall run in October or November, but we’ve been in business here for 16 years and we always encourage our customers to come after the first of the year because the price generally spikes around 40 cents.”
He says there are some feed costs to get the cattle to February, “but usually you get paid for it because California gets rain by then and this time of year the eastern cattle buyers are starting to buy for a May turn-out.”
In addition to the live sale, Nevada Livestock operates an internet bidding system that allows buyers from across the country to bid on cattle from wherever they are. During the last sale monthly feeder sale in January, Payne sold over 1,000 head over the internet. He contracts with DV Auction to man the internet and Corbitt Wall, who runs the website Feeder Flash, does the promoting and auctioneering along with long-time Fallon auctioneer John Hanger. “It’s a little more expensive, but with him comes thousands of followers,” said Payne, “it’s kind of a no-brainer.”
During the last sale, there were over 340 people watching online, along with those who attend the sale in person at what was the old Gallagher sale yard located off Kaiser Way. Payne holds a monthly feeder sale on the third Thursday of every month in addition to the regular, local Wednesday sale.
In spite of the weather, Payne has told eastern buyers if the weather doesn’t clear, there is plenty of room at the feedlot and he will hold the cattle until they can be shipped. “We’ll do whatever it takes to keep them happy and get them here to buy,” he said.
Freight is also a big deal he explained, because California recently had rain, many of the shipping trucks going there with slaughter loads aren’t able to get loads coming back. During the last sale, shipping was $3.25 a mile, and Payne says this sale he’s having trucks offered to him for $2.50 a mile. “On these cattle the margin is so slim, $1,000 on freight could be your only profit for the year.”
Buyers from out of town get approved in the sale yard computer and they can bid against the live, local buyers in the ring.
Like the Fallon auction, public livestock auction sale barns across the country are where the true market is established. Payne says people send their cattle for the public to bid on and that’s how the value of the animals is found, what they bring at market. “We want people to come and have true market price discovery,” he said. “We want them to love the cattle and come back next time.”
In addition to the cattle coming from across the west, there will be plenty of local cattle at the sale this week as well. “A lot of the cattle in this sale are from Fallon,” said Payne, “but we’re going to go out and sort them at their ranch, it’s almost like they’re here in the pens, they’re already written up by our staff and entered in the computer and the brand inspector’s done his job.” Those cattle are scheduled to come in around 3:00 p.m. on Thursday.
Nevada has a unique set of cattle according to Payne who said Nevada cattle are very hearty. “Everywhere they go the buyers don’t have to doctor them, they don’t get sick, we need to get these cattle exposed to more buyers, we need to get more buyers a taste of these cattle.”
He said during the December sale, California was dry and none of the California buyers showed up, “we sold a ton of cattle to the guys in the east and they were nervous, but they loved them.”
Wall reported Tuesday morning that nearly every sale barn in the country is closed this week due to weather and the cold temperatures that have caused rolling blackouts across the mid-west. “For you guys who are having a hard time finding some of those four and five-weight hard, weaned calves, try some of these hard, dried out high-desert calves they have out there in Fallon,” he said. “We have guys from Kansas and Oklahoma the last couple of months that got on there (the internet sale platform) and got some cattle and got ‘em home and just loved ‘em, they come out of that real dry, none-humidity and are hearty.”
The sale will start at noon on Thursday, this week, February 18th .
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