How Lot Size Affects Feeder Cattle Prices By Dustin Rippe

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1 Hubbell, NE JANUARY 2019 Taking Pride In Our Customer s Success Taking Pride In Our Customer s Success In This Issue: PG 1. How Lot Size Affects Feeder Cattle Prices PG 3. Special Speaker Announced For Night Before Bull Sale PG 3. Sire Verifiation How Lot Size Affects Feeder Cattle Prices By Dustin Rippe I think we know that larger bunches of feeder cattle bring a premium. I would have guessed a bigger bunch of feeder cattle would bring $20/head more. However, I ran across this chart that said a lot more than that. I started to dig through this data from Oklahoma City Auction sale barn. It is considered one of the main sale barns in the feeder cattle industry. Let s take a look at the information and understand what it is telling us. PG Bull Sale - March 9th PG 6. Exciting New Sires PG 7. Genomic Enhanced EPD s Rippe Gelbvieh 6775 Road D Hubbell, NE Dustin Rippe Cell: Duane Rippe Home: Cell: Website: Mission Statement: To produce superior Gelbvieh and Balancer seedstock based on economically important traits, which provide more profitability for our customers, and ensure the consumer a very satisfying eating experience. This line graph shows two lines representing two sizes of cattle- 525# steers (square marked line) and 875# steers (triangle marked line). The horizontal axis (lot size) shows head group sizes at the sale barn and the vertical axis ($/ hd) shows the discount or premium. The first data points are cattle selling in bunches of 1 to 5. We can see that calves sell for $80/hd discount and yearlings sell for $60. Why do these sell so cheap? Are they the steal of the auction barns? At first glance, one would say they are the steal. I am a sucker for good deals just like everyone else. I can say firsthand at the feedlot we experience a A product of Mustang Media January 2019

2 Hubbell, NE higher death loss, higher treatment rate and worse performance on cattle put together from small bunches at the sale barn. Can it be $60 to $80/hd? In most cases I would say at least that. Your processing cost will increase by $15/hd, assuming you mass treat these with something stronger. Your death loss will increase the cost of $35/hd using an estimate of 4% higher death loss (est $900 feeder x.04). Your treatment cost will be $20/hd higher, you simply have a higher pull rate. So far you are at $70/hd and more losses to poorer performance. To sum it up, I think the market is efficient on these small bunches of cattle. Let s study 875# steers. These would be big calves or yearlings. The discount is steep until you get to 65 lot size. I have a theory why- 65 head multiplied by 875# = 52,500lbs. This is one full semi load of feeders. The data suggests you are at a $10/hd discount. You are basically at the market for all intents and purposes. I noticed also how it dips after 65 head lot size. When you sell 80 head you are up to a load and a partial. What is interesting is this data would suggest you would be better off to sell the full load and then sell 15 head partial. You would be $125 better off for the group. Selling 2 loads or 130 head, you are only at a $5.70/hd discount. You get a premium as soon as you are selling 195 head or 3 to 4 loads. A lot of this could be due to pen size. These are the more common size pens at feed yards: 75 head pens would equal one load of 700# steers and 2 loads of fats. 120 head pens would equal 2 loads of yearlings and 3 loads of fats going out. 150 head pens would equal 2 loads of 700# steers and 4 loads of fats going out. 180 head pens would equal 3 loads of yearlings incoming and 5 loads of fats going out. I could keep going but you get the idea. Feedlots will pay a premium for one good bunch of cattle to fit their pens, because these are more consistent performing and have lower health problems. In addition, they can process the whole pen tomorrow and get them started eating. Feedlot operators are pretty simple minded. It all comes back to dollars and cents. Let s study 525# steers. You are at a massive discount until you start selling 25 head to 64 head bunches. Even then we are looking at a $25/hd discount. It takes 100 of these 525# calves to fill one load. However, I imagine the local backgrounders like buying bunches in 25 hd-64 hd sizes. Once you hit the 80 to 129 head bunches of cattle you are at a premium. Basically, you are at one full load, so this make sense. At 130 head you are back to a small discount again similar to what we saw on the yearlings when you hit a full load and a partial. The 195 head and 260 head bunches bring the most $/head. At 325 head bunches-nobody wants to take in 325 head of bawling calves in one day, so they fall back some. At first, I studied this to try and find a hole in the market for me as a feeder cattle buyer, but after looking at the data I think it applies more to my commercial bull customers. There are sweet spots I feel my customers should be trying to hit to maximize the dollar values you receive for your calves. Getting to one full pot load is critical. After this, getting to a full pen is critical. Give me a call if you have more questions about this data set.

3 Hubbell, NE Special Speaker Announced For Night Before Bull Sale Belleville Country Club By Dustin Rippe Rippe Gelbvieh is excited to offer this opportunity to the community. Troy Applehans with CattleFax will be speaking at the Country Club in Belleville. I encourage everyone to attend even if you aren t in need of a bull. Troy is a Market Analyst for CattleFax and he specializes in the Cow/calf and stocker market. Troy was a coworker of mine when I was employed at CattleFax. Cattlefax is a member owned information organization serving producers in all segments of the cattle business. CattleFax was formed in 1968 by a group of progressive cattlemen who saw the value of a self-help system to collect, analyze, and distribute information needed for good marketing and business decisions which has resulted in the largest private database in the country. Once again I would encourage everyone to attend. There will be something for everyone to learn in this presentation. Please give me a call if you have any questions. The presentation will be on March 8, 2019 starting at 7 PM. Supper will be provided. Troy Applehans Market Analyst - Cow/ calf and Stocker Market Specialist Troy is the CattleFax market analyst responsible for feeder cattle and cow/calf regions of the Southern Plains region as well as Southeastern states of the U.S. He also covers feedyards in the Midwest region. Troy is a graduate of Oklahoma State University with a degree in Animal Science and a strong cow/calf and seedstock cattle background. Previously, he was employed by Cargill Animal Nutrition as a cattle mineral specialist, Future Beef Operations as a member of the cattle procurement team and the American Gelbvieh Association as a regional manager. He also served as Director of Field Services/Advertising coordinator for Cattle Today, Inc. for many years. Sire Verification By Dustin Rippe Many geneticists believe that as high as 20% of the sires are wrong each year on seedstock calves. To protect our customers from this, nearly every bull is sire verified that Rippe Gelbvieh sells. The only reason I say nearly is there might be one or two calves a year that we simply cannot get DNA on the sire. Why is this important? Accuracy. Every person deserves to know what they are buying. In practical terms- if you want to buy a heifer bull and his EPDs suggest a heifer bull and his pedigree suggests a heifer bull, if the sire is wrong, all of that information is worthless. A product of Mustang Media Another piece of value for our customers is that because there is DNA on file of every bull we sell, if you ever need to trace who a certain calf is out of, that option is available. What sires had your heaviest weight calves? What sire gave us calving problems? Who is the sire of this cow with a bad udder? Those are all questions that can be answered by purchasing a bull from Rippe Gelbvieh. At the end of the day our job as seedstock producers or genetic suppliers is to take some of the guesswork out of your cattle operation. Use high accuracy data and DNA to provide solutions. January 2019

is the oil of the 21st century, and analytics is the combustion engine. - Peter Sondergaard [Using data to increase your profits] Information Hubbell, NE Join Us! What gets measured, gets managed.

receive individual carcass data For Bulls: Disposition Scores Ultrasound Bulls Higher Accuracy EPDs through genomic EPD testing Ultrasound Females Avg. Dam Weight of bulls in the sale is 1229 Avg.

will perform in the Feedlot and are sold on a grade and yield. This is an index where it ranks sires whose progeny should do the best in the feedlot. Homozygous Polled and Black tested Avg.

4 is the oil of the 21st century, and analytics is the combustion engine. - Peter Sondergaard [Using data to increase your profits] Information Hubbell, NE Join Us! What gets measured, gets managed. - Peter Drucker Go where the DATA is: For Females: Track Udder Scores Measure Cow Size Measure Cow Efficiency through percentage body weight weaned For Carcass: Feed out our Steers every year and receive individual carcass data For Bulls: Disposition Scores Ultrasound Bulls Higher Accuracy EPDs through genomic EPD testing Ultrasound Females Avg. Dam Weight of bulls in the sale is 1229 Avg. Dam Efficiency of bulls in the sale is 60% 38% of the bulls in the pen are heifer bulls Feeder Profit Index is an economic selection index designed to aid producers in selecting sires whose progeny will perform in the Feedlot and are sold on a grade and yield. This is an index where it ranks sires whose progeny should do the best in the feedlot. Homozygous Polled and Black tested Avg. Birth Weight 81; Avg. Weaning Weight % are Homozygous Polled 93% of Black Bulls are Homozygous Black AVERAGE PERCENTILE RANK OF SALE BULLS EPDS Black Balancers TOP 24% of Calving Ease TOP 30% of Weaning Weight TOP 30% of Yearling Weight [ TOP 13% of Feeder Profit Index Red Balancers TOP 27% of Calving Ease TOP 44% of Weaning Weight TOP 45% of Yearling Weight [ TOP 45% of Feeder Profit Index Black Purebreds TOP 38% of Calving Ease TOP 16% of Weaning Weight TOP 11% of Yearling Weight [ TOP 8% of Feeder Profit Index Guest Speaker, Troy Applehans March 8, :00 pm Belleville Country Club Troy is the CattleFax market analyst responsible for feeder cattle and cow/calf regions of the Southern Plains region as well as Southeastern states of the U.S.

Saturday, March 9, 2019 at 1:00 Complimentary Lunch at 12:00 104 Bulls, 67 Black Balancers, 11 Black Purebreds, 26 Red Balancers, 10 Fall Bred Heifers, 70 Black and 37 Red Commercial Heifers Here is

5 Saturday, March 9, 2019 at 1:00 Complimentary Lunch at 12: Bulls, 67 Black Balancers, 11 Black Purebreds, 26 Red Balancers, 10 Fall Bred Heifers, 70 Black and 37 Red Commercial Heifers Here is what we stand for: Customer service after the bull is sold [ [ Belleville, KS Belleville 81 Livestock Sale Barn Auctioneer: Kyle Elwood, Salina, KS Balanced EPD profile The Essentials: Sound, Big Bodied, Moderate Framed and Muscular [Using data to increase your profits] BULL SALE Hubbell, NE Reliable and honest data Proper Bull development Nevada 1170Y Crossbreeding Get the benefit of heterosis and hybrid vigor here! Video of the bulls, data, and catalog will be posted at Hubbell, Nebraska Dustin: Duane: (Cell) Sons Sell Raising Bulls for Commercial Cattlemen that fit today and tomorrow. A product of Mustang Media January 2019

Hubbell, NE Exiciting New Sires Lifeline Lifeline is a balancer bull we started using who is a Final Answer son. He was raised by Eagle Pass in South Dakota.

Nevada Nevada is a balancer bull we continue to use heavily. You will also see a son of his that we are using in 532C that sold in our sale in 2016.

Twister Twister is a purebred bull we raised and sold to Thorstenson s. He is a big growth PB gelbvieh bull who ranks in the top 15% for $Cow, top 15% for FPI, and top 1% for EPI.

Therefore Rippe Gelbvieh and Thorstenson s are the only two places you will able to access his genetics going forward.

6 Hubbell, NE Exiciting New Sires Lifeline Lifeline is a balancer bull we started using who is a Final Answer son. He was raised by Eagle Pass in South Dakota. Lifeline does a lot of things right. He is moderate at birth and his calves grow well. We will have several heifer bulls out of him and a big flush. Structurally sound and made right. Nevada Nevada is a balancer bull we continue to use heavily. You will also see a son of his that we are using in 532C that sold in our sale in Nevada cattle are just made right and complete. We breed a lot of heifers to Nevada and 532C and they both rank among the top of the breed for calving ease and marbling. Twister Twister is a purebred bull we raised and sold to Thorstenson s. He is a big growth PB gelbvieh bull who ranks in the top 15% for $Cow, top 15% for FPI, and top 1% for EPI. To sum it up he does a lot of things great. One thing to note with him is he is not producing semen at this time. We have a little bit saved up but we are not offering any for sale. Therefore Rippe Gelbvieh and Thorstenson s are the only two places you will able to access his genetics going forward. Sparticus Sparticus is a Red Angus bull who is powerfully made and very stout boned. We have serval calves on the sale out of this breed leading AI sire. He doesn t possess as much calving ease as Gladiator, but we do have some heifer bulls out of him. You will really like how these bulls look and their disposition is great.

Hubbell, NE Gladiator Gladiator is a Red Angus bull who is sired by Sparticus. A true spread bull who is a maternal brother to Hard Drive. He ranks in the top 8% of the breed for CED, BW, WW, and YW.

Genomic Enhanced EPD s By Dustin Rippe Every bull in our sale has Genomic EPD s. I know many of you are asking yourself what that means.

7 Hubbell, NE Gladiator Gladiator is a Red Angus bull who is sired by Sparticus. A true spread bull who is a maternal brother to Hard Drive. He ranks in the top 8% of the breed for CED, BW, WW, and YW. We have a flush out of this bull that I think you will like. Probity The payweight sons were hot last year, and Probity is a son of Payweight He is a very deep bodied and sound structured bull that excels in birth to yearling weight spread and is balanced in his EPD profile. He won the balancer futurity at Denver and was raised by Judd Ranch. We purchased a lot of Probity semen on the national sale, so we could offer these genetics to our customers. Genomic Enhanced EPD s By Dustin Rippe Every bull in our sale has Genomic EPD s. I know many of you are asking yourself what that means. The Gelbvieh breed along with nearly every other major breed has sent in DNA on their most used sires and dams. They gain information from the DNA about each animal s fertility, birth weight, growth, marbling, ect. With this information in hand, we now have the ability to send in DNA on our yearling bulls and compare it against many animals from the past to come up with the Molecular Breeding Values (MBV). The breed association uses that info to change a bull s EPDs and increase their accuracy. While it varies for each trait, generally adding genomic information to the EPDs equates to 7 to 20 progeny performance records and the corresponding increase in accuracies. This is the equivalent of the cow s productive lifetime and then some! I am a numbers guy so I like to put it into numbers. When a yearling bull is sold and the breeder doesn t record anything A product of Mustang Media but pedigree the bull will have an accuracy of.05. If the breeder does a good job of recording data an animal will have an accuracy of around.2. If a breeder takes good data on a large scale, and does Genomic Enhanced EPDs, the accuracy will be roughly.4. When you are buying a bull with genomic enhanced EPDs he can be as much as 8 times more accurate or it is the equivalent of seeing his first set of calves before you even buy the bull. Another way to look at it is this: If you used a bull on heifers last year and didn t pull a calf or used a new yearling bull, which one would you have more confidence in? Of course the bull you used last year, this what GE EPD s do for your operation. The major benefit of GE EPDs is risk reduction through improved accuracy of the EPDs. January 2019

8 Hubbell, NE 6775 Road D Hubbell, NE PRSRT STD US POSTAGE PAID SUTTON, NE PERMIT NO. 12 Phone: Website: rippegelbvieh.com Rippe Gelbvieh 2019 Bull Sale Saturday, March 9, 2019 at 1:00pm Belleville, KS Belleville 81 Livestock Sale Barn For More Information Contact Dustin Duane: Before you sell your feeders, please call me. When I need to buy feeders, I would prefer to purchase them out of the genetics we produce. The more notice, the better. - Dustin

Bull Buyer s Guide. $3000 Purchase Price of New Bull Salvage Value of Old Bull (1900 lbs. X 1.10/lb.) $ 910 Net Cost of New Bull

Bull Buyer s Guide. $3000 Purchase Price of New Bull Salvage Value of Old Bull (1900 lbs. X 1.10/lb.) $ 910 Net Cost of New Bull Bull Buyer s Guide Revised by Ted G. Dyer and Ronnie Silcox, Extension Animal Scientists Original manuscript by Dan T. Brown and Ronnie E. Silcox, Extension Animal Scientists Never underestimate the power