Livestock Marketing Series: From Contract to Delivery - Maximizing Cattle Marketing ROI
#24

Livestock Marketing Series: From Contract to Delivery - Maximizing Cattle Marketing ROI

coming up.

So, if I think there's going to be

enough deduct there that you would be

better off selling them in a different

way and it'll put more money in your

pocket, I'm going to tell you that. I'm

not just going to tell you to sell the

cattle with me because I want to make

the commission. Now, we we do need to

grow and we do need to get bigger, but

if I'm not doing what's best for you, I

I don't have a chance to keep you. It

takes a person with integrity to to work

both sides of it. You can't just be all

seller or all buyer. you got to be right

there in the middle and do what's right

for both. And our buyer base, too. I

mean, they're they're they've been very

very supportive from day one. I mean,

there's a there's a key group of them

guys that when when we did make the

transition and decided to go this way

and build a new company. I I didn't know

there was that much of an outpour. I

mean, they were they were behind it

100%. They wanted it done right.

That's right around the corner on the

live a ranch and livestock marketing we

live at podcast. But first, a reminder.

If it's time to sell your cattle,

consign your cattle with Live A. Our

summer auction schedule is on your

screen and available at live-ag.com.

Consign your cattle now and take

advantage of Live A's generations of

experience in livestock marketing. Now,

here's your hosts, Tid Cordova and Casey

Mabry.

Welcome back to the We Live It podcast

with your host, Casey Mabry and Tai

Cordova. Uh today we wanted to spend

some time uh more educational time kind

of talking about through the process and

that uh what we wanted to start off with

here is uh going through um how the

auctions work. Uh say you're a producer

and you wanted to start uh merchandising

your cattle on your auctions. Um what

are some things that uh somebody needs

to look for?

You know, we start off by finding us at

our website which is live-ag.com.

Um, and on our website, we have a a reps

page that that'll give a list of our

reps in your area. Um, I would kind of

start there. Uh, I think at the bottom

of the page, you can also submit some uh

some phone numbers and some contact

information if you want us to reach out

to you, which we would love to do. um

just just fill that out and it would

come to the the internal team and we'll

kind of get it to the right people or

either that or either myself or one of

the guys in the office will reach out

and kind of fill out who who would be

the best fit for you where you're at and

where your cattle are located cuz some

of that stuff the cattle are located in

one spot and then then the customers in

another and we want to make sure we get

the right person to you. So, best part

best spot to start is would at

live-ag.com

and uh just just search there and if you

want to call if you'd rather talk to

somebody, there is an 800 number there

uh for the office, I believe. Um and if

there's not after this episode, Katie

will get an 800 number up on the website

to where people can reach out. It might

not be 800 number, 817 number. I'm

trying to get fact checked back here

real quick. But that would be the best

process is to go through that procedure.

Um we have do we do have a great team of

reps out there to that that are

scattered across the country to service

you. Um and the process is pretty

seamless.

Yeah. So uh probably geographically

driven is probably the biggest thing

there. So um let's say I reach out to

one of your reps kind of to walk me

through the process of how that works.

Okay. They'll reach you'll reach out to

them. They they'll kind of ask a few

questions before they come kind of what

you're looking at selling whether it's a

calf operations, whether it's a yearling

operation or it's bread stock or or what

what it is you want to sell. And then

they they'll probably go through a few

more questions. Okay, how many you have?

What's that look like? Cuz we do get a

few calls that that that don't fit our

model. And I mean there's there's

there's places for everything to be

sold. And there's sometimes we do get

phone calls where they just we can't

help them. Um and we the last thing we

want to do is waste their time. So, what

what we do on those people is tell them,

"Okay, this is what you'll need to do to

to come to come and sell through us.

Once you get there, we'd love to help

you or if you'd like help getting there,

we can give you some suggestions." And

and our job as rep is to make whoever we

talk to profitable, make their make

their organization or their outfit, make

it get the most value of whatever

they're offering. So, that's that's the

first job of a rep is to to visualize

and assess what they have and and what

is the next plan of action and to ask

them how they've been doing it. What

have you been doing?

And also, we get into some of that, too.

And and I'm as honest as I can be with

those people when I do go through those

steps. If if they're doing something and

I don't think I can

elevate them to another level, I I tell

them, "Look, guys, what you're doing is

working. Unless you just want to change,

I I can't I can't benefit you no more. I

love to sell your cattle for you. I'd

love to help you. But unless you just

want to change, what you're doing right

now is perfect. It It fits your It fits

your outfit. It fits your program. But

then we then we can get into some other

things about okay, once we do go to

selling our cattle, then we can advise

them on if it's a cow cave operation.

Okay. Well, they they'll ask us

typically, okay, what do we what can we

do to make it better? We can we can

concentrate on genetics, you know,

through our purebred operation. And we

can concentrate on back pro programs. We

can concentrate on on uh third party

verifications whether it's through IMI

global or earth claims or and then a

mineral program like through Vapormir

and some of that stuff where we can add

value through different programs that we

can do. Genetics is a big one. I mean,

getting getting the right genetics in

your herd and and breeding your cows to

the right type of bulls to make the

right type of cross or the right type of

pure bread, however you want to do it,

and where you're located and what region

of the country you're located in. That

makes a big difference on on how your

cattle sell and what they bring. and

breeding seasons. I mean, the times when

the cattle come out, the times when they

come off, how big they are, when you're

going to sell them, what what program

fit, what slot they fit, and when their

in-game is, and all that matters, and

and that's something the rep is

knowledgeable of, and can go out and and

be with the customer and inform them.

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Yeah, I think about all the different

things that are in the industry and all

the value propositions that are out

there. You know, you got breed

character, you got, you know, all the

different program types. You talk about

NHTC, so the non hormone cattle, all

naturals, all that stuff. I mean, you

guys do a pretty good job or really good

job of Alex explaining that and also

bringing uh those producers in there.

So, um explain to me. So, so there's

probably some customers out there that

are probably listening to this and so um

what is what what is the ideal and I

imagine there's lots of variation in

ideal. Um what's the minimum size?

What's the ideal scenario for somebody

that's interested uh in putting cattle

on a video? We sell load lots. I mean,

so the what what I look at it is and we

sell split loads to make load lots, too.

Um, the way I look at that is

are you willing to give up, if you're

going to just sell 40,000 lbs of cattle,

are you willing to give up that so much

of a freight adjustment or adjust the

freight to 48,000 and and see what that

looked like and then how that evaluate

that dollar evaluates back into your

bottom line. So, if I think there's

going to be enough deduct there that you

would be better off selling them in a

different way and it'll put more money

in your pocket, I'm going to tell you

that. I'm not just going to tell you to

sell the cattle with me because I want

to make the commission. Now, we we do

need to grow and we do need to get

bigger, but if I'm not doing what's best

for you, I I don't have a chance to keep

you. So, if if I can give you the right

kind of advice to to make your bottom

dollar bigger, one day when you do have

45 or 48,000 lbs of cattle, you're going

to remember that and you're going to

come back to me and we're going to talk

again and then we're going to sell them

and then we can make your bottom dollar

even more. So that that's kind of how I

look at it. We try to stick with load

lots of cattle, but we do sell short

loads and we do we we co-ingle some

cattle with some neighbors and stuff

like that. That's another thing that a

rep can get in a little area and do a

little co-mingle deal with several other

smaller ranchers in that area. So

yeah, and kind of at least put them on

the same sale to where it kind of gets

it there.

Sell them lot by lot and say, "Hey guys,

you've tied these [ __ ] together. We'll

put them on truck together." Yeah.

Yeah. So the the thing that I've

probably heard a lot of when I've worked

with, you know, smaller producers out

there or even bigger producers is and

they've traditionally gone to, you know,

one marketing style, whether they're

calling and selling the cattle private

treaty or they're putting the cattle uh

through an auction barn down the road.

You know, what are some advantages to

those guys by using something like live?

Well, way I focused on it is is stress.

A lot of the stress is less if you're

just selling them straight off the

ranch. Um, so versus a sale barn, you

got a lot less handling with them. Um,

and versus a private treaty transaction,

well, you get two or three guys bidding

on those cattle in those private treaty

deals where we can have anywhere from 15

to 20 at one time looking at your

cattle. So, we're we're broadening your

buyer base too on on the guys that are

doing the private treaty deal. The guys

that go and sell barn, you know, we do

shrink the cattle on the ground or

shrink the cattle on the truck. There is

a little shrink involved in it, but time

after time you can check those shrinks

and you go to the sale barn and that

shrink will be be quite a bit better

just coming right off the ranch. And at

in the endgame where they get to I have

certain customers, certain buyer base

that, you know, that they're at the

point now that they want nothing but off

the ranch because the health's better.

It just helps all the way through

because their health program stays

better. They can afford to give a little

bit more upfront because they don't have

to put near as much in them to them on

the back side. I got one customer that

won't even buy one out of a cell

warrant. And that coming from a previous

sale owner, I mean, we we own barn, we

sold on video, we we've done it all. And

and there's a spot for all of it. Yeah.

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No, I I could see that. And I mean, say

you're a smaller producer and you got,

you know, 50 to 100 cows and their cving

windows extremely wide. So, they're

cving all year long. It's probably hard

extremely hard to put a load lot

together and having them consistent

sizing and sexes and things like that.

But, um, as far as uh as far as like

some some things that I've heard

producers say and you can kind of help

me, you know, I guess mythbust if you

will. Um, you know, talk about the

stress. I mean, and the and the shrink.

So, you mentioned shrink. Some people

may may not even know what shrink is.

Explain what that is.

Well, it's like a calf crop for example.

You strip them calves right off them

cows and you send them to a sale barn.

They stand there for a day or a day and

a half. They're going to lose quite a

bit of weight. Uh in this instance on if

you sell them to a video, you're going

to strip them off that morning. They're

going to go across a set of scales and

they're going to be somebody else's

property. I mean there there's not that

big of a gap before they're weighed and

sold.

Yeah. So a lot of guys they they don't

know what their shrink is, right?

because they they they take the cattle,

they gather them, they push them on a

truck, they haul them to the sail barn.

The only weight that they ever capture

is what they sold the sold weight.

Um, so they don't truly know how much

the the the first weight was.

Uh, we I've dealt with that a million

times as far as trading fat cattle goes

where guys will sell cattle and not know

what the shrink is, especially when you

get into some other areas. It's not as

prevalent now as what it used to be, but

um, it's definitely something that guys

got to look at. But you can't weigh the

same cattle twice, um, if you will. uh

you guys when you sell cattle uh to

protect both parties, you put a shrink

on the cattle when because everything's

predetermined. The cat, you don't know

necessarily what the weight is. So,

another thing that I've heard people say

is, you know, if I said I mean I I've

recommended my some of my customers sell

Catalon videos because what I do like um

is the ability to determine when you're

going to sell them timing wise, right?

you know, you don't know if if I mean,

this is honestly one of the things I

think about a lot is um the the weather

is you're not going to be worried about

the weather that morning or you know, if

you're going to be able to get trucks in

and out that morning to do it. You kind

of get more of a scheduled plan. Um but

as far as uh as far as some of the

predictability factors, one of the

things that I've that I've had producers

tell me is I don't know what they're

going to weigh.

Yeah.

Um so you're going to put the cattle on

the video, you're going to video the

cattle ahead of time or whatever that

is. So, kind of walk through. Um, a

producer says, let's say I'm I'm I'm

Casey and I say, "Ty, I want to sell,

you know, a load of cattle on the video.

I'm worried about what I, you know,

predicting the weight of them because I

want to make sure that we don't get into

a buy there." Explain to me how we would

go through that process.

Well, my first question would be, where

have you been selling them and how have

you been if it's especially if it's cow

calf producer? Okay. What typical time

do you do you pull them off your cows

and how have you been selling them? And

a lot of them will have records. They

just don't realize they can utilize

those records. So they'll have past sale

records for the last 5 years. So okay,

well what did they weigh when you sold

them the last 5 years? Okay. Well, it

varies. Well, yeah, cuz weather and

droughts or or excessive rain or or

perfect conditions, they all vary. But

if you can take an average and you can

be within 25 35 lbs of that on a

year-to-year bastoear base, you can be

that close if you do it all at the same

time. And most guys do that have big

enough cal operation. They they tend to

ship their cattle at the same time

around the same two weeks every year. So

they have the ability to do that. They

just don't know that they could look

back and oh wait I can go to my sales

receipt. I sent them I sent them to the

sale barns for the last 5 years at this

barn for the that this time of year for

last five or 10 years. Well, let's go

get those receipts and look at it.

Well, then what you got to do is you got

to get them back and look at them and

average them out and figure it all out.

And it's it's not that complicated to

get pretty close. I mean, and then on

the set of yearlings, I mean, it's not

hard to test weigh them unless you don't

have a scales within 50 miles or

something. But then you got these reps

that are getting pretty good at being

able to tell what one weigh and and

predicting the kind of a gain on them

and all that. So,

so that's probably something that's

super important. Uh, and I mean, you've

been in this industry for a very, very

long period of time. And I'm guessing

you could probably get out there

personally and, you know, probably nail

these cattle pretty close on weight. Um,

you know, one of the things that I

struggle with in my business and I think

lots of people struggle with in in their

business is having the right people in

place. So, you send a rep out there to

look at the cattle. I mean, talk

through, you know, your reps and who you

guys use and um why you select for those

reps uh to be able to to to gain the

trust that you guys at Live A can

deliver a very consistent um I guess

product or service each and every time

you guys do it. And and don't get me

wrong, we we're going to run into we're

going to run into issues where our

weights are off. I mean, heck, we had

several of them yesterday in a in a

groveyard situation and I'm like, how

did we do this?

You know, it happens. You're going to

you're going to mess up. You're going to

have some mistakes. It's how you fix

them in the end whether everybody comes

back to the table or not. But as far as

choosing reps, you know, pretty going to

be pretty particular on who we do go out

and select. I kind of mentioned this on

some some other ones some other podcasts

before about, you know, we don't want to

be the biggest, we kind of want to be

the best. And that that goes back to

selecting the right guys to do the right

job that are representing live a out

there. So it that rep deal is kind of a

unique unique job. First and foremost,

you're representing your customer and

you got to sell your customers cattle as

high as you can make them the most you

can make them bring. That's your first

job. But after you get that done, you

got to transition to a buyer. So now you

got to ship the cattle to fit a buyer

spec on how you sold the cattle. So you

got to make you you got there's a fine

line you walk between seller and buyer

there that it takes a it takes a person

with integrity to to work both sides of

it. You can't just be all seller or all

buyer. You got to be right there in the

middle and do what's right for both.

Oh, I bet that's I mean that it seems

like it's probably a tough job. It's

really not because honestly you're

you're probably bringing together uh

making sure for for the producer he

doesn't want to get a phone call back.

He wants a fivestar review, you know, he

wants to go

to keep coming back and watch.

Yes. Absolutely.

Majority of them.

Yeah. And so uh having that rep in place

and having the trust and the foundation

on both sides is probably uh probably

the most key part of the whole deal and

making sure that the glue is there.

And our and our buyer base too. I mean

they're they're they've been very very

supportive from day one. And I mean

there's a there's a key group of them

guys that when when we did make the

transition and it decided to go this way

and build a new company. I I didn't know

there was that much of an outpour. I

mean they were they were behind it 100%.

But they wanted it done right. So there

there are some things that we're we're

we're working on right now with our

shrinks and our main things our slides

and our weight stops. I mean, you can

look back in our in our cataloges the

last couple of sales that we have a lot

of cattle with weight stops on them and

big slides. And that's we're pushing

that because we're getting pushed to do

that. We're seeing a we're seeing a

premium for for them selling them with a

weight stop and a big slide. We're

starting seeing those premiums and

you're starting to see those cattle that

don't have them. They're wondering why

they're not bringing as much as these

are. Well, because they are giving a

weight slide, a weight stop, and a big

slide. that this slide deal is at these

levels is is

let's talk about slide. Let's talk about

slide for a minute. Explain in the most

simple form that you can what a slide

is.

So, let's just remember this.

We're probably talking to a producer

that's sending cattle to the sale bar.

There's they just sell the cattle and

they get a check back and a lot of them

look at per head values, right? So,

let's talk about how we get to where we

optimize

my calf crop. Explain to me what the

slides are, how they work, and why

they're important. Well, there's several

of them. I mean, there's a regular

conventional slide, which is a up slide.

You know, calf is 25 lbs big. You got a

10 cent slide. The cab brings, just say

he brings two bucks. You take and he's

25 lbs big with a 10 cent slide. You

take $2.50 off two bucks. So, you got

one that brought what? What's that?

19750 with 2.5 bucks off of him. So,

that's how the conventional up slide

works. It's better if we write it down.

You can explain it a lot better so

people can see the math, but that's just

the gist of it. So, it's adjusting

weight based off the the value because

heavier cattle should bring less per

hundred weight,

but it's still more dollars per head.

That's where that's where people get

that's where producers sometimes get

hung up when you go to deducting that

that money off that perunded weight.

They're like, "Well, that why's my he's

not really bringing less. He's really

bringing more dollars per head. He's

bringing less dollars per pound, but

he's bigger, so he's bringing more

dollars per head." I go, Ty, I go

through this all the time where we were

looking at a kill sheet the other day on

a set of fat cattle. Okay, everybody's

hung up on how much more of the market

do I get per 100 weight, right? I go

start looking through the kill sheet and

all these cattle had been born basically

the same day. There were some half

bloods born the same day, been in the

feed lot the same amount of time and

there was a heavyweight discount and

these cattle went into heavyweight

discount. But but when you look at them

on a per hundred or per dollars per

head, they were bringing like $500 more

per head

and being bigger

and they brought $20 ahead 100 loss

less.

Yeah.

So then the produ that's what I always

ask them. I'm like what's animals the

most profitable? So to your point when

you're saying hey you know people might

be scared of the slide but the slide and

pushing those animals to the heavier

weight might actually be more profitable

for the operation from a from a total

dollar standpoint.

Yeah. Then you got to get into the point

where is it

what is a big enough slide for the guy

that's receiving them? I mean a 10 cent

these eight and 10 cent slide days is

over with. I mean it's because these

values

well these values and then the roll back

right the Yeah. So, so, uh, having the

the cost of gain and the cost of

production now with all the, you know,

cheap feed stuffs we have, um, the the

the that's probably the most important.

You know, I've been looking at a deal.

We've been selling some cattle on the

gain slide and a dollar gain slide and

that if you look at that, that thing

might fit better than anything at this

point at these levels because I mean,

it's just a dollar every pound that goes

up. I mean, that's what the producer is

putting in his pocket and that's what

the buyer's having to pay. And I don't

know what he can put a pound. I mean,

some of them it takes 95. Some of them

they're dollar cost of gains a dollar10,

dollar$120, whatever it is. But the

dollar is about the about as fair as you

can get, I would think. Um, and we're

doing we're doing quite a bit of that on

some of these cattle that are coming in

pretty big.

Yeah. We've never seen us uh I mean it's

extremely unprecedented to see the

spread between

market value of cattle whether you're

talking about feeder cattle or uh or fat

cattle and then the cost to produce a

pound a the cost to produce a pound of

gain. I was thinking about the other day

even if a fat steer is extremely

inefficient

for every day that he's standing in

there he's gaining two and a half three

pounds a day. you'd like to see them

gain three and a half, four pounds a

day, but they probably start to tamper

some of their growth. But like I think

that's one of the biggest reasons we've

seen, you know, lots of changes. But I

mean, for every day that the animals

standing there, the spread, if they're

gaining three lbs a day, um the spread

between the market price and the cost of

gain is probably, you know, at the worst

case scenario, a buck 50.

Yeah.

Um or a buck. And so you got a buck at

three pounds. Every day is $3. $3 a day

for every day that they stay in there.

So, um it's definitely going to drive

things. and behaviorally um we going to

do things different but then from your

talk your standpoint on the slides uh it

it definitely makes a big impact and I

was talking to some of these buyers the

other day and they were giving me a hard

time about slides and you know I I I've

been hesitant to bring this up on one of

these deals because of the of the calls

I'm probably going to get but at this

point in time I don't whatever you know

call me but until our buyer base

goes to pushing back on these small

slides there's No, no way us as as reps

or as as independent or as a video

company or anybody until the buyer base

goes back and pushes against it and

stops bidding on these cattle with these

little slides.

Y

and and if they're still going to

support it, that's still going to

happen. So until the buyer base says and

has enough and and shows a big enough

discount on those cattle with those

smaller slides, we won't ever be able to

get it right where it needs to be.

Yeah. And so do you think that's uh

uh they don't really have leverage

today, right? I mean the buyers just

buying cattle because they're offered it

that way, but you did say you're seeing

a spread. The cattle with bigger slides

are bringing more money.

They are. And they're start it's

starting to happen. You can see it and

they're starting to you're starting to

see it, especially the weight stops. I

mean them guys are really liking this. I

mean cuz and then then that's making the

producer be tighter on what he's

choosing to do. I mean, how he's, you

know, he's he's he's trying to get

better at what he does. And that's

great. That's what we want to do. You

know, we want people to come back and

buy this cattle year in and year out.

And if the producer is going to do it

right and get that close, he don't mind

giving a little weight stop or a big

slide because he knows he's going to be

pretty close.

Yeah. Particularly with uh like we

talked about with with the ability if

you have a lighter weight animal, you

can put more pounds, you get more roll

back. So, to a buyer, it's probably more

important to have an animal that's not

going to be bigger. It's not like it's

just going to there even in today's day

and age or even more so in today's day

and age where you're probably seeing

more what used to be a seven weight is

now an eight weight or a nine weight.

You're seeing lots more

bigger cattle genetics

cheap feed

rain all those different things have

allowed for people to get there and you

know what

incentive is going to drive outcome.

Yeah.

So I mean if the guys incentivize and I

mean I guess there's incentives and then

disincentives

uh to do things. So, if they're being

rewarded, they're just going to continue

to push that way.

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Yeah. As far as that goes, we kind of

went through, you know, how to get a

hold of a rep. We've gone through uh how

that video process When do we video the

cattle?

When they come

try to do it when you write the contract

up. Most sometimes we'd have to do the

contract over the phone because there's

some deadlines. Um there's a big man

standing right over here that likes the

video done to be done early and often so

he he he don't have to bug everybody and

keep calling him. But um we but that

video needs to be done at least three to

two or three days after the deadline.

I'm going to ask him. I'm going to fact

check this so he don't shoot me. But you

know the video can if you get in a

crunch we can do it pretty fast. Well,

we like to get that video on so we can

get it up. We want to get it up online.

We want to get it out there so people

can see it. So, we really like all the

videos to be in when the catalog's up.

So, say deadlines on a Tuesday. Catalop

goes up on a Thursday or Friday. So, if

if you can have that video in two or

three days after the deadline of the of

the catalog, then the online catalog,

that would be that would be best. So,

then people can the buyers can get on

there, search through there, and look at

their look at the cattle they want to

buy.

Yeah. So they get to see that ahead of

time and kind of plan through that. So

that's another I mean there's probably

another advantage to that. It's not like

we're just walking across the catwalk,

you know, looking at cattle that showed

up that day. Somebody can kind of get in

there and get a pre a predetermined plan

on what they want to do as far as from a

buyer standpoint.

Um what other stuff you want to talk

about as far as uh as far as that

process goes?

Nothing. Just you know, the filming deal

is a big deal. How you make them look

and and and how you film them and and

the uh what's the word I'm looking for?

the production of the film, I guess you

could say, or how you quality of the

film. The quality of that's the quality

of the film.

Yeah. You're not just going out there

and shooting these things with iPhones,

right?

Oh, yeah. You are. Okay. Like them

iPhones do great, but you you got to

hold them right and you got to you got

to make your settings right. Like Bing

is a stickler on how you do it. And I

love it because it makes the cattle look

so much better. Turn that turn their

phone sideways and just record away. But

the separation in the top and the bottom

and and how the cattle string out and

where the sun's at. And

I mean, you think about that. I mean, we

watch our kids, our daughters take

pictures and I mean, it makes when it

seems like I always get on my wife

because she'll take a picture of me like

pointing the camera down and my legs

look like they're real short and I'm

like, I'm already short anyway.

Come on, man.

It's all it's all perception, right? So,

imagine making those cattle look as good

as they probably can.

Yeah. And people call sometimes and you

you'll film some cattle or send some

cattle out there that are that are just

kind of cattle. Well, they'll call you

about them. You're like, I don't know.

You might want to I don't know if them

will fit you. What do you mean you don't

know they'll fit me? Well, he said, I

watched the video. The video is great. I

said, yeah, the video is great. Cuz they

did a really good job of filming them.

Yeah.

So, just I mean that that is one thing

that that will change the factor of

things is how good those guys look on

the film.

So, that's why it's important to make

sure you're getting a hold of the rep to

know. So then a guy, you know, he gets

what you don't want him to get. You

don't you don't want him to get

catfished.

Yeah. Exactly. Yeah.

Yeah. So,

but Well, awesome. Anything else?

Oh, I don't know. I mean, maybe some the

future markets. I mean, I guess you, you

know, one one reason to use the video

sell is so you can capture those, you

know, when the market's up, market's

good, either video sell or or LAX or or

listing site. I mean, when this market's

hot, let's let's contract cattle out. I

mean, let's get some cattle sold for

fall. the the way this market is right

now. I mean, it's it's unprecedented.

Even though we've had a couple down days

here, but it's still higher than any of

us have ever seen it. So, why not

forward contract some of them cattle?

And that's the ability that that selling

cattle on video or or or forward

contracting cattle. That's the ability

that that we like and we'll give. So,

yeah. So, I mean, that's a good point

and we got what to touch on there. So, I

mean, I've got some clients out there

that are running cattle on grass and

they traditionally would buy the cattle

wherever they buy them from. They kick

them out on grass and then they're going

to run them cattle as long as they can.

So, let's say Labor Day, right? Um, if

we're in the north, they're going to run

them cattle out there on Labor Day and

then they traditionally just haul them

straight into the sail barn during that

time period. Um, you know, one thing

that I've really tried to encourage guys

of is there's a couple different ways,

and we'll go through this in the next

episode, to manage risk on those cattle.

One of them's physically selling the

animal, one of them's using the product

like LRP to protect it, and then one of

them is just using the futures market.

Yeah.

Well, so in today's world, the LRP is 13

weeks away, so we can't even get to

Labor Day right now.

Uh you get to uh futures market's so

volatile to where you're going to have

all this margin exposure and then the

other ones forward contracting the

cattle in the physical way. Um so I try

to encourage our guys to go, you know

what, let's get the cattle out there and

get them sold. Well, that what some of

them guys that do that what you're

talking about and and they're not sure

about the the rain or or whatever. My my

suggestion to them and what I tell them

guys, okay, let's don't sell all of

them.

Let's go in there and let's sell 75% of

them.

That way, if you do have to come early,

you can come early with some of them and

you can stretch it out. If you want to

come late, you can come late or sell 50%

of them. Cover hedge some cover

something. Let's cover some of your

risks some point some way or another

because you can if you'll just sell part

of them you can manage that a lot better

than just having

Well, you're never all wrong.

No, you're not. So, and

that's our biggest fear, right?

Exactly. So,

what what's it what's it hurt to get

capture some of this good market cuz

they'll make money right now?

It's unbelievable.

So, that's what I suggest. And if

they're nervous about being able to keep

them long enough or not, don't let's

don't sell all of them. Let's sell part

of them.

Yeah. Yeah, I was driving in here a

little bit ago and I was talking to one

of my clients and his his they were

talking about selling cattle early like

fat cattle, right? And so, um, they're

getting bid on the cattle. They weigh,

you know, what what what weigh 1300 now.

What used to be big is now small, right?

It's amazing how perception changes. But

he made this most simple comment. And

the most simple comment, this is

65-year-old man that says, "My dad

always told me you won't ever go broke

taking a profit." Right? And right now

in our world, we have the we have the

luxury that these cattle are extremely

profitable. Um, use all the tools that

you have available to you. To some

people, futures markets work. Some

people LRP works and some people

physical selling the market works. Um,

again, I've tried to encourage a lot of

my guys, hey, you know, they're like,

what do I do? Um, selling them just

hauling them straight into town right

now. You're giving up weight.

Yeah. um the network to trade the cattle

out front uh is is you don't necessarily

have lots of bids on them, but you guys

offer the luxury of putting the cattle

out there and picking your future

delivery date.

Yeah.

What's the furthest you've sold cattle

out?

Sold some cattle in January. We got some

cattle traded in January.

So they're sell you're selling them now,

delivering them January.

So 6 months away from now. Yep. So

all right, good. Uh as far as uh I feel

like we covered quite a bit here today.

Uh if you guys have any questions, um

there should be a QR code on the screen.

Uh you can submit any of the questions

that you like and Ty and I will respond

to you. Probably more so Tai in this

topic. Um if you got any market stuff,

definitely uh Ty probably answer that

one better than I could also. But uh we

appreciate you guys joining us today on

this We Live It podcast. Uh if you guys

have any questions, like I said, uh

submit on that QR code, like the link,

there's a link at the bottom. uh like

and subscribe. Uh forward this on, share

it. If you're somebody that wants to be

on here uh and you and you want to get

your get your voice out, reach out to

us. We can do that as well. Uh thank you

guys. Have a great one.

B would die. So we battling