New features debut at May's NETX preconditioned calf sales

By LORI COPE | East Texas Edition

May 12, 2005 - A couple of changes in two Northeast Texas preconditioned calf sales will be noted this month. One deals with technology, and the other with vaccinations - but both are aimed at higher profits for the producers.

Technology will allow the May 25 NETBIO Stocker and Feeder Calf Sale at Sulphur Springs Livestock Commission to be "live" on the Internet. This pilot venture for the sale will allow people to not only watch the sale in progress, but to also submit bids.

A new vaccination program is incorporated into the May 17 Cattlemen's Premium 45 Stocker Feeder Sale in Paris. The calves offered at the sale have undergone the Merial SureHealth method, which includes a guarantee by Merial on the calves for up to 21 days.

With a computer:

The "live on the Internet" process for the NETBIO sale will be handled by the Livestock Marketing Association (LMA). Sulphur Springs Livestock Commission is among the first four auction markets to go on-line with their sales through the LMA auction website.

"This is going to give folks additional access to our sales," said David Fowler, co-owner of Sulphur Springs Livestock Commission. "If they can't attend the sale for some reason, they can watch it on their computer - and even bid on the ... cattle."

The process will be at LMA's auction website: www.lmaauctions.com. Computer users will need Macromedia®Flash software, and a high-speed connection is best but not mandatory.

Viewers and buyers need to access the site a few days prior to the sale and register.

Those who want to view and bid on cattle will need to register as a new viewer, but also supply information (such as banking details) that will be processed by LMA's Livestock Board of Trade. This registration form can be completed online, or a form can be faxed from, or picked up at, the sale barn (903-885-2455 or www.sslivestockauctions.com).

Those who want to just view the sale (and not bid) can simply close the window that asks for buyer information (click on the 'x' at the top right corner of the pop-up box).

With a chute:

Buyers at the Cattlemen's Premium 45 Sale, at Cattlemen's Livestock in Paris, should know the consignors have utilized the veterinarian-certified Merial SureHealth Calf Preconditioning Program. The program follows common preconditioning procedures; and the medicines used are Merial products.

A key benefit of the program, to both buyers and sellers, is the Merial SureHealth Limited Warranty. The company "guarantees" the calf's health for 21 days following the sale. In that time frame, if a calf gets sick, Merial will diagnosis and treat the animal, according to Terry Kirkpatrick, who represented Merial at a recent meeting.

"The fact that they will underwrite the calf's health in the feedyard was important to us," noted Hal Fowler, chairman of the Cattleman's Premium 45 sale board. "We feel like this will get more producers, and buyers, involved."

More information about the program, or the sale, is available from Cattlemen's Livestock Commission, 903-784-2238.

The Merial SureHealth Program was utilized at preconditioned calf sales at East Texas Livestock in Crockett. Paul Craycraft, one of the barn's owner, said the three or four years they had the sale "it went very well. The producers were tickled" with the results. Craycraft pointed to Merial's guarantee of the calves' health for 21 days was one good draw. "With the guarantee, Merial was basically saying we believe in our medicines so well, we'll back it up."

Figuring costs:

Following most preconditioned sale procedures, the vaccinations can put an additional $6 to $10 cost on the calf, but statistics show the producer can recoup those costs, plus more.

Hal Fowler agreed there is "risk involved" in preconditioning calves. "When you keep them for 45 days ... they might get sick or hurt."

One East Texas producer said he's pondering various options: pull his 300- to 400-pound calves from the cows and sell now, since cattle prices are high; or wean at his usual 450 to 500 pounds, and precondition the calves. Livestock specialists say each operation is different, and the Standardized Producers Analysis (SPA), available through Texas Cooperative Extension, can incorporate the operation's information to help with decision-making.

In the years preconditioned calf sales were held at East Texas Livestock, Craycraft said some producers tested the market. "We had some producers put some calves in the (preconditioned) sale, and they held some back to run in the regular sale." The preconditioned calves (marketed a few years ago) brought as much as $6 per hundredweight more than those sold at the barn's regular sale.

"The (preconditioned) market was higher than the regular sale, no question about it," Craycraft said.

And currently, "there's plenty of people who want the (healthier) preconditioned calves and who will pay for someone else to do it (feed out for 45 days)," he concluded.