Beef cattle marketing options for '04 added up

By LYNN MONTGOMERY | East Texas Edition

December 18, 2003 -- With several marketing options available, and as 2003 comes to an end, cattle producers might be asking themselves what they should be doing in 2004.

Current market options for producers might be taking them to their local sale barn, joining an alliance group, or preconditioned sales.

Dr. Jason Cleere, a Extension beef specialist at Overton, stated, "Producers who are interested in marketing their cattle in one of the preconditioned (calf) sales like NETBIO, should ask themselves questions like, 'Do I have the facilities to precondition the calves? Do I have the time? Is my extra effort gonna be worth it for the added value?'"

Producers should also realize the quality of their calves and what order buyers are looking for, Cleere added.

"Evaluate the quality of the calves. A poor-quality calf leads to a poor-quality preconditioned calf," Cleere said.

What calves are the bigger order buyers, like Caprock and Cactus, looking for?

Extension Beef Specialist Dr. Ron Gill affirmed cattle still in high demand are those that are 1/2 English, no more than 1/2 Continental, and 1/4 Brahman or less.

Because of this demand, Gill's advice is: "Try not to produce anything that is not in the main stream market and would take a discount (when sold)."

Cleere added buyers are also looking for "solid pattern calves."

Gill offered a solution for producers who have cattle that are not on the demand list, yet would like to receive a "little premium and avoid the discount. ... Market them in a niche (speciality) market."

Niche markets include raising cattle to be sold in the grass-fed or organic beef marketplace.

Cleere stated "in one East Texas county, several neighbors are putting together a truckload of calves and selling them directly to an order buyer. This takes a lot of trust."

To produce calves that are in "demand," producers should consider the type of cattle they have. Are the cows top producers?

Also, one area that might be overlooked is the quality of the herd bull.

"We don't realize the quality of the bull plays an important part with the quality of the calves. Upgrade the bull if needed," Cleere suggested.

Whichever route is taken to sell your cattle, Gill, along with Certified Beef LLC (an alliance group) Assistant Vice President Mark McCully, urge producers to know what is happening in the market place and target that market.

"I encourage a main stream target that fits their operation, input, then make the changes in genetics and management and become more involved in the marketing of those cattle," McCully, a keynote speaker at the Dec. 4 North East Texas Independent Cattlemen's Association membership meeting, said.

McCully cited changes in the food industry have become the driving force in the beef industry.

With value-added products, user-friendly type cuts, convenience packaging, and easy-to-prepare meals, the industry has become very consumer-focused.

A big player in the scheme of things are packers who are giving bigger discounts and bigger premiums to get what they want. Individual cattle producers feel the effects of the packers' discounts or premiums even when they sell at the local sale barn, so meeting their demands has become a "must" for producers.

Speaking from an alliance point of view, McCully stated producers need to "know how the cattle are producing. Get (carcass) data back (from packers), if you can. The data is important because you can't make changes until you know what you have. Be prepared for continuous change."

Gill, who recently addressed North Texas producers at a cattleman's conference in McKinney, stated cattle producers need to be aware of a few things about alliances, such as: "Do you get paid a premium once the cattle are at the packers?"

He added a personal thought: "To the producer, there is no real payback for being in an alliance."

As far as cattle sold at the sale barn, carcass data would be hard to obtain, therefore, producers should keep accurate records, such as birthing, weaning, and selling weights.

In 2004, the best advice: "Evaluate the pluses and the minuses and make a decision that best works for your operation," according to Gill.