Another State Fair Winner!!

Just found out we had another State Fair Champion. The heifer photo'd above was recently named the 2010 Missouri State Fair Grand Champion Chi Female. This summer she was named Champion Chi heifer at 17 of the 18 times she was shown. Congratulation to Laryn Pinkston!!!

This Heat Wave x Meyer daughter sold in last years sale as lot 217 for $1700. Her Maternal sib sired by Monopoly selling this year as lot 228.

Again Congratulations to Jacobs Show Cattle for raising this female & Congratulations to Laryn Pinkston!!!

Please send your fair success stories to sales@dwyercattle.com

Cattle At Sale Site

Currently we have cattle from Bill Couch & Hall Brothers, 74-51 Ranch, Bobby Price Cattle, Willie Morris, Grazers Inc., Shimmin Farms, & Dwyer Cattle at the sale site. By the end of next week we will have almost all of the large groups of cattle at the sale site. If you would like to come early to view cattle please feel free to stop by our farm. All of the cattle will be in place by no latter than Friday of sale week.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Is there a floor bid price on cattle? The answer to this is NO, we will sell the cattle in an auction format so if you raise your hand you will have a chance to purchase the lot.

2. Do you sell choice on pairs? We will absolutely let you take choice of either the cow or calf or both for double the bid price.

3. What price ranges do the cattle typically sell in? Cattle in this sale will sell for as low as $800 and as high as $20,000 +, with many steals to be made in between this figure. Historically we have averaged from $3,000 - $4,500 across the entire sale.

4. How is load out handled? You may load cattle at anytime during the sale, so if you have a busy weekend and only want to purchase the first animal through the ring. You can do so and then after you settle with the sale clerks we will have you and your new purchase on the road.

5. When is sale order determined? The sale order will be in place by early afternoon on Saturday and will be online by Saturday evening.

If you have any other questions about the sale please feel free to let me know.

State Fair Results

The 2010 State Fair Season is wrapping up in the Midwest and it has been another successful year for cattle consigned into this sale.
In Indiana the heifer pictured above was named Champion Simmental Female. This female is a Steel Force x Miss USA. Embryos by Maximus Heifer Semen x Miss USA sell as Lots 420 & 420A in this sale.
In Iowa Lot 80 was named the Reserve Champion Simmental Female at the 4-H show. Full sibling embryos to this female also sell, as Lots 80A & 80B.
In Illinois Lot 98 was named the Reserve Chi Heifer in the Junior Show. Lot 148 was named Champion Maine Bull in the Open Show. A full sibling to Lot 400 & 400A was named the Supreme Heifer overall breeds in the Junior Show.
In Missouri Lot 155 was named the Reserve Calf Champion Simmental.
So far the banners are rolling in for Foundation Females! Congratulations to everyone who exhibited cattle in this year's state fair!

Gate Painting

Since it is only about 100 degrees with the heat index around here we decided that rather than find a good inside job brushing calves, we probably ought to paint gates. We have around 60 gates to paint along with about 300 feet of continuous fence to paint around here. Thank god for teenage help that needs money for the State Fair, without them Bob and I would have a heat stroke before the painting was over.

Online Stats

So far the foundation female sale website is averaging 100 unique visitors per day, while the sale catalog has already been downloaded 550 times since being posted on Friday (not bad for just 6 days and no print ads being sent yet). Our top referring sites are EDJE & Showsteers who account for over 50% of our referrals. We are also starting to get new photos on the website, pictures of cattle who did not get pictured prior to the catalog going to print. Speaking of the catalog it will be in the mail on Friday the 30th.

39 Days Until The Sale

We are under 40 days until the sale and things are really heating up around here. We just gave our calves their second round of vaccination shots on Saturday, as they have now been weaned for about 3 weeks. All of the calves are now broke to lead and have been getting washed and blown 3 - 4 times a week. The catalog is wrapped up, and we are busy running ads everywhere we can afford. This year we will run ads in the Show Circuit, National Livestock Exhibitor, Livestock Plus, Midwest Marketer, Livestock Weekly in Texas, Cattle Today in Georgia, & many more.

Catalog Time

Sorry it has been awhile since my last post. But I am currently taking pictures, creating a catalog, and trying to keep up with the website (yes I do this all in house). As of now it looks like we will be offering cattle from 65 - 70 consignors, which means tracking down information from each of these people (thank god for unlimited minutes on cell phones). We should have between 200 - 240 Lots of cattle, 10 - 15 embryo lots, & 10 - 15 semen lots. It looks like the catalog will be wrapped up by early next week, and then in the mail by the last week of July. Continue to check out the site for added photos and information, more entries are rolling in daily.

Ad Time

Well it's the first week of July and the Ad deadlines are really starting to heat up. The first ads due are the Show Circuit & National Livestock Exhibitor, we will be running 2 page color spreads in each of these magazines. When it comes to deciding which ads to run it is extremely important to set up a budget and then follow that budget. Often times when putting a sale together people will over spend and then eat away their profits. When I sit down and try to figure out which ads to run I first look at the number of magazines or newspapers a place mails out for my money, the more people you reach per dollar the better. I then look at the demographic of the people who subscribe to the magazine or newspaper to decide which photos to run. For the most part magazines are use full when selling cattle to show oriented producers while newspapers target cowmen and commercial producers. By targeting your audience you will receive the best results.

First Round of Preg Checking

Well we have finally got the first round of pregnancy checking done this morning and so far all of the females that we have at our farm are pregnant to their AI dates. This year for the sale we bred the 10 bred heifers at our farm to Optimus Prime and Fat Butt. In order to help ensure that all of the cattle in the sale are stuck to what we say they are bred to we, as well as all of the consignors, will preg check the bred cattle twice. One time before the catalog is printed and again a week or two prior to the sale.

In order to sell bred cattle to people for 13 plus years you have to be willing to stand behind your cattle. Thus the need to preg check the cattle multiple times. While doing this does not always guarantee that everything will work as planned, due to a variety of factors. In order to cover any problems that may arise from cattle purchased in this sale we stand behind all of the cattle and will make things right with our buyers.

Semen & Embryos are Rollin In!

So far for the Rare Semen & Embryo auction we will be offering Upgrade x The Full Sibling to S.O.S, Sexed Male Yellow Top Heat Wave Semen x The Scheetz 280 Donor Female, as well as Heifer Sexed Maximus x Miss USA. The semen auction will feature 5 mL Sexed Maximus Semen, DJ Salute, 6807, Yellow Top Heat Wave Semen, with more lots still left to come in. The Rare Semen & Embryo Auction ought to be even more exciting than last year's. We are still accepting entries into this portion of the sale!

Picture Time!!

We have finally received some much needed sunshine here in Roseville, and thus the picture taking has begun. The one thing I have learned through the course of taking pictures over the years is that you have to have a lot of patience and a good relationship with the people that help you photo. I can guarantee you that a lot of X-rated language is used on picture days around here.

For people who are first starting out taking photos of cattle I will give you a few hints that will make your experience photoing cattle a little more profitable. First off work in a small pen so that you don't spend all of your time walking in circles. Second invest or borrow (borrowing is the best option if you only take a few photos a year) a high quality camera, I use a nikon D3000, a good camera makes a world of difference in the final product. Third throw your phone away while you are photoing, because I can guarantee you that once the animal stands still in the right position your phone will go off and you will miss the picture. Lastly if the animal won't cooperate stop chasing her in circles and try again the next day, otherwise you will get so mad that you will never get a good picture.

Entering Cattle

Over the past 13, going on 14, years of the sale we have had quite a few people ask us about how to consign cattle into the sale. For the most part our sale consists of the same consignors with an average of 95% of our consignors putting cattle into the sale every year. The new consignors we add each year have cattle that have been screened by either Bob or myself. Each year we start looking for cattle the day after the sale and will end our search the week of the sale. So it is pretty much a year round job rounding up the cattle for the sale. For this year's sale we will have cattle from Texas, Oklahoma, Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Nebraska, Mississippi, & Georgia just to name a few (And yes Bob or I have seen each and everyone of them). So you can imagine the miles logged to visit our 50-70 consignors farms.

The Journey Begins

Over the course of the next 2 1/2 months I will give you a first hand look at the inner workings of creating the Foundation Female Sale. It is now June 14th and we are only 81 days away from the sale and the pictures are just starting to come in. The first photos I have received are from Bill Couch, and if the rain will ever stop Bob and I will starting taking photos of the breds at the sale site. Here is the top picture so far!