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.