Small Cows, Big News: December Sales Roundup

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a great time with family, friends, and animals over the holidays. We’re expecting a winter storm and unusually cold temperatures in the week ahead, and I know that’s true for many of you, too. Not the most fun time of year to have livestock in our care, but it’s totally worth it.

We've got a good group of interesting sale results to analyze from the last month, each of them providing helpful insights into the state of the market at the end of 2024.

Pearly Ranch Sets the Pace

The standout performance came from Pearly Ranch's Winter Sale 2024, which took a different approach by hosting an in-person fixed price event rather than an online auction. This strategy proved highly successful, with all 35 calves finding new homes for a remarkable total of $263,000. Kodi Banks from Pearly Ranch shared that they had 130 visitors come out for the afternoon, including some who drove from over seven hours away! The star of the show was Dash, a silver chondro positive bull calf who sold for an impressive $20,000.

This success reinforces something we've discussed before: the value of building personal connections and trust with potential buyers. An in-person sale allows buyers to experience the quality of the animals and the professionalism of the operation firsthand.

Reserve Price Challenges at Derr Ridge

The "Hello Winter Online Sale" faced significant challenges, with only 2 out of 10 cattle listings meeting their reserve prices. This type of result must be disappointing for both the sellers and the bidders. Both successful sales (red AHCA-eligible heifers) closed at exactly $5,001, suggesting that they may have just breached a shared reserve price. I was pretty surprised that a midsized white highland cow only reached $3,200 and failed to meet its reserve. You’d be hard pressed to find a white highland calf for less than twice that amount.

This outcome adds more fuel to our ongoing discussion about reserve prices in online auctions. Are they helping protect seller interests, or are they ultimately limiting potential sales? Are these sellers confident in getting better prices on these animals by private sale? Or do they wish they had not gone with reserve pricing after all and just gotten these animals sold?

Viral Marketing Drives Top Price at Grass Puppies

The "All She Wants For Christmas Is Moo" sale gave us a helpful glimpse into the power of social media in today's market. Their top seller, a suspected chondro positive dun-tipped HighPark heifer, brought in $16,600 – and the listing wasn't shy about highlighting the calf's viral success: "She is our fastest calf to go viral on TikTok with over 13 million views and over 22 million views on Instagram in a few days!"

With 6 out of 8 cattle finding new homes, this auction demonstrated solid performance, though reserve prices still held back two potential sales.

MidAmerica's No-Reserve Strategy

The Winter Wonderland Event took the opposite approach, running with no reserve prices. This resulted in notably low prices for bull calves (under $1,000), but also produced several decent outcomes with a red-tipped HighPark heifer calf leading the way at $7,650. The sale also included a male dromedary camel calf that nearly matched the top cattle price at $7,550! I have to admit here that I’ve recently been wondering about introducing Bactrian (woolier two-humped) camels to our own farm. Definitely wouldn’t go for a bottle-fed male to begin with, though.

Mixed Results at Triple M

Maynard's "Let's Get This Parti Started" sale on New Year’s Even saw moderate success with 7 out of 15 cattle listings reaching their reserve prices. The highest seller was a 50/50 HighPark Heifer with dun points at $6,250.

Market Insights

Looking at these results collectively, we're seeing some clear patterns:

1. The power of social media exposure continues to drive premium prices

2. In-person sales can still outperform online auctions when well-executed

3. Reserve prices remain a double-edged sword

4. The market for bull calves continues to face pressure at the lower end

Looking Ahead

As we move into 2025, I'll be watching closely to see how these trends develop. Will we see more breeders experimenting with in-person sales? Will the social media influence on pricing continue to grow?

This is the first time I’m writing without a single upcoming auction scheduled that I’m aware of! I know most breeders avoid calving and transporting animals in the winter when possible, so that’s probably the main factor.

Until next time,

Elliott

P.S. Here’s a fun sneak peak from my initial analysis of the First Annual Miniature Cattle Market Survey:

21 out of the 173 breeders who participated reported selling more than $200,000 in miniature cattle in 2023. Among this group, about half expect prices to remain stable in the coming year and half anticipate a slight decrease in pricing. More to come!