A guy once told me, "I have never made a bad business decision, but some of them were the wrong timing—they cost me a lot."
TIMING is big. In fact, it’s everything. Whether time is spent harvesting hay, corn, or roadside produce, every day is crucial. A few days too early or a few days late may yield only spoiled fruit. In the cattle business, timing can create peak value or a rotten time to go to market. Getting timing right is big money.
Two examples: Many years ago, I consigned Texas Ranger, Jr., to the MPTLA Denver sale in January. I had leased him out for breeding (a stupid thing to do) and got him back a month before the sale. I expected him to top the sale; but when he returned from the lease, he was poor and didn’t look good. Also, when the catalog was prepared, volunteers picked numbers from a hat for a random sale order. My bull was nearly last in over 100 consignments. This catalog placement was bad. But I had already paid the consignment fee and did not want to let the sale be a loss, so I scratched Texas Ranger, Jr., and lost my $100 consignment (a normal fee back then).
The following May, I consigned him to the McCombs sale, had time to get him fat and pretty—and sold him at auction to Dave Evans for $21,000, which was big back in the day. One plan was bad timing, the other was good.
Some strategies for timing sales.
Timing to sell well: A beautiful red, twisty-horned cow with near 100" T2T was in a recent sale. With a pretty speckled heifer at side, the pair could have fetched $30,000 to $50,000. Unfortunately, she had been bred to a solid red bull the year before, had a small, red bull calf at side, and brought only around $13,000. Bad timing and bad mating cost the consignor big time.
A Texas Longhorn cow will sell for her highest value while nursing a big fat colorful heifer calf, be it auction or private. If at auction the higher price will amortize the consignment, sale related costs for more profit. The higher price helps the sale results data in a positive way. It is about timing.
The right time for selling registered cattle is when a cow has a calf at side. Pairs help "tell the whole story." Everyone likes heifers, and occasionally a pretty heifer may even sell for more than the cow. Alternatively, a cow with a bull calf at side normally will sell lower, but at least the pair shows what kind of calf the cow can raise. A dry cow with no calf leaves every buyer questioning her mothering and breeding ability. For the best timing, wait. Hold back until you have heifer pairs to market. The delay will be well worth the wait. The consignment costs will be the same for a dry cow or a pretty pair.
Climate-change timing: For cattle, climate changes normally—predictably—every four seasons. Most cattle get fat and pretty in summer with green grass, but cold and stress reduce their weight during the winter. People like to buy as green grass is coming on and sell when the first cold wind of winter hits. This historical phenomenon of timing never changes. If producers time their sales for spring, their prices will be better. If they wait until winter is coming on, prices will drop exponentially. Timing is dollars.
Clever buyers often profit from buying during Winter weather when cattle don't look good. Everyone knows they will fatten up with the coming green grass. Yet, if preparing to sale at auction every consignment needs 100 days of grain feeding for a critter to sell at their best. Do not gather cattle off Winter pastures and go direct to a sale. Bad timing.
Estate sales timing: Every month or so, a woman calls after her husband has passed, wanting to sell the Texas Longhorn herd. Nearly every time for decades, I discover that the cattle have not been registered—but the widow wants to get high-dollar prices for unregistered cattle of unknown pedigrees. About the only market for undocumented cattle is grind or the local cattle auction. If the widow had planned and timed right, registered cattle might have doubled or tripled her income. Bad timing. Owners should keep their breeding stock registered. Do it for your spouse.
Controlled timing: Timing for private sales is easier to control than for auctions. It is easy to offer female pairs for sale all at the right time. If a nice cow has a disappointing calf, keep her until the next year and sell when she has a pretty heifer at side. Work the timing.
When everyone is doing the same thing, it is probably wrong. Good timing sends cattle to market at times opposite to the flood of other sale inventory. That is a fact.
For those selling generic freezer beef, the normal flow of timing is to buy steers in the spring, summer them, then butcher in the fall. But that schedule plugs up the processing plants, fills all the freezer space, and makes marketing difficult. Instead, plan timing to have cattle finished for processing from March to August—and avoid the "plug-up" of the annual fall rush. Time the market when the herd of competitors are sleeping.
Timing for breeding: Don’t fight the weather. It is different for every climate area. In Ohio our breeding starts June 15. It has proven to be safest to calve from April 1 to mid Summer. Nice weather, past the bad blizzards and not in the hot of Summer. Many miss their best timing and calves die.
This age 3 cow is a beautiful roan. When she was born she was white with a red head like her calf. Timing is not always a thing that happens exactly when you want it to. Timing most always takes extra time.
Timing for roaning: Some families that trace to Measles and Drag Iron are slow coloring but eventually develop beautiful roan specks. The calves may be born white, but by genetic precedent they roan. Wait to market until they are at their most beautiful roan coloring. The sale price will make it worth waiting for the correct roan-timing.
Hay-barn timing: On Facebook, people around the country lament when they are hit by blizzards, floods, drought, fires, or other unplanned disasters. They desperately need hay and offer to pay high prices. Regardless, when everyone in your area is out of grass is the absolute wrong time to buy hay. That’s when you have to pay top dollar—if any hay is available. A good business plan stockpiles enough hay in a protected area to feed the herd for weeks or months. That planning protects from paying exorbitant prices for hay that may be nearly impossible to locate at any price. It is smart timing.
Timing to cull the herd: The quicker you sell cull cattle the better. Don't feed and care for them when they will bring only a little or no more profit. Cull fast and ruthlessly. Remove low-value cattle so that high-value stock can have the best pasture. Quick timing makes for effective, economical culling.
The big picture: Make timing a consistent, profitable part of every Texas Longhorn business plan.
Think TIMING.
