“Are You Marketing or Are You Selling?”
by Chris Reinhardt, feedlot specialist
You’ve made the investments: time, labor, genetics, risk, snow storms, and summer heat. Now it’s time to make sure you get back MORE than you’ve put in.
But there’s a huge difference between marketing and selling; between being a price taker and a price maker; between just putting your calves up for sale and actually finding the best marketing outlet and buyer for your calves.
The first rule of marketing is: “You can’t market something that’s not different.” So, are your calves any different than what I can pick up anywhere for the market average? What have you done to add value? If you’ve got value-added genetics, for either growth or carcass merit, you’ll need the data to demonstrate that added performance.
There’s tremendous value and interest in truly preconditioned calves. But to glean that value from the marketplace, you’ll need to find the market and buyers who place that value in preconditioning and are willing to pay for it. Some feedyards make a living adding value to calves by buying low and upgrading them by turning them into fed cattle. This often takes a great deal of time and labor to get these calves started, keep them alive, and performing. Other feedyards would rather simply deliver feed—that’s what they do best. THESE are the yards that value a calf that will walk up to the bunk and eat. Your job is to find these buyers and find the markets where they shop.
The analogy is the expensive grocery store vs. the bargain store. Everybody knows which is which. You make an agreement when you walk into the expensive store, that you are willing to pay more, but you expect top quality. The same is true with marketing your preconditioned calves. Provide true value, find the right market, and you will be rewarded for your efforts.
