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Source verification was the message that rang through the Jordan Cattle Auction in Central Texas along with the lilt of the auctioneer's chant. The auction company held their first-ever premium stock and feeder sale last November, and a second sale in January. Ken Jordan, general manager of Jordan Cattle Auction, said both sales were successful in marketing cattle that had documentation of weaning and a good herd health program. In each instance, the cattle were sorted and offered as truckload lots with great success. Cow-calf producers provided their calf management practices for calves in each sale. Prices averaged from $8 to $12 per hundredweight more for the source verified calves than for non-weaned calves, depending upon weight, according to Jordan. Jordan said in the November sale there were 5,300 head of value-added cattle from about 90 producers with a 450 mile radius of Jordan Cattle Auction at San Saba, Texas. The January sale had about 3,500 head. Each calf had been weaned 45 days prior to the sale under a prescribed vaccination program. Each calf also carried an electronic eartag that linked it to a computerized health record, verifying the weaning process and health program for buyers. The auction staff downloaded the health information on each consigned calf into the sale barn computer. They weighed the calves and then sorted and resorted them as to weights, breed types and body scores. The cattle were offered to buyers in uniform truckloads. Jordan said the purpose of the sale was to provide the consignor of one head with the same premium prices as operators with load lots. The premiums were for not only good management practices for the calves' weaning and health, but for the documentation that went with it. It also included the uniformity of the cattle that were offered in load lots. Jordan believes that the industry is ready to support such sales. "This is the wave of the future for all sales," said Jim Schwertner, president of Capital Land and Cattle Company of Schwertner, Tex., one of the sale's volume buyers. "Buying cattle whose background is verified by the Jordan's or any other auction market is very important to us. It makes the calves easier to sell because it's easier for us to tell our buyers the story of the cattle. Plus the fact that they were offered in truckloads makes it a much more efficient sale." Mark Hohenberger, a buyer with Kenrick and McMahan Order Buying of Austin, Tex., said he was waiting to see how the cattle he bought at Jordan's special sale performed in a feedyard. Under Jordan's plan, ranchers will eventually get back feeding and carcass performance information from the feedyard, packing plant and retailer once the different segments of the industry adopt the technology to follow electronically identified cattle through the production system. Many major feedyards and packing plants already have this capability. Data should be available on some of the cattle from the sales at Jordan's once the cattle are finished and sent to slaughter. Jordan Cattle Auction has scheduled another Premium Stocker and Feeder Sale for March 30. All calves had to be weaned by February 15. Other sales are planned for the summer and fall. For more information, visit www.jordancattle.com or call (915) 372-5159. |
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