[00:00:02] Speaker A: A history lesson of how video auction started, and lots of feeder cattle are selling next week. Crew, let's ranch it up.
Good day, everyone, and thanks for riding with us on this all new episode of the Ranch it Up radio show. I'm Jeff Tigger Earhart.
Next week is the week in the Rockies sale from Superior Livestock Auction. We'll get to those details here in just a little bit, but think about this for a sec. Do you remember the first time that you tuned in and you watched. The first video sale started back in 1982, and the first Superior Livestock video sale was back in 1987 at the National Western Stock show in Denver. Ted Odle from Superior Livestock joins us today. Ted, welcome to the program.
Let's start from the beginning. This is such a neat story. Start from the beginning with your dad, because that's how it all started.
[00:01:00] Speaker B: Superior Livestock was my dad's brainstorm, and I've been with it ever since we started it. And in 1986, we met with this fellow named Buddy Jeffers who owned Amarillo Video. We were the only two video companies at that time. So we teamed up with Buddy and formed Superior livestock in late 1986. First auction would have been in 1987 at the stock show in Denver. The, the, the old bell ringer sale that they used to have, you know, every year at the stock show with, you know, the live cattle. That was the very first sale under, under the Superior Livestock name and logo was back then. And we never dreamt it would grow to where it's at. I mean, but that was never a goal for this company to be selling almost 2 million head of cattle a year. But we had just a handful of reps and good reps, and everybody believed in it. And it's been a heck of a good company, heck of a ride over the years.
[00:02:01] Speaker A: So what was the reception like back in 1987? I did the math quick in my head. Well, it took me a little bit there 38 years ago. Ted, what was the reception like at. Let's go all the way back to the first one, 1987 at the stock show, the bell ringer sale. What was the reception like of selling cattle via video, via satellite?
[00:02:23] Speaker B: You know, the reception was actually better then, then when we originally started. I mean, you can imagine when we first started this thing, and my dad and Dave Whalert, who, Dave has passed, but my dad and Dave Whaler, they're the ones that started this thing. It was kind of their idea. We owned the Sailborn forever at Brush Colorado Factors. The One, there was two barns in brush and my dad's barn burnt down in the early 60s and so they, we built a brand new one.
And he always had this idea of we got a lot of cattle off the west slope of Colorado at the time out of Kremmling and Walden in that part of the world. And so the, the ranchers that bring all their cattle to us. And Dave Whaler is, who knew a lot of the ranchers over there, and he was working with my dad and getting cattle over and my dad says, just hit me one day, said, you know, we got these ranchers from Walden and Kremmling, bring all their cattle to us. Their neighbors show up and buy their heifer calves or something to breed and then haul them all the way back. He said, there's just got to be a better way to, to do this that's easier on the cattle and on the ranchers. And so they come up with this idea. So you can imagine going to a rancher back in the early 80s and saying, hey, we're going to bring our video camera out here and videotape these things and we're all going to go sit down in a, in a nice motel ballroom and have steaks and, and some beverages and we're going to sell cattle with videotape.
There's, there was a lot of people said, oh boys, that'll never work. But it was our, our customers in Kremmling and Walden in North Park, Colorado that actually helped us. They were the ones that went with us originally, the hills. And all of those people, they said, yeah, let's give it a whirlwind. And it just grew from there.
Believe me, it didn't happen overnight, but it was, it was quite a, quite a sale. Luckily we had some good old ranchers that went with us and they've stuck with it. We still sell cattle for a lot of those people today.
You know, 40 years down the road, if I remember right, we were still selling calves in the 60, 70 cent range right back then, you know, and I still. We put on a rep and he worked the Utah, Wyoming area. One of the first reps we ever put on. He's, he's no longer with us.
Been gone some time, but now. But I can still remember Jerry.
He came to, he had a couple of lots on and Jerry was a salesman. I mean, Jerry could, he could, he could sell John Deere parts to an international dealer. I mean, he was good, but he got a couple of lots on. He came to.
I think it was our Back then, the only sale we had was Labor Day. And when we formed Superior, we decided when we needed Labor Day. Of course, we talked about the stock show special, and so we were adding a couple, three sales a year. So Jerry came to the first Labor Day sale, sold his cattle, and I'll never forget, he had a little handheld recorder, and he was recording the sale. And he took that recorder back, and he got on three radio stations out around Evanston, Wyoming, and Randolph, Utah, and out in there. And all they did was played the auctioneer selling cattle and they. And it was a couple of his lots. So everybody recognized the name, you know, for some of their neighbors and Jerry's phone number and. And he had like, 5,000 head. On the next sale, people are going, whoa, what's this about? So back in those days, their closest market from Evanston, Wyoming, was Torrington, and they were having to haul those cattle a long way. The buyers that were in the country were literally offered them 20 cents less in the country than what we were getting. You know, he proved him. This is what we can get you for your cattle.
And they ship right from your back door.
[00:06:11] Speaker A: It takes quite a bit to put this together. Let me back up and just. And just say this. It takes people that are committed to allowing.
And we're still back in 1987 now. And the concept, it takes customers willing to commit their product to being sold this way, but it also takes buyers. So how did you go about getting buyers to buy into this concept, no pun intended.
[00:06:37] Speaker B: Between my dad and Dave Whaler, they had a really good rapport with a lot of buyers, mainly along the front range of Colorado. Frank Booth was a big proponent of Frank's. He's one of the old guys that's gone now. But, you know, there was Frank Booth, Bill Howard, and a lot of the old guys that. That. I can remember that, you know, they're all gone these days. But we presented the deal to them, of course, you know, their theory was, well, we'll give it a try, and, you know, if we like it, we'll do it again. If we don't like it, we won't do it again. It's that simple.
So, you know, making sure the cattle were right, you know, they fit the contract, we shipped them what we told them we'd ship them. That became a big part of Superior and still is to this day.
[00:07:21] Speaker C: I mean, that's.
[00:07:21] Speaker B: That's.
I had a young rep the other day, asked me, he said, what. What do you think's the. The number one thing a rep can do for superior today to to make himself better and be successful as a rep. And I thought about it. I said, you know what it is? Ship your cattle according to the contract.
Deliver. Deliver what you said you're going to deliver as far as weight, kind, breed, type, the whole deal. You do that and the rest of it takes care of itself. So it's a lot of the core fundamentals that we started clear back then are still in place today.
[00:07:51] Speaker A: Ted Odle with Superior Livestock. Hey Ted, just hold on here a tick. I want to key in on the sale next week and we'll talk about that next after the break. And remember, if you have not committed your calves or consigned your calves yet Deadlines for the Video Royale the end of July, the Bighorn Classic and the Labor Day sale are fast approaching. We have all of those dates laid out for you on ranchchannel.com really easy to follow along to find out exactly when those deadlines are. Crew, you're listening to the Ranch it up radio show and we will be right back. Keep it parked.
[00:08:28] Speaker D: Are you looking for true price discovery for your feeder cattle? Look no further than Superior Livestock Auction. The week in the Rocky sale is coming up July 7th through the 11th, followed by the Video Royale July 28th through August 1st. Deadlines are coming up fast for the Video Royale sale. Cattle need to be cataloged by July 11th and videos need to be submitted by July again July 11th for the catalog and July 18th for the videos. To consign to the Video Royale. Any questions? Reach out to your Superior Livestock Auction rep or call Superior Livestock customer service at 800-422-21117. View the sale live on Dish Network channel 997, the Superior Livestock Auction YouTube channel page and Superior Livestock.com selling cattle the superior way.
[00:09:20] Speaker E: We run a lot of high milk producing mama cows in our herd.
[00:09:23] Speaker A: Mitch Kenobi of Norfolk dealt with scours.
[00:09:25] Speaker E: In his herd so bad that we sent samples off to South Dakota State and Kansas State. I heard about farmertan. As a producer, I know it's our job to limit our inputs, but when it comes to farmitan, dad and I don't blink an eye. It is a must for every calving season.
[00:09:40] Speaker A: Adding Farmitan to your livestock's nutrition this fall will rid your new herd of scours in the spring. Go to farmitanusa.com, call Joe Knopp at 340-3323.
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[00:10:25] Speaker B: Cattle Battle.
[00:10:27] Speaker A: Welcome back to the Ranch it up radio show. The most information packed into a 30 minute program that you can find at your All Things Ranching newscast. And so glad to be hanging out with each and every one of you. Questions, comments, concerns, criticisms, rants, it doesn't matter. You can call or text. That phone number is 707-Ranch 20. That's 707-726-2420. Our email, ranchituphowmail.com and prowling around social media at Ranch it up show. I hope you all enjoy that little walk back in time of how superior livestock got its start. Thank you, Ted. Now let's move into the present, the big five sales. Hold on. I actually need to mention that there are a number of video sales that throughout the year as options. So let's just key in on the week in the Rockies. That's a big in and it's in Steamboat. That is all week long, July 7th through the 11th, Monday through Friday. And you said what, 300,000 plus is what's cataloged, right?
[00:11:29] Speaker B: Yeah, 313,000.
[00:11:31] Speaker A: 313,000. So I'm gonna, I do this all the time. You know this, Ted. I'm gonna say get your crystal ball out here. Right. Tell us from a, from a typical producer. Well, Ted, what do you think I'm gonna get for those six and a half weight steers?
So let's just talk a little bit about the week in the Rockies sale of, of cattle that are coming in of then I'm sure that the optimism is probably, what, the highest you've ever seen. Am I remiss in saying that?
[00:12:07] Speaker B: No, you're exactly right. I'll tell you what I told all of my customers up here when we were getting ready for Sioux City. You're right. They all have that same question, what are they going to bring? What are they going to bring? And my answer to them was I literally don't have any idea what they're going to bring. But guess what? It's going to be more than you ever got in your life.
[00:12:26] Speaker A: Right. Right.
[00:12:27] Speaker B: I mean, we're at, we're at record levels. You know, whatever it is, it is. And you know, I Had. So I had two or three of my customers said, you're busy. Don't even call me. Just call me after the sale and tell me what they brough.
So it's, but it's an interesting deal. It's. The market in general is in great shape. I mean, we got a lot of good things happening within our industry.
I'm a big fan of all these new smaller packing houses that are popping up all over the country. And some of them aren't so small. I mean, there's, there's some of these places they're gonna, they're gonna process some numbers and it's just given us a lot more diversity, you know, on the, on the packer side of things, which in the end is good. Competition's good on all levels. But I, I look for this market to probably stay pretty steady with what we did in Sioux City. You know, we, we could be up or down a little bit. I, I don't, just me personally, I don't see a lot more up in this market, but I've been saying that for a while. You know, it, it just continues to go up. At some point you'd think we'd, we'd hit a top, but. And I don't, I don't see a big downswing either. But that's everybody's concern in the industry today is what could take it down, that, you know, you're not going to see it coming.
We've seen it happen before. Going back to 2014. These buyers, you know, a feeder can, can literally, I mean, lock in pretty darn close to a break. Even with as high as our feeder board is and our, and our fat board, they've got a lot more opportunity to protect themselves today than they did in 2014. By a long ways.
That, that was the big problem. There's so many people out there unprotected, and in this business, you better figure that out, how to do it. And of course, my opinion is superior livestock for a rancher or stalker guy. It's, it's the best way in the world to, to lock in your, your bottom line because you're, you're actually selling cattle. You, they're actually going to go down.
[00:14:27] Speaker C: The road and you're going to get.
[00:14:28] Speaker B: A check for the full amount.
And there's, there's no other way to do it. I don't care if you're buying, you know, LRPs or if you're, you know, hedging them with the puts and calls or playing straight up on the board, you Know, there's, there's cost to all of that and, and margins and you know, how all that works. But superior livestock is the only true hedge in the business, and people are taking advantage of that, you know, on both ends. And it's good for the buyers because the buyers can tie up a lot of inventory that, you know, that fits their out game down the road in, you know, next year or whenever they're fat or whatever their program is, they can, they can plan for their program, too. And it's, it's good for all sides.
[00:15:17] Speaker A: Ted, why use superior livestock to market our cabs, especially if I'm sitting on my hands on what to do or who to market with.
[00:15:24] Speaker B: There again, you're able to take, take advantage of a really good market right now.
And the calves don't go anywhere until you're, you're ready to ship them when you normally ship them. And we all know what happens in the fall. You know, typically that market will take a little dip in the fall, and a lot of times it's, it's because of logistics. Everybody's getting cattle. Everybody in the, in the west wants to ship a calf from 10 October to 30 October, and everybody gets balled up and back to what a little bit we talked about earlier. You know, these buyers, you know, they're buying these cattle on a, on an out program, and they've got, they've got their deal set and, you know, they need cattle for, you know, June, July, August, you know, fats or whatever it is their program they're going to.
And in today's world, the way technology is advanced, there's a lot of these feeders that have pretty well bought everything they need. By the time we get to Labor Day, there's, there's a lot of feeders that have bought everything they're going to buy.
And the big thing is, is health. I can't stress health too much from a buyer standpoint, especially in today's world with these calves costing on top of $2,000, the worst thing can happen is to lose one, you know, have one die.
So this health thing is, is become a huge issue. And we, everybody knows if you can get them fresh off the ranch direct, the health issues just, they go to a very small fraction of, you know, of a lot of other ways to, to put together some numbers of cattle.
So if you're on the fence, the only thing I can tell you is just pick a sale you want to put them on. This market is better than it's ever been in history.
And to me there's there's a lot more things that could turn it to the downside rather than up and chasing the top of the market normally doesn't work out real well.
[00:17:24] Speaker A: Ted Odle hey, thanks for taking a bit more time to visit with us Now. You can view the Week in the Rockies sale live starting on Monday on Dish Network, channel 997- or head to sla-tv.com the Week in the Rockies, July 7th through the 11th when we come back on the Ranch it up radio show. We talk numbers and markets go nowhere and keep it parked.
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[00:18:45] Speaker F: Livestock Market.com we hear from the
[email protected] every week. Bulls, cows, bread, heifers, open replacement heifers, cow calf pairs, feeders and stockers, horses, pigs, goats, sheep, showstock hay and straw and even alpacas. All listed on livestock market.com private treaty, online auctions and on site auctions. Buying or selling. Gauge the market. Do some research. Check out livestockmarket.com and don't forget they.
[00:19:12] Speaker A: Brought you auctiontime.com and equinemarket.com welcome back everyone to the Ranch it up radio show. That time in the program we check in with Kirk Don's box, StoneX Financial Incorporated. We recap the markets for from last week. How are we doing, pard?
[00:19:33] Speaker C: I'm doing wonderful, Tigger, Doing wonderful.
[00:19:35] Speaker A: What do we got for numbers for this week?
[00:19:38] Speaker C: All right, we'll move right into it, Tigger. As of Friday, June 27th, August feeder futures closed at 308.05. That's up 567 and a half on the week with the CME feeder index up 98 cents at 3 11. 97. That left the basis a positive $3.92 versus August futures. August Life Scout will close the week at 213.60. That's up 387 and a half on the week with cash trading 224 to 225 early in the south and then late Friday, some 226 sales. The north traded 230 to 232 early and then late sales at 233. That left the five area weighted average down $8.29 at 227.91. I think the big push on cash prices is the Tyson plant moving into a strike with their laborers.
June futures are expiring and August holds a positive $14.31 basis. That's a very wide basis even with that much time. Choice boxes closed the week at 396.19. That's up another $5.69.
Weekly slaughter came in at 560,000 head. That's even with last week and 50,000 head less than the same week last year. Dress weights were also steady at £865, which is £24 more than this week last year. The combination of lower slaughter numbers and higher weight has left the yearly slaughter at 3.2% less than this time last year. Wrap this up. September corn closed at four, eleven and a quarter. That's down 15 cents on the week. Corn did have some pretty severe technical damage this week leading into the USDA report that's coming out. That report typically drives the market for the next two months.
[00:21:15] Speaker A: Now, this is perfect timing, Kirk, because this episode we've done a lot of coverage and in promotion of the week in the Rockies sale that is coming up next week. So you've got two different lots that are consigned, lots 6740A and 6740B. I'm going to give you the opportunity to tell everybody a little bit about your calves that you're selling.
[00:21:40] Speaker C: All right, we're changing it up a little bit here. Tigger. I'm excited for. Yeah, very excited for the sale. It's one of those deals, you know, really excited and pretty bullish the market, but also very nervous that these high prices and the day can't come soon enough.
The calves that will be selling are semi Angus Cross cattle. We're using a new technology that Ally provides called right bull. And it helps you genetically pick the bull that's going to drive three of the parameters that you choose. This is my terminal herd. So I chose growth and marbling and the terminal traits to try to drive them. I'm real excited to see how that works. Works should be a good day. I'm very excited and also nervous and can't wait to get it over.
[00:22:20] Speaker B: Right.
[00:22:20] Speaker A: That's how it works. So have you ever. Have you sold on Superior before?
[00:22:25] Speaker C: Yeah, I think this is, boy, sixth or seventh year, maybe. I've done it.
[00:22:30] Speaker A: Okay. So obviously you've had great results with them and so everybody knows. I will actually have the links to those exact calves in the show notes for this episode. So you can go to ranch it up show.com, click on this episode and just scroll down a little bit and I will make sure that I have the links that you'll be able to see the videos of those calves and all the management and details on them. So good luck, Kirk. I am wishing you the best.
[00:22:54] Speaker C: Well, thank you so much, Tigger and I appreciate the promotion.
[00:22:57] Speaker G: Are you looking for ways to put more money in your ranch's bank account? Maybe that means hosting weddings or other Airbnb guests. Well, or maybe not.
[00:23:06] Speaker D: Hey.
[00:23:07] Speaker B: Hey.
[00:23:07] Speaker G: I'm Shea Warner and I host the Casual Cattle Conversations podcast podcast. I visited with Jason Rick to learn how he and his wife have navigated hosting various events and guests on their ranch and how to know if it's the right option for you. Here's a little bit of what we.
[00:23:23] Speaker A: Talk about, but we had an open house, I guess it's been about three weeks ago, and we had a tremendous turnout. We had over a hundred people. Some of them drove, you know, 100 plus miles to come and see our venue, see what we were doing. And many of those were other farmers and ranchers who are looking to do the same thing. And they just were trying to figure out how to do it themselves. So we got to have those conversations to help other producers as well.
[00:23:48] Speaker G: Listen to the full story by searching for casual cattle conversations on your favorite podcast player.
[00:23:53] Speaker B: Happy ranching folks and crew.
[00:23:55] Speaker A: Make sure you head to ranch channel.com, save it on your phone, add it to your favorites. We have the results of the Corn Belt Classic from Superior Livestock Auction listed along with all of the dates of the upcoming sales and their deadlines. Contact information is listed. Everything that you need@ranch channel.com Also, top dollar Angus Verified feeder cattle that are selling on the Week in the Rockies sale are listed on Ranch Channel. In fact, over 2,100 head are listed on ranch channel.com management, vaccinations, delivery information, genetics, everything.
Looking to capture some of those top dollar cattle. Just head to ranchhannel.com now. Next week, the Week in the Rockies By Superior Livestock July 14th through the 16th, the Silver Legacy Sale by Western Video Auction and The following week, July 21st through the 23rd, the Summertime Classic from Northern Livestock Video. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to Beck and I and our team at any time. And now that is going to wrap it up for today. A big thanks to our crew, Ted Odle for the history lesson about Superior Livestock and an update on next week's sale. The Week in the Rockies by Superior Livestock Kirk Donsbach with Stonex Financial Incorporated. Check out his listings in next week's sale. We've got those links available in the show
[email protected] Shea Warner with casual cattle conversations and the boss lady, Rebecca Warner, AKA Beck who has not been on the lately. She's been busy. A big thank you goes out to our partners ranch channel.com Superior Livestock Productions and Superior Livestock Auctions Wolf Cattle Jorgensen Land and Cattle, Trans Ova Genetics, Axiota Animal Health bringing us Multi Men and Lacta Pro the American Galvi Association Imogene Ingredients bringing us Pharmatin, Westway Feed Products, Medora Boot and Western Wear, Allied Genetic Resources and Allied feeding partners livestock market.com equine market.com auction time.com the Tri State Livestock News, RFD TV Wrangler and this fine radio station Now Crew. So glad you all came with us one more time as we ranch it up. Be sure to follow and like us on Facebook at ranch it up. Show our email ranchituphowmail.com you can call and you can text us 24. 7. That phone number is 707-Ranch-2707-726-2420. Spread the good word and join us again next week where it's always Tigger and Beck approved. Have a wonderful and safe holiday weekend. Stay ranchy and ranch it up.
[00:26:51] Speaker C: Sam.
