home → articles → Columnists | Email to a Friend

The Texas Side Of Things...

published: February 19th 2010
by: Jim Banner

Each year we always seem to get excited about the upcoming San Antonio All Breed Sale because of the potential impact it has on the bull and replacement female market in Texas.  The travel time to screen the cattle, the meetings to plan our promotions, contacting the sponsors, ordering the awards, lining up the caterer, plan the penning of the cattle and so many other things that you might not think of when you attend the sale.  So when it’s all over, it’s not until the following week that we finally breathe a sigh of relief and say I’m glad it’s over!
    If there was ever a time that Texas Cattle producers needed a shot in the arm I guess now would be as good a time as any to get one and after last weeks San Antonio All Breed Sale, I would have to say we got it.  Going into the sale we knew the conditions were right to have a good sale, moisture being the biggest factor, but would cattle producers feel confident enough to begin replacing their herds?  The answer was yes indeed!
    We registered the largest number of buyers ever in our 19 years of having the San Antonio All Breed Sale and they responded by significantly raising the averages over last year. In 2009, 55 bulls averaged $2,562 and in 2010 we sold 47 bulls for an average of $2,928, a $366 increase.  In 2009 we sold 200 pairs for an average of $1,525 and in 2010 we sold 173 pairs to average $1,807 which is a $282 increase.  In the bred heifer category, in 2009 we sold 123 head for an average of $1,197 and in 2010 we sold 148 for an average of $1,224 resulting in only a slight increase of $27 per head.
    This sales reputation for selling high quality open heifers just continues to grow and this year was not any different.  Each year a large number of open heifers are purchased by Jr. exhibitor’s that later enter these females into county pen shows as commercial bred heifers. Many a pen of champion heifers have been purchased out of our sale in the past years and our consignors were once again rewarded with some outstanding prices for quality open heifers.  In 2009 we sold 147 head for an average of $1,122 and in 2010 we had 145 head that averaged $1,268 for an increase of $146 per head.
    You might ask why is this sale so important?   First of all it’s important to our consignors because if anyone deserves an award for bravery it would be them.  They held their sale cattle during the extreme heat and drought of 2009 while most others were selling out and they were rewarded for the risk they took.  I’m not saying they made a lot more money than they did last year but at least they received some additional compensation for hanging onto them.  More importantly, I know that the San Antonio Sale helps establish the market for quality cattle that will be purchased throughout the spring.
    I want to thank our main sponsor Capital Farm Credit for the outstanding job they do and all the help they lend us each year.  I also want to thank all of the consignors for once again trusting us to market their cattle for the last 19 years and our buyers for once again recognizing the top quality cattle we present each year in San Antonio making it one of the best in Texas.  If you didn’t get the cattle you were wanting or maybe weren’t able to make it to the sale, don’t forget these upcoming sales: The Gathering Sale on February 27 in Caldwell; The South Texas Cattle Marketing Sale in Nixon, on March 27; The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo All Breed Bull Sale on March 3 and the Commercial Female Sale on March 6; the Southeast Texas ICA Commercial Bull and Female Sale on March 13 in Beaumont and the Cattlemen’s Select Commercial Female Sale on March 27 in Caldwell.  There is still plenty of time to get some great cattle but you’ve got to get out and get’em before it’s too late. Watch for complete results in the next issue of Southern Livestock Standard.
UNTIL NEXT TIME,
THINK TEXAS!!!