To me Buddy was great. To the auction Buddy was fat. His auction description was: Black White Faced Bull - Fat. Therefore the buyers bid less. I got the lowest price for a bull at the auction. Since he was a white faced bull I knew I wouldn't get the top price, but I expected to be high up on the list of bulls sold. I didn't even make the list.
Also annoying was that the cattle prices dropped since the last auction. Several years ago a big drop in cattle prices occurred later in September. Last year the drop was the first week of September. This year the drop seems to have started mid-August. Several weeks ago the top price paid for a bull was $1.03 a pound with many sold in the ninety cent range. This week the top price was 92 cents a pound with most sold in the eighty cent range. A eleven cent drop since the last auction.
Buddy sold for 72 cents a pound, twenty cents off the top price. I still got a good amount for Buddy but it is stings that he wasn't considered to be among the best. I got a good deal when I bought Buddy so I actually made a few dollars when I sold him three years later, even after the auction's commission and other expenses from selling Buddy.
Buddy's weight? Several guesses were 2300-something pounds. My guess was 2420 pounds. Buddy weighed 2560 pounds. So maybe he was a little fat.
Along with cow #20's severe limp that started the day after I took Buddy to the auction, it is a discouraging time to me to have cattle.
I fixed the stock trailer's floor and replaced the board that cracked when Buddy stood on it.
Because I am cleaning out the hayshed and plan to store hay in there this Winter, I parked the trailer outside here where I gets some shade during part of the day.
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