Recently a group of Northern Tier farmers took a road trip to visit the Finger Lakes Livestock Exchange, New York's largest independently owned livestock sales center located in Canandaigua, N.Y., to observe a feeder cattle sale.
While most beef producers in our area are relatively small and often direct market their beef locally to the freezer trade, Cornell Cooperative Extension organized this trip to educate producers about their marketing options.
Traditionally, small-beef producers start out as cow-calf operations. Cow-calf operations are in the business of supplying young cattle to the feedlot. The finished product of a cow-calf operation is the feeder calf, or a weaned animal weighing between 500 and 700 pounds, ready to be fed and finished for the retail market.
What that typically means in the North Country is that calves will be born on pasture in the spring and sold in the fall when they stop nursing and the grass stops growing.
The North Country has an abundance of pasture land suitable for grazing and raising beef cattle, but one of the obstacles we face is our location and lack of marketing options. The local livestock markets have long been focused on the dairy industry and have not developed the market for beef animals. And while the local food movement is gaining in popularity and direct marketing is possible, many farmers aren't interested in the extra time, effort and marketing it takes to go that route.
Cow-calf operations are businesses, and like any other business the goal is profit. Finding a buyer for your calves that will pay top dollar is the only way to keep your business sustainable for the long term.
With live cattle prices currently at or near record highs, mainly from high demand from the export market, now is an excellent time to consider all the options.
Upon our arrival at the Finger Lakes Livestock Exchange, Sales Manager Ron Parker spoke with the North Country producers about the type of cattle that buyers are looking for and where they come from. Steers that are weaned, castrated, wormed and vaccinated routinely bring a premium price. Another trend is that black cattle often bring an extra few cents per pound due to the very successful Certified Angus Beef marketing campaign. By focusing on quality feeder cattle from all over New York, buyers come from as far as Virginia and Oklahoma.
The modern facilities at the Finger Lakes Livestock Exchange allow consigned animals to be penned separately and not co-mingled with cattle from other farms. Cattle are often sold in groups of eight to 15 animals at one time, which attracts buyers and sellers. Feed and water are provided to all animals while they are in the facility.
I have spoken with several local producers who are currently marketing their calves via feeder sales at the Finger Lakes auction, and all have been satisfied with the prices received and the quality of the buyers that they attract. Prices of calves at the sale were markedly higher than what have been reported locally.
All the producers that I spoke with were convinced that even with the expense of trucking the cattle a fairly long distance, the added return was well worth the trip. For more information about our trip, what we learned and more details about how a feeder auction might work for you, contact
Cornell Cooperative Extension Clinton County at 561-7450 or email phh7@cornell.edu.
Peter Hagar, agriculture program educator, Cornell Cooperative Extension Clinton County, 6064 Rt. 22, Plattsburgh, 12901. Call 561-7450.
