Sales and the Cities

Three big stock shows in three big cities host three really big commercial cattle sales. What brings cattlemen and their trailers to the big city?

By Ellen Humphries

They all seem to lean over and say conspiratorially, “Nothing against the other sales, but ours is the best all breeds sale at a stock show.”

And, who can blame them? Early each year, the three big stock shows -- Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio -- host commercial cattle sales in which thousands of cattle are graded by experienced judges and sold at auction to buyers in Texas, surrounding states and Mexico.

Each sale offering is tailored to the buyers’ preferences and to the surrounding geography. And, each sale is in a major metropolitan area at events where our urban friends get a glimpse of production agriculture.

What brings buyers to these sales? Quality. What keeps consignors coming back? Camaraderie and competition. How does show management view these sales? As a way to stay true to the agricultural foundation upon which Texas’ stock shows have been built.

Buyers come for quality

Cattle producers look for quality cattle at auction; therefore, it becomes the responsibility of sale management to make sure the consignments are worth the buyers’ time.

One way to do this is by grading the consignments, or allowing the consignors to compete with one another on the quality and consistency of their pens of bulls or females. This is appealing to those consignors with a competitive streak. More on that later.

Another way to assure quality is for a single person to visit each consignor to screen the entries. Often, that person will pull together a scant handful of folks to help with the screening and these folks are well-versed in current market needs and demands.

J.D. Sartwelle, Jr., owner of Port City Stockyards, Sealy, has filled this role for the Houston Livestock Show Annual Commercial Female Cattle Sale and Annual All-Breed Range Bull Sale for 36 years. In August 2003, he began the process of gathering consignments for the 37th annual sales, which will be March 7 and 10, 2004.

“These two sales, the female and the bull sale, are the function of the All Breed Livestock Sales Committee of the Stock Show,” which he says has about 110 members.

“There’s a long history of (Houston) being a good, accepted sale, the kind of sale people look forward to as a buyer and seller both,” Sartwelle says.

“We sell right at 700 females. This far south, we’re going to have 400 to 430 head of F1 Brahman-Herefords. Then we’ll have about 200 head of usually F1 Brahman-Angus or Brangus on Brangus females.”

The offering also includes Beefmaster, Santa Gertrudis and crosses, straight Herefords and straight Brahman females. “That mix has held for the last 15 to 20 years,” he says.

Sartwelle thinks it is important for one person to screen most of the bull entries to maintain consistent quality. “We generally sell 140 to 145 bulls,” he says. “The criteria has been not simply to sell what our producers what to sell, but to sell bulls in such a mix as they are demanded out there by the buyers.”

In other words, Sartwelle and a steering committee review what breed types are doing well in the current market and select consignments to reflect that.

It is interesting to note that the sizeable sale committees at the stock shows carry out duties ranging from selection to traffic direction to hospitality. For example, the Houston’s committee also hosts the Commercial Cattlemen’s Appreciation Days, at which industry and government leaders are invited to speak and guests are provided some impressive camp cooking.

“We probably have 20 people on our cook team, headed up by TSCRA members and directors Booster Stevenson and Leroy Ezer,” Sartwelle says.

Long-term relationships

Each sale manager looks for a long-term relationship with consignors, but each year, all three sales have slots open for new consignors.

“You always need new people,” Sartwelle explains. “Not everybody can participate every year, so by bringing new people on, this creates interest from their friends, people that know them. If we have 65 consignors, eight or nine will be new or sporadic consignors.”

Charles Rollins, Crowley, manages the Southwestern Exposition Invitational Commercial Heifer Sale, which will be February 8, 2004. This will be the 17th all breed commercial female sale at the stock show in Fort Worth. His consignors change a bit from year to year based on the competition and grading of the sale entries.

“Our judges grade the cattle from a score of  70 to 100. Since our sale has the word ‘invitational’ in it, we do not invite back those consignors in the bottom 10 percent,” he explains.

Out of  65 pens, this opens six and a half pens every year. Add the normal attrition to the cuts from the bottom and Rollins generally has 10 pens open for new consignors each year. “This year we had 31 ranches apply for those 10 pens,” he says.

Approximately six years ago, the organizers of the Fort Worth sale decided to limit consignments to ranch-raised cattle. Also, Rollins explains, they search for consignors who “have name identification. When you get the big-name commercial breeders that have had a longstanding use of Gardiner Angus bulls or M6 Charolais bulls or Camp Cooley Brangus bulls, or something along those lines, we can say, ‘Here are some heifers with genetics and performance behind them.’

“This is a sale were the buyers want to hear about genetics. They want to know birth weights on the bulls that bred these heifers. They are becoming more and more sophisticated,” Rollins explains.

The sale at Fort Worth offers a useful program for buyers. With the support of  Pfizer Animal Health, through its “Turn ‘Em Out” program, the sale cattle arrive at the pens in Fort Worth current on all vaccinations and ready to be turned out at their new homes.

“If we do all that for the (buyers) before they get there,” Rollins explains, “not only do they buy a healthier product, they go home and they don’t have any problems.”

Rollins says Pfizer has committed to the Turn ‘Em Out program for the 2004 sale. “It makes a real difference when you can stand up before a crowd and say you don’t have to do anything to them, just take them home and turn them out.”

Being in northern Texas, the Fort Worth sale offers more English and European breeding and less Brahman influence. The mix includes Angus, Red Angus, English crosses, Black baldies, Maine Anjou, Charolais, Chianina, Limousin, Simmental influenced cattle, as well as Brangus and Brahman derivatives such as tiger stripes, Santa Gertrudis, Simbrah.

Jim Banner and Michael Sturgiss, San Antonio, publish the Southern Livestock Standard, and work with auctioneer Anthony Mihalski, to manage the sale at the San Antonio Livestock Exposition. The 2004 All Breed Bull and Heifer Sales will be February 11.

This is the most recently formed of the three big sales. Banner explains he, Sturgiss and Mihalski felt a sale would work at the San Antonio stock show even though previous attempts had not been greatly successful.

Changes in the San Antonio stock show management prompted the discussion about a sale. “They were looking to bringing some new events for the cattle people back to the stock show, instead of it being all entertainment,” Banner explains.

“The stock shows are growing, but it’s not because of the agricultural base, which is what stock shows are supposed to be all about. It’s entertainment -- the carnival, the rodeos, the food.

“We started out to keep it a country atmosphere. We want people to come down here and have a good time,” Banner says, of the buyers and of the consignors and their families.

“When we started out, cattle numbers were short. We had to call in all the chips we had out there in the industry to get people to send us cattle. We started calling customers and clients we had in other sales, begged and pleaded to make it work.”

The first year, Banner, Sturgiss and Mihalski offered consigners the chance to come back each subsequent year, “as long as the cattle met our requirements, or until they just don’t bring us any cattle anymore.

“We mainly look for Brahman-influenced females because that’s a hot commodity for us. We do try to select a representation from other breeds,” in smaller numbers. This same mix of breeds applies to the bull sale, too.

“We have a turnover every year. No matter what, something happens, especially on the female side.” It is helpful, Banner says, if the new consignor has the numbers in his or her herd to come back year after year. Like the other sale managers, Banner and his associates are looking for a long-term relationship with consignors.

Doak Lambert, Coppell, has been the auctioneer at the Houston sale for the better part of 10 years. “It’s the biggest crowd I’ll sell to in a year. So many urban people come in there and get a taste and a flavor for what we do, the kind of life we live. It’s a love-hate relationship for the consignors -- dragging a trailer through the traffic -- but the dollars they command at that sale make it worthwhile when it’s all said and done.

“There’s nowhere else I sell that a pen of commercial cattle has the potential to bring $2,000. That potential is there in Houston, San Antonio and Fort Worth.

“Cattle should be in good condition,” Lambert suggests. “Keep them on a good plane of nutrition. The guys who seem to get along best are the reputation producers who do their homework. They have a lot of repeat customers.”

Lambert mentions Ronnie Hamilton, Wharton, as an example of someone who does it right. “Once he consigns a pen of cattle, they are not for sale, period, until they get to Houston. People come by the ranch and try to buy them and he has to say no. In doing that, he has created a reputation. People know he brings his very best to Houston and he won’t sell them anywhere but there.”

Consignors come for the camaraderie and competition

Glen Richardson ranches near Sonora and sends F1 Brahman-Hereford heifers to the sales at San Antonio and Houston. “We have the Hereford cows and we use the Hudgins Brahman bulls on them.”

These sales are a good place for Richardson to advertise his herd. “It’s been a good thing for us. Not only the sales, but meeting people and the friends we’ve made over the years. It’s something we really look forward to, both places.”

Frequently, Richardson will meet people at the sale who end up buying off the ranch. Participating in the sales has helped him develop a good market among young people, 4H and FFA students. One of his young buyers recently told Richardson that the heifers he bought at the Houston sale helped pay college costs.

In preparing for the sale, Richardson starts evaluating the heifers at weaning. “It’s important that they look alike. You pair them up color-wise and size-wise. We might pull them up 20 to 30 days ahead of the sale and put them in a trap and walk them. We doll them up a little, shear their heads so they look a little sharper. We pride ourselves on them being gentle.”

John Straley, Straley Cattle Company, Clyde, sells at Fort Worth and San Antonio and has consigned to the Houston sale in years past. The auctions are a good way to market his cattle --  which are black Maine Anjou base and Brangus type cows with Hereford and Brangus bulls -- but they are also a lot of fun. “It’s the people like Charles Rollins in Fort Worth, Jim Banner in San Antonio, the people that raise the cattle who we’ve made friends with over the years.”

Straley says, “Don’t get me wrong, the money’s nice, but that’s not the main reason we do it. It’s the competition, the friendship.”

Straley explains his planning process for choosing consignments. “We’ve been breeding for this for years. We’re calving some heifers now (in late September and October) for Fort Worth. We’ve got ’05 sale heifers on the ground, we’re trading out bulls for ’06 heifers. You have to think a couple of years ahead,” he says.

“We’ve been real fortunate in San Antonio and Fort Worth to do very well winning awards. We’ve had a couple of breed champions in Fort Worth. We had the high selling pen one year in Fort Worth. In San Antonio, we’ve never failed to have at least one breed champion every year we’ve been. Last year we had three,” Straley says.

“There’s nothing like it in the world,” he says of the excitement he and his family derive from the competition and winning. “It’s not a passion. It’s a way of life. My dad showed when he was in junior high and high school in the ‘30s. Then, my sister and I showed in the late ‘60s, early ‘70s. My kids showed. It’s a disease there’s no cure for,” and it doesn’t sound like Straley is seeking a cure.

Like Richardson, Straley pays close attention to matching the cattle in the pens. “The pen has to look alike. One or two individuals that don’t match, for whatever reason will knock you down in points.”

Offering advice for potential consignors, Straley says, “Come to the sale and watch and talk to people. Be there the day before the sale and look at the cattle. Watch the sale. Then put your name on the waiting list for next year. You need to be thinking 12 months ahead.”

Shows are meeting their mission

Keith Martin, general manager, and Glen Alan Phillips, livestock director of the San Antonio Livestock Exposition, echo the comments of the others when they describe the stock shows as a stage for agriculture.

“Yes, we are in the middle of a city and we have an awful lot of people that come to our show, probably 80 to 90 percent, that are urban folks,” Martin says. “We take it as an opportunity to teach them about agriculture in the form of entertainment. We get them here with entertainment and good family fun. But, all throughout the grounds, we have agricultural education exhibits.

“We have a lot of people who attend the sale just to watch what a cattle sale is all about. The more we can educate the public in agriculture, the better off we’re going to be when we need their votes for agricultural related items in Congress.” Martin continues, “We’ve done such a great job of keeping (agriculture) secret all these years that we need to be sure they understand it and let them know about it.”

Phillips adds, “It’s fun to watch the general public visiting with these ranchers about what they do. Our consignors and even our buyers are very good and willing to visit with the public. The commercial sale is probably our closest tie that we have to commercial production agriculture in our show. We really value our sale to keep that commercial production agricultural tie.

“One of the things that helps our sale,” Phillips says, “is we have tried to make our consignors and make our buyers feel welcome here on the grounds. We have tried to make it easy for them to get in and out of the grounds, to come and enjoy their time here as well as experience some of the other venues we have on the grounds.”

Dan Gattis, general manager of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo agrees, “It is unusual to have a big agricultural event in such an urban area. It’s a struggle to keep it that way.

“The reason the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo was started was to promote the beef industry a viable industry in this area. When it started 70 years ago, Harris County had more beef cattle in it than any other county in the state of Texas,” Gattis explains.

“The world has changed a lot over time. To find a rodeo and a livestock show in the fourth largest, or so, city in the nation, with the enthusiasm that happens here during the show, it doesn’t happen anywhere else.

“The sale helps us keep our roots. I don’t think it helps the city get involved, but it helps keep the country involved with the city.” Gattis says farmers and ranchers from a 200-mile radius come to the events at Houston. “Some of whom are cussing all the way because they don’t want to fight the traffic and don’t want to come to the big town,” he says with a chuckle, “but we have an event they really want to participate in, so they come. I don’t know that we’re any harder than going into Fort Worth, but the perception is definitely different.”

The stock show sales also offer local businesspeople the chance to buy livestock for their ranches. Gattis says, “It’s amazing to me how many Houstonians buy livestock. It’s not unusual for the volume buyer to be somebody who’s really involved with the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, to be a businessman here in town who has a ranch and they are looking for cattle.”

Bob Watt, general manager, and Stefan Marchman, livestock show manager at the Southwestern Expostion and Livestock Show, Fort Worth, say the draw is a combination of things.

The sale provides an entertainment factor, but it also provides a solid way to wrap us the stock show each year.

“We’re very proud of the event,” Watt says. “It’s a first-class way for us to wind the show down,” adding the sale is on the final day of the stock show. “It’s a major event for us to host the sale. Another advantage we have is the facility. The cattle really look good in there.”

The consigning families add their flair to the event, Marchman says. “It’s not extravagant, but the families will put up nice wood signs, pictures of their cattle,  descriptive displays and have a hospitality area. Last year during the quarter horse sale, which is Saturday evening, we had a full house in there for the horses. Those guys at the cattle pens were just swamped with people coming through to look at the cattle.”

Along with the sale, the consignments are eligible to earn premium money from the judging. Marchman says more than $11,000 is awarded to exhibitors, annually. “The judging in 2004 will be conducted in two days. The judges are usually a panel of three well-respected cattle producers. Charles (Rollins) does a great job of selecting the judges.”

Watt says the judges earn their keep when they grade the consignments at the Fort Worth sale. Since the sale started in 1988, they have increased the number of head in each pen from five to up to a dozen or more. As a result, more than 700 females will be graded and sold.

Would they like to expand the sale further? Not really, Watt explains. “We’re so confined here, it’s hard to accommodate parking for more events. Bigger is not necessarily better.

“If it was a different kind of business where you need more volume, that would be different,” Watt says. “But, for what we’re trying to do here,  the facilities do a very good job. It would be a mistake to try to do more than we are physically able to do.”

Besides, by keeping the quality up, the buyers are happy. Higher quality means greater competitiveness, which makes the consignors happy. And, having events that keep bringing production agriculture to the urban stock show, that keeps the management happy. These sales are winning situations for all parties.