Small Cows, Big News. Welcome!

This week's updates from the wonderful world of miniature cattle.

Author

Elliott Garber
November 07, 2024

Well howdy, everyone!

Thanks to all our new subscribers in the last week! Please share far and wide with others in our little community who might be interested. You can send them to this link for the easiest free signup.

If you missed the first couple newsletters, you can find them right here.

No Big Numbers on Last Week’s Auctions

On the contrary! The two auctions (here and here) put on by Mid America Mini Cow Auctions ended with a lot of very competitive pricing. I almost wrote “low” just now, but of course, that’s all in the eye of the beholder.

We should expect consignment auctions like these to result in lower prices for many reasons. At the top of the list is that the potential buyers probably don’t have much or any relationship with the actual breeders. That all-important trust factor hasn’t been established over time, through social media, personal correspondence, and reputation in the community.

So is that how you end up with a bunch of handsome little highpark bull and steer calves going for well under $1000? And pretty little highpark heifers selling for between $2000 and $3000? Or does this reflect a pricing trend that we should all be tracking? More on that below.

“Anyone Else Having a Hard Time Selling Their Calves?”

This question in my favorite Facebook group drew lots of attention, opinions, and replies. Of course, the fact that it came the day after the big election caused many commenters to make connections between the current market for our miniature cattle and these significant happenings in the political world. We’ll see!

There were a lot of comments about the market being flooded now after the rise in popularity of Scottish Highland cattle in particular. So the breeders who were already in it may have gotten a few amazing years, but now we should expect the market to correct itself back to historic levels. There’s probably some truth in that! But I’m also optimistic about continuing to create new demand and opportunity.

This was my favorite comment, quoted with permission:

I am in this group and many others quite often and I don’t recognize your name or have any idea what you have available. Not saying I’m special in any way but if people aren’t seeing what you have available they don’t know you or to contact you. You have to offer calves that stand out.

Your presentation and quality need to stand out to get attention. 

I agree with people saying there have been a lot of people get into breeding in the recent years and they are breeding a lot of poor quality just to say they are breeders. We will see those calves and breeding stock go to the sale barn and be cleaned up eventually because that’s the natural flow of things. Doll them up, get them leading like puppies, get good pictures and post them so we can see what you have.

Yvonnda Stamp-Agent, Ruddy Byre Highlands

Yvonnda gets at some of those key factors that we’ve talked about before. Breeder reputation and engagement in the community – alongside basic marketing efforts – play such important roles in the relative demand and pricing for individual animals.

Miniature cattle are currently priced basically the opposite of commercial beef cattle. Beef cattle represent a totally liquid market with commodity pricing. Scottish Highland and other miniature cattle are characterized by more value-based, differentiated pricing.

This situation results in the huge range of prices we see on calves that realistically are actually pretty similar. Breeders who put in the extra time and effort are rewarded for that.

Upcoming Auctions

It’s a busy time of year! Here are the upcoming auctions that I’m tracking, but please let me know if I’ve missed any.

Private Sales of Note

Jennifer Dyer-Huffines in Tennessee has a handsome six-month-old silver highland bull for $4000.

Abbie Williams in Virginia is selling this great little starter trio and asking $10,000 or best offer.

First Annual Miniature Cattle Market Survey

I’m asking any and all to spend 10 minutes completing this simple survey which will help us all get a better understanding of where we’ve been and where we’re going. We have 156 responses so far (thank you!) but hoping to go way higher so that we have the best data possible.

All entrants who leave an email address when submitting their completed survey will be entered to win one of three $100 Amazon gift cards. If you’ve already completed the survey, I’d really appreciate it if you could share with others in your network.

Until next time

Thanks so much for joining me!

Elliott

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