A typical weekly entry of 6,000 to 10,000 calves and stock cattle means operations at Oklahoma National Stockyards (ONS) have to run like clockwork.
The 17-acre ONS campus is located in Stockyards City—the area of the same name that grew up around the stockyard—in the heart of the city, just south of the Oklahoma River.
Sales consist primarily of commercial calves and shops trading between cow/calf (mother) farms, background or “stocker” farms and fattening farms.
Farmers Weekly spoke to ONS Marketing Manager Amarie Bartel to find out more about the famous market.
See also: An inventory looks back on 50 years of agriculture
location
Located in the central region of the Midwest, Oklahoma has large open prairie and heifer calf farms, as well as more productive farmland to the east, making it a great place for forage plots.
Many feedlots have a capacity for 40,000 to 50,000 head and some for more than 300,000 head.
Oklahoma City is strategically located at the intersection of the two major interstates (freeways) in the region — the I35 and I40 — which has seen a post-war yard boom as the automotive industry expands.
sale day
On-site activities often begin two days before a sale, with cattle transported 1,000 miles or more. Upon arrival, the animals are littered in pens, fed and watered.
After delivery, the cattle are the responsibility of one of nine commission companies that work at ONS.
These companies earn commissions for handling the cattle until the stock is shipped to move to other ranches and feedlots.
After the sale, cowboys on horseback herd the cattle to the pens for collection and loading onto wagons. The costs for this are covered by a commission rate when the cattle are sold.
Levy Board Beef Quality Assurance conducts training on cattle handling. Cowboys only use flags on flexible poles to move cattle, Ms. Bartel explains.
© Oklahoma National Stockyard
How the purchase works
commission companies
These companies offer cattle producers expert advice on cattle marketing, just like a fieldman does in the auction market.
They tell a rancher when calves of a certain weight or type are needed and when to wait for the market or sell at a peak.
The storage place receives a small commission from the cut of the commission companies and rents office space to buyers and commission companies.
- Some companies offer a range of other services such as B. finding pastures, marketing and hedging services in the futures markets, finance and business consulting.
- Businesses take turns selling cattle until all have been sold or passed on. Each company gets a limited number of blueprints each round before having to stop selling and let another company sell, but companies rotate as long as necessary.
sale
Two auctioneers alternate for one hour each day. The auctioneers are commissioned by ONS.
You must not speak to buyers or sellers as this could easily be corrupted and conflicts of interest could arise.
Auctioneers are self-employed contractors paid by the stockyard to handle the sale and do a little social media work. A market reporter from the US Department of Agriculture attends each sale.
- The sale starts at 6.30am and often lasts 12-15 hours.
- The longest day recently was 2019 when a computer went down and all the cattle had to be pen and paper processed. This sale sold about 17,000 units in 23 hours.
- About 800 cattle can be sold in one hour.
- Steers and heifers are sold separately.
purchase
Very few producers visit the sales ring to bid and buy livestock. The audience consists primarily of “tied buyers” (agents) who source cattle for feedlots and farms.
- Buyers must register at the credit desk and be screened by a bank for guaranteed funds. The auctioneer will not accept bids from a buyer without the assistance of the insurance company.
- About 90% of buyers are there most weeks, with some committed buyers coming seasonally when livestock supplies dry up elsewhere.
- All sales can be viewed online but online bidding has yet to be developed.
on Monday Stockers (weaned calves and young stores) and feeders (forward stores for fattening) are sold. Cattle must be sold in groups of three or more. Larger batches regularly include 75-100 pieces and are offered by 50-75 tied buyers.
Tuesdays Packer cows and bulls are sold on Tuesdays, along with any “quota” that don’t make it into the batches on a Monday. Meat packers (processors) buy livestock. Some heifers and cows are sold and taken home by ranchers. Generally 10-25 buyers compete for cattle.
Sales ring © Oklahoma National Stockyard
The size of the cattle yard is ‘a sight to behold’
Tom Runyan has worked in cattle marketing since 1992 for Swift and Henry, a livestock agency and bond buyer established in 1909 and operating at ONS.
He has been visiting Oklahoma City for years to source cattle for producers.
In June 2021, Mr. Runyan also began selling and marketing cattle through the market when he became a director of Central Halliburton, a commission company.
“Most of the commission companies in the sales ring also have a cattle buyer,” says Mr. Runyan. “The idea of tied buyers is to have coverage. If the buyers can’t pay for the cattle, the bond company steps in.
“I bid and buy cattle from the sales company I work for if they fit my buyer’s order. If not, I’ll pass them on. Both the selling company and the buyer charge a commission, but the sales commission is much higher.”
In the early days of the cattle trade, when Swift and Henry was founded by attorney JC Swift and accountant Charles D. Henry, the commission firm acted like a bank to its rancher clients.
Mr. Runyan has worked at the stockyard for decades but says the size still impresses him. “When you see a square mile full of pens on a big sale day, it’s a sight to behold.”
Farmers Week says
There are many more parties involved in running a sales yard in the United States. These share the risk of operating costs and bad debts.
The traditional British way is for auctioneers to round up buyers and sellers and complete the sale, but this involvement is illegal in the US.
Oklahoma National Stockyards facilitates farm-to-farm trades in stock cattle and weaned calves through professional contractors and credit-checked and insured buyers.
This is very different from UK markets, which sell a lot of livestock to the meat trade, which is said to be ‘more dubious’ than the farmer’s trade.
If bidders in the UK market were scrutinized half as closely as buyers of cattle in the US, then the level of bad debts in the market system would certainly decrease.
Comments are closed.