Saturday I attended at the farm, the Schafer Farms 23rd Annual Private Treaty Bull Sale near Goodhue, MN.
The sale has many unusual features that are interesting.
A catalog on the 60 bulls was mailed out in advance of the sale.
The sale happens during 4 hours (11:00 AM to 3:00 PM) on one day.
All bulls have a set floor price.
10:00 AM Bulls are available for inspection.
11:00 AM Sale begins.
1:00 PM Any bull selected by more than one buyer, will be auctioned off in established sale order.
1:30 All remaining bulls will be sold at the set price to the first buyer recorded on the bull.
3:00 PM Sale ends.
Any bulls remaining after the sale, will be sold by private treaty throughout the remainder of the spring.

Schafer Farms offers two payment options.
Cash option: payment in full by April 1st.
Or interest free deferred payment.
25% Down, pmt due by April 1st.
25% Due upon delivery.
50% Due by April 1st, 2009
Most attending the sale were repeat purchasers. Set prices varied from $1,800 to $5,000.

This type of sale might be of interest to a number of smaller breeding stock producers in an area that could group together and sell their bulls during one day.

A photo in your ad helps it get noticed by visitors to our sites. Over the years we have noticed that a photo usually increases ad readership by about 50%.

It's not hard to ad a photo to your ad. The directions are on our "How to Place an Ad" page on our left toolbar. Ask Paul if you have questions.

Today a visitor used the "Contact Paul" to ask, if he needed a website to advertise on our websites? The answer is NO!

Our websites are built so that you don't need your own website to place an ad. You only need an email address.

If you do have your own website, your advertier contact information can include a live link to your website.

Today I had a call from a breeder about where on BullShop he could place an ad for an upcoming sale his breed assn was having.

I told him he could place that sale in a free State Calendar Ad in the state of the sale.

Or if he needed more reach he could place the sale in a National Calendar Ad that will display in a state Calendar Ads pages and on our top toolbar(cost $50). Get it in early so it can be inculded in our monthly BullShop Update emailings.

This holds true for BullShop.com, GoatBreeders.biz and SheepBreeders.biz

Last Thursday for the first time, Evelyn and I went to lunch at out local Senior Center.
As I turned into the parking lot, I told her that we can't claim being teenagers any more!
We had a good lunch while enjoying the company of two couples we know well. Good friends are wonderful gifts.

This morning I had a nice surprise.
Michael Thoney, a professor at Cornell, emailed me that he had placed a link to our new website SheepBreeders.biz on the Cornell University Sheep Site.

Here is a link to Cornell sheep website.
Cornell Sheep Website

If you have a website and want to help others in Rural America market, here is our linking page.
Linking page


One of our users emailed me about a state event they had coming up. I let her know that she could place that event herself on the site in a free State Calendar Ad to promote the event. The ad will stay up until the event is over.

If you state association has an event in the future, use a free State Calendar Ad to build attendance. It's easy to place an ad with these directions.How to Place an Ad

Last night I went to Rochester, MN for one of the ten Beef Cow/Calf Days meetings that the Minnesota Beef team puts on around the state during a two week period.

There were presentations on Grazing Management, developing heifers for the breeding season, calf weaning management and siting and premitting in the state. The meetings draw 700 to 800.

If you have never attended, plan to next year. You'll be glad you did.

Ryon Walker, Grant Crawford, Lori Schott and others on the team do a very fine job of working with the beef producers in the state!

We wish Cliff Lamb the best on his move to the University of Florida. I'm sure he sold his snow shovels!

Yesterday we launched our sheep site, SheepBreeders.biz . The launch went great! By the end of the day sheep breeders had placed over 100 ads and listings on the site. The users of BullShop.com and RuralAds.com who wrote us over the years suggesting we create a sheep site were right.
Click to go to SheepBreeder.biz

Yesterday Glen Eberly emailed me the Pennsylvania Bull Test 84 day report. I noticed that 92 Angus bulls on test gained an average of over 5 lbs/day. Two were over 6 lbs/day. Those are great numbers.
If you would like to read the full report click on this link.

84 day bull test report


Happy Valentine's Day!

This article comes from Stan Smith, Fairfield County, OSU Extension PA

This winter locally, as we've cussed and discussed the cost of feed, fertilizer, land rent, machinery and anything else a farmer might purchase these days, one of the "cost saving" measures I've heard suggested is skipping fertilizer this year on hay and pasture land.

Are you skipping fertilizer on your corn ground this year too? I doubt it. If a recent soil test suggests you need fertilizer or lime on hay and pasture land, then don't think for a minute it's anything but voodoo economics if you don't apply it to your hay lands either. After all, an "average" Ohio annual hay yield of 3 tons per acre removes the same amount of potash from the soil as a SIX HUNDRED (yes, that's 600) bushel corn crop!

At a minimum, if fertilizer prices dictate that you simply can't fertilize all the hay and pasture land that a soil test indicates need be, take the resources available and use them strategically. Practicing efficient pasture grazing management over the years distributes and recycles manure nutrients very nicely. Your soil test may indicate that applying P & K is likely your lowest fertilizer priority on pasture land.

If limited resources dictate you only apply nitrogen fertilizer one time during the year, do it after the first growth flush is over in late May or June, or wait until August when you begin to stockpile. However at the same time, remember that research suggests that each of the first 40 pounds of nitrogen applied to a grass field returns up to an additional 54 pounds of dry matter. With forages valued at ~ 5 cents per pound right now, that indicates the breakeven price you could pay for up to 40 pounds of nitrogen per acre is $2.70 a pound! Or, looking at it the other way, an investment of 40 pounds of nitrogen at 60 cents per pound (total cost per acre= $24.00) on a grass hay field will return more than a ton of extra forage.

Fertilizing hay ground must be the highest priority, especially replacing P & K. Each ton of hay which is removed from a hay field takes with it 14 pounds of P2O5 and 50-55 pounds of K20. Replacing the nutrients removed by hay harvest must remain the highest priority to maintain long term stand health and productivity of perennial hay fields.

If your association has a coming state event (sale, convention, show, etc) you could place a free State Calendar Ad on BullShop.com, GoatBreeders.biz or SheepBreeders.biz to promote it. A Calendar Ad will stay up until your event is over.

Need more coverage than just one state? You can place a National Calendar Ad that will display in all states. Cost is only $50.

A State or National Calendar Ad on either of these three websites, will also display on RuralCalendar.com as soon as we get that site finished.

Shortage of veterinarians has "makings of a crisis"
AVMA Press Release
February 8, 2008

SCHAUMBURG, Ill. - The president of the nation's largest veterinary association appeared before a Congressional subcommittee Feb. 7 and urged the United States Department of Agriculture to implement a long-standing, but dormant, program that would help address a critical shortage in the number of veterinarians who protect the country's food supply.

Dr. Gregory S. Hammer, president of the American Veterinary Medical Association, testified before the House Subcommittee on Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry that the delay in implementing the National Veterinary Medical Service Act (NVMSA) puts U.S. economic and food safety at risk.

"The problems that NVMSA will address worsen each and every day the program remains nonfunctional," Hammer said. "This has all the makings of a crisis if we don't act now."

The Act, which was signed into law by President George Bush in 2003 and which received funding in Fiscal Years 2006-2008, is a loan repayment program for veterinarians who pledge to practice in a variety of underserved areas of veterinary medicine, including food supply veterinary medicine.

With the average veterinary school graduate's debt climbing to $106,000, the program is essential if more food supply veterinarians are going to be added to the workforce, Hammer said.

Recent studies indicate that the supply of veterinarians working in food safety will fall short by 4 to 5 percent annually through 2016.

Click for full text

A breeder placing a Breeder Ad on GoatBreeders.biz wrote me asking how to control which photo of the 3 would be the thumbnail photo and top photo on her Breeder Ad.

Answer:
The last photo you upload (whether 1, 2 or 3)in a Breeder Ad will be the thumbnail photo and photo position at top of ad.

On February 9 th, I plan to attend the Indianhead Sheep Breeders Association's 14th Annual Shepherd's Clinic at Rice Lake, WI.

It is only about a 2 hour drive from Cottage Grove, MN where I live. It will be held at the Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College Conference Center. They report that usually over 200 attend the event.

The reason I plan the attend is that we will be launching our sheep website in a week or two. If you might be interested in the sheep industry, check it out!

SheepBreeders.biz

It is sure great to see the new ads and listings on GoatBreeders.biz!
We launched the website yesterday and already the Goat Breeders have placed over 200 ads and listings on the site.

Over the years we received many requests to develop a goat site similar to our cattle website, BullShop.com. I am glad that we were good listeners.

Make use of the site and invite others interested in the goat industry to use it.

A photo will help your ad get noticed. All ads on our sites can have a photo, except Breeder Ads.
A Breeder Ad can have up to 3 photos in it. Don't pass on photos in your Breeder Ad!