2023 Sale Catalog NOW available!
Hello All:
Almost time! On Saturday, March 11 we plan to offer approximately 60 coming 2-year-old bulls and 50 2-year-old first calf heifers for sale. As we have since our first sale in 2017, we are offering every bull and bred heifer that has survived our “tough as a $7 steak” development program (hesitated to use that idiom in this context!). Our bulls and bred heifers are NOT going to look like the pampered, over-fed, over-supplemented, over-hayed, over-hyped seedstock animals you see in every other sale. They are built Ichthys-tough (here we go again). They will look good (they will look excellent) next fall after a summer of grazing…and they will continue to look good for years to come as their bred in and tested traits (fleshing ability, longevity, efficiency, disposition, fertility) express themselves. We have had a brutal (snow/cold) past 3 weeks that has put even more pressure on them. We will continue to cull, even on sale day if necessary, to eliminate animals that should not reproduce.
The sale starts in our big building and online at DVAuction at 11 am. We will move quickly but won’t rush. Bulls sell first then heifers. Sale instructions will be in the catalog (the catalog will be online or a hard-copy will be mailed to those who have requested one) which you can view online soon at icecattle.com. Videos are done and will be posted soon as well.
New Policy: Any animal that is a no-sale will be offered for sale private treaty for $500 above the base price immediately after the sale (previous policy was offered at the base price) and for a week after the sale. The bottom-line reasoning for this is that we think our genetics are worth far more than our base prices, and we know this because of our beef sales. Seedstock should be worth far more than butchered beeves…and we need more beeves to butcher. We are only planning to offer the no-sales for sale private treaty for a week after the sale, after that they go into the beef program.
Based on what we have seen every year, our cattle are selling at a significant discount compared to others who claim to have grass genetics. I have been fine with that up to now because, even if we don’t get the dollars that others are receiving for their seedstock, we are building a reputation for the future. However, for the first time ever in 2022, we had to go outside of our program for some fat cattle to satisfy the demand for our beef sales. It was challenging to find beef genetics that matched the quality of what we have. We need more animals to develop for beef, thus the new policy. Additionally, we currently make significantly more money on our beef sales than we do seedstock cattle that sell for the base price. In reality, our bulls should be selling for $3500 and the bred heifers for $3000 to compete with our beef sales (and in my opinion, relative to other programs, they should be selling for more than that as seedstock, the bulls anyway). It would be far easier to just do beef sales, but we don’t have enough beef customers currently to do that AND we think we have a very special seedstock product to offer the beef industry. No one develops their seedstock the way we do; with enough pressure, you create diamonds. Quit looking for diamonds in coal mines!
If you have questions about ANY part of the sale process PLEASE reach out. We are EXCITED about the animals we have to offer in this sale and hope you are too. We will probably never be a big name in the seedstock bull industry, especially since we aren’t aiming to be. However, we are in pursuit of genetics and animals that will significantly benefit the producer who wants great momma cows. Our cattle produce, and reproduce, with minimal inputs. I know people think I’m crazy, but I’m crazy…FOR YOU!
His grace, peace and blessings to you.
Lanny Greenhalgh | Steward
[email protected] | (402) 984-6375
www.icecattle.com
We had a customer send Ashley the following message this past week. When we asked permission to share it, he responded, “I have three bulls from another breeder that were with them but had to get them to better feed.”
