Home to a few onion sheds, a grocery store and a handful of hometown restaurants, every Wednesday the town becomes Grand Central Station for nearly every cattle operation within 150 miles.

He calls himself a Rigby town kid, but Dennis Lake was truly his grandfather’s right-hand man on the ranch just north of town. At 88, Lake is still a critical part of the operation. 

In the cattle industry, you are either selling cattle by the pound or you are selling cattle or genetics to other ranchers who are selling cattle by the pound. Weights are critical in every stage of the cattle cycle – from a calf’s birth, weaning, yearling and sale weight to mature/gain weights of cows and bulls for monitoring body condition score (BCS).

“By nature of its excellence and rarity, this elite beef should not be viewed, marketed or sold as a basic commodity,” says Amanda Radke. “In 2023, we put this concept to work through a new auction platform called Bid on Beef.”

Making a calf crop stand out to buyers is critical for profitability and long-term success, regardless of an operation’s size. While smaller farms may feel disadvantaged by these efforts, they can significantly enhance their calves’ appeal and secure higher prices using simple but often overlooked methods.

Many useful pharmaceutical products have been developed to treat BRD; however, effective implementation of a preventive strategy has been elusive. A further complication is the absence of an experimental model that replicates the most common clinical symptoms.

Calf prices look to be strong for the next few years as the national cow herd continues to bounce back from liquidations related to drought. These market conditions pose a great opportunity to increase profit potential through value-added programs.

Many livestock economists have demonstrated over the years that there is a premium in the marketplace for uniform lots of calves. For further proof, just watch what happens at the local auction market when it comes to selling feeder cattle and then tune in to one of the online video auctions and compare prices.

The term “high risk” is mainly applied to calves bought and sold through local livestock auctions or sale barns, although not all these calves are necessarily considered high risk.

While the expressed purpose of hosting a weekly auction is buying and selling livestock, we all know that a good portion of the folks making themselves comfortable in those worn-out bleachers show up with no intention of letting go of a single penny.