CARTHAGE, Ind. — With most livestock sales, the animal is presented before potential buyers and a long, drawn out bidding war oftennensues. Bids, once low, begin skyrocketing. 

“Naturally, most sales are performed this way, but ours is very different,” says Mark Hilton, Beef Cow-calf veterinarian at Midwest Beef Cattle Consultants (MBCC).

 Hilton and MBCC will host their 23rd annual spring bull and female sale on March 14 at M5 Family Farms, 3824 Binford Road in Carthage, Ind. And Hilton promises attendees will enjoy the experience.

 “We’ve all been to sales where we kinda like bull No. 2, but we really want bull No. 4,” Hilton said. “For example, Bull No. 2 might be $500 below what you had budgeted for him. You make a bid and get him. You’re happy because might save a few hundred dollars. Now bull No. 4 comes in and brings, say, $1,000 less than you would have spent, and now you’re disappointed.

 “This rarely happens in our sale because the bull with the most first-place ‘votes’ sell first. This way, buyers have a good chance of their first choice bulls selling before their second and third choice bulls.”

 To make the bidding less complex, Hilton utilizes a ‘buyer board’ where all animals and their base prices are listed. If a buyer has an interest in an animal, they place their buyer number next to these lot numbers. This allows everyone to see the competition on each bull. If the buyer sees that there are seven buyer numbers on their first-choice bull and only two on their second choice, they may choose not to bid extremely high on their first choice, hoping their second choice bull will sell for much less.

 “If a buyer has their buyer number on seven bulls that fit their goals and they only need one, we remove their buyer number from the other six bulls after they purchase their bull,” Hilton said. “This again allows potential buyers to see the competition. If only one person is interested in a bull, he sells for the base price. Any bulls that are not sold the day of the open house are sold by private treaty after the sale and at the base price.” 

“At one of my earlier sales two of my clients were bidding against each other for the same bull,” he said. “My board was in an adjacent room so they didn’t know they were the only two interested in that bull. As a result, one got a bull at a much higher price than the base price and the other guy got his second choice bull at the base price. And at that time there was no Internet bidding. The board lets people know who their competition is and lets them make an informed decision what they’re going to do with their hard-earned money. We want people to get the right bull for them.”

 Hilton graduated from Purdue University veterinary school in 1983. In 1988, he started the Total Beef Herd Health Program and Midwest Beef Cattle Consultants. Hilton has been selling bulls the past 20 years.

 “One of the things we do is have the potential buyers make the sale order,” Hilton said. “They call me before the sale and give me their top three choices, or top six if they are buying multiple animals. I then make the sale order based on the buyer’s ranking of each bull. Today, 75 percent of the bull buyers contact me ahead of the sale and list their top picks. My research over the years shows that 87 percent of the people got their first, second or third choice at the sale.”

Hilton’s team also includes Chris Muegge, a beef nutritionist with Lowe’s Pellets and Grain. 

 “With Chris’ program our bulls gain 3.2 to 3.3 pounds per day and they’re not fat and don’t live like feedlot steers,” he said. “We call our bulls endurance athletes, not couch potatoes. And everything we do is to help ensure that the buyers get the animal that really fits their goals.”

The March 14 sale will include 45 bulls (Balancers, Gelbvieh, SimAngus and 3 & 4 breed composites). In the female sale, 15 bred females and pairs will be available, as will eight open spring Balancer females.

“Our motto is ‘Producing Cattle that Works for You,’ and not the other way around. As a veterinarian I see problem cattle every day, and that is not what we want to produce. We want to produce cattle as problem-free as possible. We encourage buyers to call us ahead of the sale so we can learn about their goals.”

For more information visit https://www.mwbeefcattle.com/