Hello All:

SATISFIED CUSTOMER QUOTES:

“I can attest to what you concluded this update with. (He is referring to a recent update.) I was skeptical about the phenotype of the first bull I purchased from ICE, but was very pleased with his condition and bloom after his first breeding season and am even more impressed with his condition and thriftiness now as he roughs it out on cornstalks with zero fed feed and zero protein supplement. The thickness and muscling blows away the mainstream performance based bulls that I’ve had in the past. Good work ICE crew, producing a genetic program to thrive in a low input grazing system that mimics the way God designed grazing critters to survive.” Brandon Mace, Lebanon, KS

“The bull I bought has been on milo stalks and grass all fall and winter, he is still in good shape. Had him on 30 heifers and only one open. Anxious to see his calves. Three of my bulls I use for producing feeder cattle I’ve had to start feeding, they were getting too skinny.  Glad I don’t have cows from those bulls.” SW Kansas Customer

Thank you for those kind comments! I’ve found it to be a bedrock truth that our customers are our best salespeople! It is true with our meat sales as well as with our seedstock. If you have a comment you would be willing to let me share about any aspect of our program that you appreciate, we would most definitely appreciate you letting us know.

WHAT DO YOU EXPECT THEM TO BRING?

This is one of the most asked questions I receive regarding the sale. I never feel like I have a good answer. The past doesn’t determine the future, but you can learn something from it. In the past we’ve never had trouble selling the heifers. We’ve never not sold one. Last year was our strongest bred heifer sale ever, and the entire group averaged over $2000, right at $2100. The composites brought less and the registered more. I expect all the heifers to sell well again. We already have some $3000+ bids on some registered bred heifers and $2500+ bids on a few composites. If you take into account the fact that you might be getting a herd sire as a bull calf that you can raise out of one of these heifers, the prices really aren’t that out of line.

Though we’ve sold some high dollar (to us anyway, $5000+) bulls in past sales we regularly have a lot of bulls that don’t sell during the sale that we sell as private treaty after the sale. I don’t expect that to change this year, but I hope and pray it does. Every bull in our sale has the genetics and has been through the crucible of our development program to make an excellent herd sire. Even with that said, I won’t be surprised to have several no-sale bulls that will be available at the base price of $2500 after the sale. We do have a couple of $7000+ plus bull bids already, cautious optimism is in the air.

We know that leaving bids with a seller takes a lot of trust, it is almost a sacred trust. We are committed to handling every bid we receive with the utmost of integrity. If you leave a bid with us on an animal, we will not bid any higher than necessary for you to secure the animal. Please contact us via phone, text or email if you want to leave a bid on any of the animals in the sale. We plan to have Ashley handle the bids at the sale.

BIDDDING OPTIONS:

You are welcome to come in person and bid live at the sale.  You can bid through DVAuction, or you can submit bids to us and we will bid for you.

QUALITY ASSURANCE GUARANTEE:

At ICE we attempt to see the future (anticipate) as much as humanly possible…even then we often miss. One sentiment I’m trying to anticipate is what buyers will think of the animals once they come see them in person. I assume most of who are reading this are in a similar situation that we are: cold, ample snow and some of the worst grazing conditions possible…our name has never been so appropriate for our cattle company!

I have confidence in our cattle, and I want customers to be confident buying our cattle. I want someone bidding online to be confident that what they are bidding on is what they want. I want someone who comes to the sale in person to be assured that what they buy on sale day will look good come breeding season. To alleviate concern as much as I can reasonably foresee, we are offering a quality assurance guarantee. If you buy an animal via DVAuction and it isn’t what you thought it was going to be when you come and pick it up, you can leave the animal and we will refund your money. If you buy a bull and he doesn’t look like you want him to when it’s time for bull turnout, we will allow you to bring him back and refund your money. If the distance is too far, we would consider letting you sell the animal as a weigh up then either refund the difference or offer you the difference as a credit. Can you take advantage of us with this type of guarantee? Absolutely, but we trust you won’t. As already mentioned, trust is a nearly sacred concept in the cattle business. People often don’t trust because they have dealt with someone untrustworthy…we all have. You are putting trust in me when I say that our cattle have the genetics needed for grazing efficiency, among many other things. One way your “faith becomes sight” is by trying our cattle and seeing for yourselves. I don’t blame you for being hesitant…I would be too…but I’m looking to remove as many barriers of doubt as I can.

HEIFER and BULL INFORMATION:

We preg. checked the heifers in November using ultrasound and have a pretty good idea if they are bred A.I. or natural service. Listed in the catalog are the sires we believe should be the sire of the calf they are currently carrying. The heifers are bred to calve in May/June. The heifers were all bangs vaccinated as yearlings and they were given Bovi-Shield Gold One Shot and a 7-way vaccine at the time (bulls get the same two shots). We don’t give any other vaccinations. We will aim to transfer the heifers and bulls as soon as convenient after the sale. We retain a 75% semen interest in all of the bulls and are willing to discuss other terms if this is a concern for you.

Grace to you all!