Steve Mowry on Conducting Live Sales

Here's more from my conversation with South Central South Dakota Angus breeder Steve Mowry.   You said you've been running it this way. It's been successful running them through the ring. Do you see any disadvantages to that?   "You know, I've had bulls that are team as kittens at home and I've had them get excited in the ring and and you know, it hurts the sale. But I mean, they are what they are and I've had bulls that I was a little concerned about and they were, you know, you never really know with livestock. So for the most part, people really, really like to see exactly what they're buying. I like the video sales. Those are okay too. But it's really nice to see the bull come in the ring and see what you're doing. I buy bulls myself. And that's the way I like to buy them."   This many years in your reputation you have, you offer guarantee, I'm sure.   "Absolutely. Yeah. And you know, I was offering a 50% guarantee just to kind of help the customer share the risk that we've changed. I've never given 50% credit to anybody in my life. We've always given 100%. So this year we went ahead and offered the 100%. So we try to take care of our customers. You have to in this business."   After that many years, you got to have a lot of returning customers, right?   "We do. We have a great base, it's taken a long time. And you know, just like I said, perseverance and patience. There's been some years that weren't so good. And like I always say, it could have been a little better. It could have been a whole lot worse. We offer free delivery and I don't usually have to haul the bulls very far. I like to brag about that because my neighbors use our bulls. That's a good thing."   South Central, South Dakota Angus Breeder, Steve Mowry.