From the lessons earned, Chandler sells bred heifers based on a veterinarian’s pregnancy check. He gives buyers 10 days to pregnancy- check the females for themselves and offers to exchange a bred heifer if any are open.
Trouble arose in the summer. The customer said 4
of the heifers had failed to calve. “I said, ‘I’m not sure what to do. Things happen, cows abort. The customer said his employees had watched the cows daily and they had not aborted.” Chandler suggested pregnancy tests, conducted by a veterinarian, and the vet said the cows were open. Both sides got some advice and Chandler — who
wanted to ensure repeat customers — worked out a deal with the buyer based on the difference in price between open and bred heifers on the date of the sale. “There was about $600 to $700 difference,” he says. “I said, ‘I think you should accept some of the responsibility and I will, too.’ We took the difference in the price from open to bred heifers on that day and split it in half.” Chandler wrote the customer a check that settled the
dispute. At the same time, he says, “I did talk to some other people and said from January to April, there’s a lot that can happen. Everybody I talked to said it’s not your responsibility if those heifers aborted. It’s not, but as Chandler Cattle Company, we just felt that was the right thing to do.”
Lessons were learned Chandler’s last batch of heifers, impregnated this past
fall, were examined via palpation — and ultrasound, if necessary for confi rmation — by a veterinarian. “Now we say, ‘These were pregnancy-tested by a veterinarian
80 The Cattleman April 2016
on this date, and we are selling these based on what the vet said. If you want to recheck them, that is fi ne, and if some of them come open within 10 days of the time we sell them, then we will replace that heifer. But after 10 days, all bets are off.’”
An alternative approach Dr. Robert Wells, livestock consultant with The
Samuel R. Noble Foundation in Ardmore, Okla., has an alternative safeguard. “It’s very simple to take a blood sample,” Wells says. “Run those females through a chute the day that they are being loaded onto the truck. Pull a blood sample and send it off to verify that that female is pregnant.” If the results come back after the transaction and confi rm an open heifer, their agreement should stipulate that the seller would replace her with a bred animal. Nevertheless, he says that Chandler’s misgivings were
justifi ed. “Once those animals leave that seller’s opera- tion as bred females, it’s no longer his responsibility to guarantee that that female is going to stay bred, because he has no control over the other person’s management.” Wells says a bred heifer merchandiser should operate
with a written contract and not a handshake. It should specify whose responsibility it is if a female fails to calve, based upon the circumstances. “If it is something that can truly be traced back to
the seller, then the seller should either replace the fe- male with another female that is either guaranteed bred or with a calf at side, or make some sort of fi nancial compensation that has already been pre-arranged as to what it should be,” Wells says. The seller can also ward off potential trouble by
having the heifers properly vaccinated for common diseases that can cause late term abortions. Wells says that most cattle will be sold within 100 to 200 miles of where they were developed, and each region has a list of diseases endemic in that area. The merchan- diser should fi nd those out from a veterinarian, and vaccinate for them. There are also some diseases, less common, that
can terminate pregnancies. It is up to the seller to de- termine whether the risk of those infections justifi es additional vaccinations.
Want to sell bred heifers? You’ll need equipment. If you are thinking about marketing bred heifers
yourself, Wells has some advice. First and foremost, you need a good set of working pens. “Most reputable
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