Send to Town sells an animal to the feeder-calf buyers and packers in town. It leaves the game for good and you are paid by the pound the moment you confirm. There is no auction, no waiting and no buyer to find — but the price depends on what the animal is, how the market is running, and how many head you have already sent this month.
What it is worth
Every animal is priced per pound in one of six classes, from highest to lowest:
- CAB-qualifying steers — a finished steer with a black hide and the marbling to grade Certified Angus Beef.
- Other fed cattle — finished steers and heifers that don't make CAB.
- Weaning-age calves — weaned, not yet finished. Feeder buyers take these to put on feed.
- Calves — under weaning age, or still on the cow.
- Old packer bulls — intact bulls past feeder age.
- Old packer cows — cows and aged females.
Finished means the animal has reached market weight and has been fed out — put it on a Finishing ration from its pasture or the show string and let it get some flesh on. A steer straight off grass sells as a feeder no matter how big it is.
The market
Town has a monthly budget that refills a little every day. Each sale spends some of it, so a run of cattle to town pushes the price down for everyone, and a quiet market pays better. The Town board shows what each class brings right now and how full the pool is.
Your volume
Your first head in a month brings 105% of the going rate. Each one after that brings 1% less, all the way down to 5% once you've sent about a hundred. The month is rolling — a head you sold 30 days ago stops counting against you. Town is for marketing cattle, not for grinding.
Before you confirm
The animal must not be at auction, committed to a terminal show, or checked in to a show that hasn't paid out. A cow sent to town pregnant loses the pregnancy. The record, pedigree, papers, show results, and any semen or embryos already collected all stay on file.