hard to sell steers.

in the last days of spur cattle co, they had purchased any kind of bovine to feed. they had made deals with cattle dealers based on friendship and not good business decisions.  we had turned out 17000 head of steers on the desert in the fall and left them there 30 days longer than was needed simply because the feed on the desert was still there.  problem was those steers got fat and big on a bad market and no one wanted them.  they hadnt been on feed long enough to change the color of their tallow and yet they weighed 1200 pounds. about 200 pounds more than the west coast market wanted.
    these cattle were eating 25 pounds a feed a day and gaining maybe 1. not a good conversion rate!! the cost of that feed every day continued to mount, those big ole steers kept eating and not gaining and when the super drove the fat buyers by that ally they looked the other way and whistled.
        spur was already in financial trouble, we all saw it comming.  one morning i went to work and there in the receiving pens were  12 of the biggest steers alive!! they stood higher than the fences and were wild as  as anything i ever saw. the only reason those steers didnt jump out was they were scared to death . they huddled in the middle of the pen and shook and rattled their big wide hornes when ever anyone came around.  they were herford and herford cross cattle and i would guess 12 to 15 years old. their paper work showed they had originated  on the papago reservation. they had been bought by a good ole boy buyer who was a friend of the owner. now this type of cattle didnt belong in a feedlot, they should have been sent straight to a packer for hamburger.   but by selling them to the feedlot this good old boy buyer had doubled his money.   there was no way to process these cattle, give them a brand and the required shots, they wouldnt fit in the squeeze chute. and if we tried to rope them it was a sure bet that the fences would even slow them down. the super drove up as i was looking these monsters over. shaking his head he ask me what i was gonna do? i told him he was the boss so he tell me.!  well after a hour of scratching our heads we decided to put them in a pen and hope they would stay, and he would immediatly try to find some way to get rid of them.
    two months later the biggest steer had died, refused to eat or drink, the rest were fat and instead of weighing 1200 as when they came in they now weighed 15 to 18 hundred.  they stayed in the pen well and had gotten managable but with a bad market and the buyers whistling out the window we were stuck.
      one day a benevolent  buyer agreed to take a load of the 17000 to see how they killed. the company was to be paid on the hot weight. that is when the packer had gutted and skinned the steer the carcass was graded and you were paid on the weight of the carcass as it was graded on that day. riskey deal, but we were desperate!!
    as part of the deal we were to include on the load 2 of the steers out of the monster pen.  we breathed a sigh of relief as the loaded truck rolled out the front gate headed to los angeles.
   at noon the next day the phone was ringing off the hook. our buyer was in full panic mode. it seems the smaller cattle were killed and were acceptable, and yes send another load, BUT NO MORE GREAT BIG STEERS!! it seemed the big boys didnt fit in the kill chute, when killed out in the yard had to be carted in on a fork lift, and when attached to the electric hoist pulled the bolts out of the wall!!!
        help came along in the form of r.c. jones. he had been a packer in the past and had just reopened a small plant in tucson. he fell in love with those big steers and took 3 a day until they were gone, then he had me scouring the yard for the biggest and ugliest steers i could find. foundered steers one eyed steers anything big and cheap. we found out later he was sending that meat to the orient on a contract for a premium price!!  we cleaned up the yard and closed the gates 6 monthes later.