Ryan Perry has his hat in many different ventures. Ryan is the general manager at Western Livestock Auction, a video representative for Northern Video Auction, owner of the Treasure Bull Test, and also has a ranch north of Great Falls, MT, with his wife, Karnell, and their children, Brant, Pryce and Quayd.
After graduating from college, Ryan worked at North Montana Feeders in Choteau, MT, before moving to Western Livestock Auction.
Ryan told WLJ both video and sale barns have their place. Having the unique perspective of being both a livestock video representative and an auction market manager, he sees the value in both methods of marketing cattle. There is obvious value in forward contracting cattle on the video market, but if you do not have enough cattle for a full load or want to have the flexibility of selling your cattle when the timing best fits you, auction markets provide that venue, he said.
No matter how you decide to market cattle, Ryan emphasizes the benefits of having an auction to capture the value of a competitive market.
“One of the reasons I bought the (Treasure Bull) Test is you put the bull in front of a crowd and provide the right type of stock and cattle, and through an auction format, you’re going to get rewarded for all your hard work, and it’s very gratifying selling bulls and females with multiple active buyers bidding on your stock,” Ryan said.
After former bull test owner Russ Pepper’s passing in 2017, his wife, Barbara, wanted to downsize and approached the Perrys to purchase the Treasure Bull Test.
“It’s been my goal since the beginning to have bulls born and raised in Montana and provide the service of an open-type consignment sale,” Ryan said.
Ryan said he learned by talking with his customer base through Western Livestock Auction, his customers like to buy genetics from Montana, whether it is black Angus, Red Angus, Charolais, Hereford or Simmental, as there are some great seedstock producers in the central part of the state.
“I give credit to the breeders,” Ryan said. “They see what the market dictates and what the buyers require, and it doesn’t take that long for the breeders to get on the same page. There was a lot of uniformity this year.”
He continued, “I know there was some belly aching, but we culled pretty hard with one-third of the bulls not making the cut. We started with close to 160 bulls and got it down to 106. So, there were some hard feelings, but it was dictated by the market that we have.”
Ryan said producers in the central portion of Montana like bulls with lighter birthweights to go along with heavy weaning weights, with some length, muscle and power, and it takes a different class of bull to get that done. Ryan said bulls have changed since 2017, and this year’s test had 20-plus producers who had that style in every pen. In addition, Ryan said they are also looking at the structure of the bull, including good feet and disposition, which is sometimes difficult to evaluate for in a consignment sale.
Ryan said his buyers are “good salt-of-the-earth cow-calf people that have a lot of pride” in their cattle and want to raise a big steer. He said buyers were optimistic this year with a bit of moisture and wanted the type of genetic base that the Treasure Bull Test was offering.
Ryan acknowledged that the sale is later than most, providing some challenges, but said he thinks producers appreciate buying bulls in April versus earlier in the year.
“These bulls are 100% guaranteed, they are all fertility tested, the work is all done,” Ryan said. “You can take him home, slap your iron on him and turn him out the next day. All the work is done, and they are ready to roll.”
Younger generation
Ryan said it is critical to diversify, and for ranches to be successful, it often involves someone having an in-town job with a steady paycheck.
Ryan said the cow-calf operator is a margin business, and today, more so than in prior generations, there are so many outside expenditures that they have not had to deal with previously.
Ryan continued that for the younger generation to get started, the playing field needs to be level. Whether it is someone who runs a few head on the family ranch, or the person who has been in the industry for a decade, it does not seem that all players in the industry are afforded the same opportunity.
“The government, the financial institutions need to provide resources and make it fair for our generation of people that have been doing this for a while to build and grow because it is extremely competitive,” Ryan said.
Ryan said competition comes from out-of-state buyers purchasing ranches that run a couple hundred head of cattle and taking that land out of production, paying more for the land than its production can justify.
“It’s tough, we’re not getting rich doing this,” Ryan said. “What incentives have we provided our kids to work their asses off like we are and to want to come back and keep doing this? I love it. Everybody that’s in the business loves it, but you can only love it so long before you need to make money.” — Charles Wallace, WLJ editor
