For the second year in a row, V8 Ranch heifers have claimed ten spots on the 2021 DV Auction Top 100 Lots List. Founded in 1999, DVAuction is the oldest and most respected livestock internet marketing service. Like many other livestock producers, V8 Ranch uses DV Auction’s services to host its online Brahman cattle sales.
About V8 Ranch Online Auctions
V8 Ranch shapes up its heifers twice a year – in late spring and early fall. Top-tier sale heifers are featured in two annual online auctions: the first in July; the second in October. Remaining heifers are sorted into price groups and sold at the ranch via private treaty following the online auction. In 2021, V8 Ranch marketed their sales as Made for Magic III (July) and Made for Magic IV (October). Note: V8 Ranch only sells heifers online; all V8 bulls are sold privately.
Prior to the Made for Magic IV sale, V8 Ranch owner Jim Williams said: “Letting some of our best heifers go in our Made for Magic sales never feels easy. But it does feel right. In this, our fourth Made for Magic sale, we’re offering the best we’ve got because…we care deeply about doing what’s best for the Brahman breed. There’s the first daughter from our reigning USA National Champion, +Mr. V8 322/8; daughters of the dams of our great herd bulls Guardian and Mr. V8 660/7; and a heifer whose dam is a full sister to Mr. V8 146/8 “Sloan.”
V8 Ranch has a track record for successful sales – the ranch’s first sale in 1981, “The Golden Gate Sale”, broke six world records. Since then, cattle prices across the industry have steadily risen and V8’s award-winning Brahman bloodlines have followed suit. Made for Magic III, held in July 2021, had been the ranch’s most successful online sale to date, but Made for Magic IV surpassed it; in fact, all six heifers featured in the October 2021 sale made the DV Auction Top 100 Lots list along with four heifers from Made for Magic III. Ten might be a “magic” number for V8 Ranch, since then V8 Ranch heifers have made the DV Auction Top 100 Lots lists in both 2020 and 2021.
Why Do Quality V8 Ranch Heifers and Bulls Command Such High Prices?
One might wonder why bulls and heifers are commanding record-breaking prices these days: the #1 lot on the 2021 list, Poss Deadwood, fetched $900,000.00; the #100 lot on the list, a Baldridge Highlander calf, sold for $50,000. (You can see final prices on our ten heifers from the V8 Made for Magic IV sale here.). To answer this question, we turn to a most unlikely authority, the painter Pablo Picasso.
Although he lived most of his life in France, Pablo Picasso was a Spaniard. And, he knew a few things about bulls. In fact, he often made them the subject of his art, including one series of lithographs that are considered a masterclass in how to distill a realistic drawing of a bull into a powerful, artistic abstract. In that famous series, he progressed toward a simplistic line drawing that perfectly captures the spirit of these magnificent creatures. It looked something like this:
Understanding the Difference Between Price and Value
On one of those days, well into his career, a woman approached Picasso in a café, and asked him to scribble something on a napkin. She told him she would be happy to pay whatever he felt it was worth. Picasso draw a quick sketch and then showed it to the woman, saying, “That will be $10,000.”
“But you did that in thirty seconds!” the astonished woman replied.
“No,” Picasso said. “It has taken me a lifetime.”
Whether apocryphal or true, the story is a great reminder that there are no shortcuts to mastering a craft. Picasso couldn’t have been that good if he hadn’t spent years drawing, painting, experimenting, and then drawing some more. Talent alone is never enough; mastery is not doing 1000 things at once, but doing one thing better and better, 1000 times over, in pursuit of perfection.
When it comes to Brahman cattle, V8 Ranch has spent generations placing singular focus on mastering one important mission – producing the world’s most exceptional Brahman herds. Our award-winning bloodlines aren’t a byproduct of luck; they are the result of skilled experience and decades of uncompromising standards. It took years of hard work, patience, and consistency to create cattle with the most sought-after traits.
Jim Williams as Picasso
One day, a buyer visiting the ranch wanted to negotiate a lower price on a V8 heifer. “These cattle are for sale, not on sale”, replied Jim Williams. In other words, the price reflected her fertility, her breed character, her structural correctness, and all the other signature V8 characteristics that create long-term value.
Yes, our cattle costs more than some of our competitors’. The best products might feel more expensive at the time of purchase. But, if you break that cost down over time, the ROI is often much better. You’re paying for unparalleled expertise and quality – a process perfected over generations so that nothing gets overlooked. The way we see it, we’d rather ‘apologize’ for the price you pay today than for a lack of quality and your unhappiness forever.
The Final Word on the Value of V8 Ranch Heifers
Our goal as seedstock breeders is to see others excel using our genetics. We do that via premium cattle, premium practices, and premium service – a winning combination that cannot be achieved at a discounted price. To quote Warren Buffett, another master of his craft, who has spent a lifetime understanding investments: “Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.”
Join our list to request a catalog for future V8 Ranch online auctions or register to bid via DV Auctions. The next sale, V8’s Made for Magic V, will be held in July 2022.
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