Load calf lots are bringing cattle producers higher prices, and those in southwest Virginia are receiving the benefit. The secret, which is not much of a secret anymore, is the Abingdon Fedder Cattle Association.
Basically, people who do not have a load can get lot prices through the association. The process starts on the farm, where producers wean and precondition their calves according to guidelines set by the Virginia Quality Assurance.
Two to three weeks before the sale, a grader from the Virginia Department of Agriculture and a country agent come out to the farm and estimate both the weights and grades of the calves.
After the sale, each calf is weighed, graded, and sorted into truck load lots and then shipped off.
Each calf on a truck gets the same price per hundredweight.
