Market Cattle the Modern Way with AtTheYards

Ranching shows just how delicate the balance between tradition and innovation is to keep businesses profitable without forgetting where they came from. But, what if tradition holds us back in an area that highly impacts profitability – cattle marketing. 

“In 1890 the Omaha Stockyards opened. In 1910 the Model T was invented, and nobody’s driving a Model T anymore—but 65% of feeder cattle still trade through sale barns,” says Jacob Sebade, co-founder of AtTheYards. “Sale barns offer a lot of benefits, don’t get me wrong, but finding a way that puts more power in producers’ hands is really important.” 

Sebade grew up involved in the family feedlot in Eastern, NE. After earning a degree in business and working for an accounting firm post-graduation, he ultimately found his way back to the family operation with a desire to solve cattle marketing challenges for both ranchers and feedlots.  

For ranchers, Sebade recognizes how lack of speed to market and commission are difficult challenges to overcome with current marketing avenues available.  

He says, “Speed to market—being able to market cattle when you want and how you want—probably has the biggest impact on a producer’s bottom line.” 

Speed to market is even more important to ranchers when market volatility is brought into consideration.  

Sebade explains, “With the volatility we’ve seen in the market, prices can move significantly in a week or two.” 

Commission also stings when the bigger picture is evaluated.  

“Two to three percent commission can easily be north of $50 a head, and that’s very material money over time,” shares Sebade.  

On the flip side, feedlots also experience challenges acquiring cattle.  

He says, “Finding cattle that you're interested in is a constant search and find, search and find, search and find.” 

Video auctions have made it easier to view and see cattle from across the country but still have challenges of their own.  

“Everybody involved in the industry has a million things to do, so sitting there watching video auctions or constantly searching for cattle makes it difficult when you’ve got chores and a lot of other things going on,” says Sebade.  

The crossroads of these challenges and two sectors of the beef industry is where AtTheYards comes to play.  

AtTheYards is an online cattle marketing platform which provides speed to market, increased reach and more control for ranchers as well as a more efficient sourcing platform for buyers.  

“AtTheYards uses custom templates where buyers set parameters for the cattle they want,” says Sebade.  “When cattle are listed that match those parameters, buyers get a notification immediately.” 

He offers the following as an example: 

“If forty buyers are looking for 600- to 800-pound steers in North Dakota, and a rancher posts this type of cattle, all forty buyers get notified.” 

The process itself is straightforward, once the account is set up, a rancher can consign their cattle through the app or web-based platform. Then, the cattle go live on the marketplace at 8:30 AM CST the following business day with notifications sent out to buyers at 8:00 AM CST.  

Transactions take place in two ways. The first is the buyer utilizing the “Buy Cattle” feature, which means the buyer is agreeing to the terms of the transaction set forth by the seller in their consignment. The second is a buyer placing a bid on the cattle which generates a text message notification to the seller. The seller can then choose to accept the bid.   

Additionally, AtTheYards is a marketplace that offers delivery options beyond just forward contracting. While it does allow for Ranchers to set future delivery windows, Ranchers can also choose a delivery window of “ASAP” which means the cattle ship As Soon As Possible after a transaction is agreed to, but no later than 10 days after a transaction happens.  

The commission structure of AtTheYards is $5/hd to consign cattle and $10/hd to clear the money, or $15/hd all in. When asked about a rancher’s risk in trying AtTheYards, Sebade mentions the consignment fee as being the biggest risk. He says, “Paying the consignment fee and the cattle not trading is the main risk. To offset this risk, AtTheYards is waiving the consignment fee on every rancher’s first consignment.” 

As you think about your current cattle marketing strategies, don’t be afraid to explore something new and ask questions.  

Listen to the full conversation on the Casual Cattle Conversations podcast.