How To Bid & Buy Cattle Online, Cattle Ponzi Scheme Update, & More

We bring you the latest news on that $191 million dollar Cattle Ponzi Scheme.  Bec has this one covered with the rest of the news including this week’s Top Hand.  Buying your bulls is a whole lot easier using the technology available to us.  We share how to get registered and how to use DV auction.  Join Jeff 'Tigger' Erhardt, the Boss Lady Rebecca Wanner aka 'BEC', and our crew as we bring you the latest in markets, news, and Western entertainment on this all-new episode of the Ranch It Up Radio Show.  Be sure to subscribe on your favorite podcasting app or on the Ranch It Up Radio Show YouTube Channel.
EPISODE 164 DETAILS
Technology has made purchasing your future herdsires and all livestock for that matter much much easier.  We can head to a producer’s website, view videos and pictures, study the sale catalog and many times bid and buy online, IN REAL TIME!  The last part can be kind of intimidating for some producers.  Some are a bit nervous of a registration process to be approved to use any one of the online bidding platforms.  We are here to tell you that it does not have to be that way at all.  In fact, today registering to bid and buy online takes just a minute or two and your information is safe and secure.  One of the great features is being able to participate in the auction in real time!
DV Auction has become a common household name for bidding and buying breeding cattle online.  We had the opportunity to visit with Justin Dikoff of DV Auction about the process behind using it as a tool, just as we would a sale catalog, bull video, pedigree, and performance data!  To begin the registration process, click HERE!
We have lots of news to cover in this episode from the $191 million Cattle Ponzi Scheme to some of the hottest stories that made the news for 2023!  Our Ranch It Up Top Hand for the week is the North Dakota State University’s 98th Little International Agriculturist of the Year Larry Schnell!  Very well deserved!  As always we have market recaps, some highlights of upcoming horse sales from Equine Market and lots more!  We have it all for you in this jam-packed episode of The Ranch It Up Radio Show!  As always Tigger & BEC and the Ranch It Up crew dive into the latest agriculture news, rodeo action not to miss, and cover the cattle markets.
 
ABOUT DV AUCTION
Founded in 1999, DVAuction is the oldest and most respected livestock internet marketing service. Specializing in the real-time internet broadcasting of sales and special events, DVAuction provides a unique online viewing experience that is free to the public. Interested in watching events live as they happen? Just complete the free and easy registration process and you can watch and listen today! If you are interested in bidding at an event, simply complete the quick and easy bidder approval process. DVAuction staff will contact you once you have been approved, and you can begin bidding at any of the auctions just as if you were ringside!
DV Auction offers their customers products and services unmatched by competitors. Track records prove real-time live auction broadcasts are a successful and viable marketing tool for anyone marketing products via a live auction. DVAuction.com is utilized by many unique visitors every month. Our database of registered viewers and approved online buyers continues to grow daily. During the last few years, DVAuction has received countless internet bids, resulting in the sale of many lots to online internet bidders.
In addition to purebred specialty sales, they also broadcast weekly sales from auction markets, providing up-to-date access to current livestock market reports. Specialty sales include beef cattle, horse, boer goat, lamb, land and many other types of auctions. All auctions are broadcast with live video, live audio, and secure bidding and messaging features.
COW COUNTRY NEWS
 
The SEC Seeks To Halt A $191 Million Cattle Ponzi Scheme
According DTN Progressive Farmer and Meating Place, The Securities and Exchange Commission has frozen the assets of a Texas-based cattle marketing company, alleging the company fraudulently sold securities in "cattle contracts" as a $191 million Ponzi scheme that would "soon implode."
 
The company, Agridime LLC out of Fort Worth, Texas, is now under a court-ordered receivership under the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas with Agridime's assets frozen after the SEC obtained a temporary restraining order against Agridime and its owners.
 
Agridime has raised $191 million since 2021 from more than 2,100 investors in at least 15 states, the SEC stated. The SEC stated Agridime, however, had less than $1.5 million in cash as of Sept. 30, and insufficient operating revenues. The SEC stated, "It appears that Agridime's Ponzi scheme will soon implode unless it continues to raise money from new investor-victims."
 
Agridime sells investment contracts related to the buying and selling of cattle, dubbed as "cattle contracts." The SEC complaint stated Agridime promised investors guaranteed annual returns ranging from 15% to 20% -- going as high as 32% -- and marketed cattle contracts on Agridime's website as a way for investors to passively profit from owning cattle "without having to do all of the work."
 
Agridime is owned by Jed Wood, 62, of Fort Worth, Texas, and Josh Link, 30, of Gilbert, Arizona. Both are named as defendants in the case. Wood and Link founded Agridime in 2017. 
 
The SEC alleges they told investors that Agridime would use their funds to acquire, feed, and raise cattle on its network of ranches, and investors would help provide “fellow Americans with the highest quality farm fresh beef available.” However, as the complaint alleges, the defendants did not purchase nearly enough cattle or generate sufficient revenues from cattle operations to deliver the promised returns.
 
Instead, the complaint alleges that, since December 2022, the defendants have used at least $58 million of new investor funds to make Ponzi payments to prior investors and more than $11 million to pay undisclosed sales commissions to Wood, Link, Link’s wife, and other Agridime sales representatives. 
 
A U.S. District Judge extended the SEC's temporary restraining order until Jan. 9, 2024, and delayed a hearing on the SEC's request for a preliminary injunction until a hearing now set for Jan. 5, 2024.
 
Some Top Highlighted Stories of 2023 from The Cattle Business Weekly 
Cattle Prices Climb
Throughout the year cattle prices continued to climb on all classes of cattle. That was a welcome relief for many cattle operations as higher interest rates and input costs were making bottom lines thin. 
During the fall calf run October-November fresh weaned calves brought $1600-$1800 per head. That is almost double what was realized in 2022. Prices tapered off with uncertainty in the board as the final month of the year arrived, but overall prices were still above the year prior.
Big Boost To Agricultural Research Funding
USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture has established a new Research Facilities Act Program competitive grant program, which was approved to provide one-year funds for the first time in 2023. The program is designed to assist in the construction, alteration, acquisition, modernization, renovation, or remodeling of an agricultural research facility to enhance the institution’s long-term impact on food and agricultural research. Awardees include: Mississippi State University, Texas A&M AgriLife Research, University of Idaho, University of Illinois, University of Kentucky, University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. 
Additional public and private funding sources are also emerging with a focus on agricultural research. As examples: the University of California at Davis received a $50 million private donation to build an agricultural research hub. Similarly, Ohio State University is developing an AgTech Innovation Hub and the University of Idaho will receive $55 million from USDA for ag research. Both efforts will research how to combat the impact of climate change. As well, Mississippi State University recently opened the Agricultural Autonomy Institute, the nation’s first and only interdisciplinary research center focused on autonomous technologies to enhance on-farm precision and efficiency. 
Cattle Contracts Library Pilot Program Will Continue
Made available in January 2023, the USDA launched the Cattle Contracts Library Pilot Program in an effort to support the cattle market and show transparency in contract terms offered by packers to producers for the purchase of cattle. 
In October, the USDA continued the Cattle Contracts Library Pilot Program in order to continue reporting vital market information for farmers and ranchers while gathering additional information on the effectiveness of the pilot.
Support For More Regional Meat Processing Grows
Piggybacking off of USDA funding in 2022, came additional funding for meat processors this year.  $125 million through two new grant programs was created to offer more options for meat and poultry farmers by investing in independent, local meat and poultry processing projects that increase competition and enhance the resiliency of the food supply chain.
An additional $43 million was given for meat and poultry processing research, innovation and expansion in USDA’s support of its ongoing efforts to transform the food system at every stage along the supply chain. 
TOP HAND

Larry Schnell


Read more HERE


FEATURING
Justin Dikoff
DV Auction
https://www.dvauction.com/
@DVAuction
 
Shaye Koester
Casual Cattle Conversation
https://www.casualcattleconversations.com/
@cattleconvos
 
Larry Schnell
Top Hand, NDSU 98th Little International Agriculturist of the Year
@NDSUAnimalSciences
@NDSUSaddleandSirloin
https://www.ndsu.edu/agriculture/academics/academic-units/animal-sciences
https://www.ndsusaddleandsirloin.com/
 
Kirk Donsbach: Stone X Financial
https://www.stonex.com/  
@StoneXGroupInc   
 
Mark Van Zee 
Livestock Market, Equine Market, Auction Time
https://www.auctiontime.com/
https://www.livestockmarket.com/
https://www.equinemarket.com/
@LivestockMkt
@EquineMkt
@AuctionTime
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References
https://www.stonex.com/
https://www.livestockmarket.com/
https://www.equinemarket.com/
https://www.auctiontime.com/
https://gelbvieh.org/
https://www.imogeneingredients.com/
https://alliedgeneticresources.com/
https://westwayfeed.com/
https://medoraboot.com/
https://www.bek.news/dakotacowboy
http://www.gostockmens.com/
https://www.dvauction.com/
https://www.meatingplace.com/Industry/News/Details/112696
https://www.dtnpf.com/agriculture/web/ag/livestock/article/2023/12/18/sec-alleges-texas-cattle-investment
https://www.agridime.com/
https://www.cattlebusinessweekly.com/articles/10-good-news-headlines-for-cattle-industry-from-2023/
https://www.rrfn.com/2023/12/17/little-i-to-honor-schnell/
https://www.ndsu.edu/agriculture/academics/academic-units/animal-sciences
https://www.ndsusaddleandsirloin.com/