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September 2025 09/02/25 10:18:00 AM
9-29-2025
Temperatures have warmed up again after our rain. We have been in the mid 80’s all last week, lows drop down into the upper 50’s or low 60’s at night. We are drying out quickly again! The forecast looks much the same over the next week with not much lower temperatures until at least Tuesday next week.
Saturday was warm, but not uncomfortable for handling stock. The hog sale got started first and was loaded up with nearly 400 head. The market was steady on fat hogs with $0.80 to top and most bringing $0.75 to $0.77. There were very few sows in the run, just a few sold at $0.70 to $0.80. The pig market was steady at $1.00 per pound for hogs up to 80lbs. The over 80lb pigs would sell from $0.80 to $0.95 per pound. There weren’t very many boars to test the market but a couple light ones sold at $0.50 and a slow big boar sold at $0.09 per pound.
The sheep and goat sale had a big run this sale with over 600 head. The goat market was $3.00 to $3.70 for up to 60lb, while 70lb to 90lb kids topped at $3.00 to $3.40. Nannies ranged from $1.10 to $1.70 and billies sold at $1.75 to $2.07.
Lambs ranged up to $3.10 to $3.50 for 40lb lambs and 60lb to 70lb lambs sold at $2.40 to $2.75. The 90lb to 100lb lambs sold at $2.00 to $2.25. Fat lambs sold at $2.12 to $2.17. Ewes sold at $0.95 to $1.27. Bucks sold at $2.10 per pound. This market has sure held solid on sheep and goats right through the summer.
The outside sale had a very large run of merchandise. Big bales sold from $7.50 to $40.0. Big square were mostly $25.00 to $40.00. There wasn’t any straw this week. The small squares sold from $1.00 to $4.00. I sold the big bales and colonel Randy Burkholder was here again this week to assist with the auction duties. I kindly looked over at the inventory and thought that he could get through it in good shape! Well there were several small items that I overlooked as it was pretty hot and nearly 1:30 before they finished out front! Randy is doing a very good job out there, just walking in and taking a run at it. I should have helped him with some more of it before I went to sell cattle! Thank you for all your work!
The cattle sale was heavy on cows this week. Baby calves sold from $750.00 to $1050.00 for beef calves. The top pairs were 4yr and 5yr old blk cows with baldie calves about a month old and brought $5200. Other middle-aged to older pairs were $4200.00 to $4900.00. Spring bred cows due in March and broken mouth cows brought $2900.00 to $3150.00. There was very good demand noted for anything that was expected to have a calf. The feeder cattle sale had mostly lighter weights and was sure steady across all weights. There was a very good run of pound cows at 215 head. The cows sold to 8 different buyers on Saturday. The cow market is lower but very good interest in this week’s run. The top butcher cows were at $1.80 to $1.88. The top bulls sold at $2.27. The bulk of the cows would have been $1.60 to $1.70 in this week’s sale. Compared to last year’s sale this week’s cows are $0.60 higher than 1 year ago. That’s interesting numbers as the head counts per week are running much the same as last year!
The dry conditions have made it so harvest has been very steady. Several are switching over to cut beans. The beans are dry at 10%, but stems are green and not cutting the best yet. Yields are varying widely! Most would indicate that it is not as good as last years, however, there are sure fields of dang good corn over 250 bushels.
We weaned several calves and they seem to be starting pretty well. I still see an individual or 2 with pinkeye. I sure wish we could make beef cattle resistant to pinkeye!
The horse crew went to Guthrie, OK to the Lazy E Arena for the Riata team roping event. Teams come from all across America and competed for 5 million dollars in payout. It was a great event for them to showcase their horses and win some cash! Everyone is back to work around here Monday and getting ready for the next event!
We have a darn nice run of feeder cattle coming this Saturday. We are expecting 800-1000 calves and yearlings. Come take a look!
Have a dandy week!
9-23-2025
Saturday we received a very welcome inch of rain! It came nice and slow, raining most of the afternoon. We had a couple more small showers on Monday and today that has let the moisture soak in and do as much good as it can. The temperatures have been in the 70’s after last week and rise up into the 80’s. The forecast calls for some more rain overnight, but temperatures are to remain on the warmer side for next week. The rye we drilled after chopping is really going to town already. That stuff will give us a flush of fall grazing that will be awesome to turn new calves out on!
This week’s sale had another big run of hogs. The market was slightly lower by $2.00 on fat hogs and steady on sows and pigs. The big sows topped at $0.85 to $0.86. Light sows were more like $0.70 to $0.80. Feeder pigs were mostly $0.90 to $1.10 per pound. There continues to be good interest from buyers to buy pigs to feed going into the fall with cheap corn and solid fat hog prices. Big boars were real big from 650lb to 890lb and brought $0.10 to $0.13.
The sheep and goat sale saw a lighter run this moving 356head. The 60lb to 80lb lambs sold at $2.25 to $2.45 per pound. Kids sold from $2.65 to $3.50 per pound. The pound ewes sold from $1.07 to $1.30 and nannies were $1.42 to $1.75 per pound.
The outside sale had a few less small squares with showers around. The market was $2.00 to $5.00. Big round bales sold from $5.00 to $7.50 on the very tiny type to $40.00 on the top. Several piles sold from $25.00 to $35.00 per bale. No straw bales this week. There was a good run of miscellaneous items of all kinds including a giant boat! Now don’t get excited our customer base most weeks doesn’t include large numbers of lake boat types! This ole girl brought $250.00, no title, as is where is. It was sold to a retired hog man at Morning Sun that is hoping to flip it by next week and more than double his money! Best wishes to him!
We recruited a new auctioneer to help outside this week! Randy Burkholder, just southeast of Mount Sterling, IA, volunteered and did a great job taking care of his duties. Thank you very much for the great work! See you next week. No, I didn’t fire Derek, he has a couple weddings that he needed to attend.
The cattle sale had 708 head in this week. The baby calf market was $750.00 to $1050.00. Calves weighing 100lb to 200lb sold by the head for $1165.00 up to $1300.00. There wasn’t much for head cows. Feeder bull calves weighing 358lb sold at $5.40, bwf steers weighing 338lb brought $6.00 per pound. Some 400lb bulls hit $5.20, 529lb bulls sold at $4.30, 548lb steers brought $4.40, 640lb steers at $3.775. Heifers weighing 303lb brought $5.60, 495lb heifers brought $4.35, 544lb heifers sold at $4.10, some 648lb sold at $3.65. Even 10 head of jersey bull calves weighing 190lb brought $625.00 per head.
The weigh cow market had a large run of cows and bulls again, selling 140 head. The top cows sold at $180.00 to $187.00 with the bulk of them bringing $1.60 to $1.75. Heiferettes, feeding cows and
cows returning home brought $1.90 to $2.30. Bulls sold at $1.75 to $2.00 with two at $2.12 top.
Jimmy took care of me Saturday, as my cold didn’t give me the voice I needed to sell. He was strong as a champ and took care of the business in terrific shape! I sure needed that help as I wasn’t much good!
The clipping crew was here today to clip Hereford sale cattle. We are doing catalog pictures on the 8th of October, so we were glad to get this out of the way now. Jordan Vandermulen, Weston Brandt and Nathan Crall made a great team and worked through the group in a timely and efficient manner. They were able to experience Becky’s fine cooking at lunch and were still packed up and done by 2:30 or 3:00. The bulls look great, the heifers came off grass, needing a little push, but they will be ready by sale time for sure!
We have some bred cows and pairs coming this week and a few feeder cattle coming again. October 4th will be a special feeder cattle sale with an awful good set of cattle coming.
Have a dandy week!
9-15-2025
We have remained warm and dry over the past week. Saturday was hot with temperatures topping back in the mid 90’s! New record high for the date was set at 96 degrees. Sunday was dang sure nearly as hot and maybe a little less breeze, humidity has remained lower at 40-50% and that was our relief for sure through the higher temperatures. The forecast looks like we may get past the heat by mid-week and get into more normal temperature range. There is even a solid chance of some rain showers the next few days, which would sure be nice to settle the dust.
Saturday was sure warm for September sale! The big hog numbers rolled into the market again totaling 670 head. The sows sold from $0.75 to $0.85. The bulk of the fat hogs sold from $0.75 to $0.82. Several groups of feeder pigs were in the run. The pigs under 80lb sold at just a dollar per pound. The pigs over 80lb were mostly $0.90. Boars sold at $0.12 to $0.15. Both roasters and pig feeders were buying pigs at this sale.
The sheep and goat run was nearly 600 head. The bulk of the 50lb to 70lb lambs sold from $2.25 to $2.70 per pound. Fat lambs hit $2.30, which has been the high for several weeks in a row. The pound ewes were from $0.80 to $0.85 on the thin ones and $1.10 to $1.27 on the better end. Big cull bucks brought $1.02 to $1.25.
The goat market was solid across all weights. The 50lb to 70lb kids were at $3.35 to $4.00 per pound. Even big wethers sold at $3.55 to $4.00 at 100lb! Nannies ranged from $1.10 to $1.70.
The outside sale had a pretty large run of everything! I mean everything! I sold the small squares of hay from $2.50 to $7.50 per bale. The rounds topped at $50.00 on some 3rd cutting fine quality hay. Most round bales were $30.00 to $40.00 this week. The big squares sold from $20.00 to $40.00. There wasn’t any straw this week. We had a very good consignment of square hedge posts, mostly 10foot long. There were over 100 of them. They sold from $110.00 to $150.00 per post. When we sell post, it’s always the winning bid times the number of posts in the pile. Well, I be dang if 2 different grown men bought a pile or 2 and thought that $110.00 was for the whole pile! I worked through the first guy using my best diplomatic conversation, but the 2nd man caught me at a bad time! (just after the first guy) I wasn’t very good to him, but I was announcing every pile what the count was and if they wanted all of them! I guess I’m going to have to pull out my book, “How to win friends and influence people” and brush up on my communication skills.
Derek and Rachelle worked through the rest of the outside sale. It was hot, but the crowd was large and sure wanted to engage in business! Flowers, steel posts, gravity wagons, a van and almost anything else you could imagine. It kept them busy until 12:30 this week.
The cattle sale had baby calves at $500.00 to $1050.00. We had good interest in a small run of feeder cattle. Active cow market, but it’s starting to ease up from the summer highs. The top cows were still up to $1.80, mostly $1.50 to $1.65. The bulls sold from $1.70 to $2.20.
The big event this week was just north of Keosauqua at the Fluing L arena! Friday was the team roping that had 236 teams in the first round! They started at 11am and the first round ended at 2:30pm and the finals were done by 4:30om. I was the head girl watcher Friday! Not what it sounds like! I had the granddaughters and a couple other little girls loaded up in my Buick! I had seven girls that were seven and under! Oh man did we have a blast fooling around on Friday. We ate lunch at the barn, had driving lessons in the hay field and we capped it off with the good fairy show at the house! They laughed, screamed and played together all day! It was way better than watching the team roping!
The St. Clair and Flying L horse sale took place on Saturday at the indoor arena just north of the barn. The preview of the horses lasted much of the morning in the outdoor arena up by the highway. The sale started at 1:00pm and it was a barn buster! The temperature was about 94 degrees outside, but the humidity was lower than back in August. The horses sold into 12 states across the USA. They averaged just over $11k on over 80 head. By Sunday afternoon they were all loaded out and headed to their new homes. The whole crew was wore out, but it felt really good for what they were able to accomplish in the new barn! They are already getting ready for next year!
Ted got the sorghum chopped at Troy yesterday. The rye we planted last week is already up. I couldn’t hardly believe it made it upas dry as we are!
We are looking for a nice run of feeder cattle his week the 20th. Then next week we will be back with a special cow sale on the 27th.
Have a dandy week!
9-9-2025
It sure has been a beautiful week here to start the month of September! We have been as low as 40 degrees overnight with more nighttime lows in the 50’s. The daytime highs have been mostly low 70’s. We did receive 2-3 tenths of rain last Wednesday that helped knock the dust down and freshen everything up again. The forecast looks like it will warm up going into the weekend but cooling off as we get into next week. It doesn't look like there is much chance of rain, but we would sure take a nice one if we could catch it!
Saturday we had an extra-large run of feeder pigs and hogs, with nearly 800 head! The pig market was steady all the way though at just a dollar per pound or $1.10 to $1.20 for the 35lb to 45lb pigs. A few groups were headed back home to feed and bigger numbers were going to the roaster mark in the east! The fat hogs were solid at $0.75 to $0.84. The sows topped at $0.94 on some outside mammoth girls weighing 762lb. We don’t get those kind very often anymore!
The sheep and goat sale had over 500 head again. The kid goats weighing 40lb to 55lb sold from $3.50 to $4.00 per pound for good meat types. A couple 93lb boer wethers brought $3.50 per pound. Nannies ranged from $1.10 to $1.40 per pound. Billies sold at $1.90 to $2.10.
Good lambs weighing 57lb brought $3.15, 85lb lambs sold at $2.25 and a couple weighing 155lb sold at $2.30. Good strong wool type ewes sold at $1.05 to $1.34, and bucks sold at $2.30.
The outside sale had small square of hay selling from $0.75 to $5.75 per bale and 26 bales of wheat straw brought $2.25. Big round bales topped at $40.00. Most round bales were $20.00 to $35.00. Big square topped at $40.00 and 6 big square bales of wheat straw sold at $15.00. Most hay is staying, what I think is, very local.
There was a big run of all kinds of miscellaneous items again this week. A gravity wagon with running gear, probably 300 bushels, sold from 500. A used bulk bin brought $800, used wooden feed bucks brought $110. There was dang sure a variety of items of all kinds out there again this week. Derek is needing off the 20th and 27th, so if you are looking for some ork or practice auctioneering give me a hollar!
The cattle sale had over 600hd. The feeder market is still very strong and solid. Baby calves brought $1000.00 on a few day old black bull calf. Six head of black/white face bull calves weighing 285lbs brought $1700.00 per head. Some 378lb black bulls with nothing done brought $5.05, 440lb blk bull calves handled the same brought $4.95 and 10 head weighing 630lb all black with nothing done brought $4.05. A package of 320lb black heifers brought $5.00, 10 head of unweaned or unvaccinated heifers weighing 528lb sold at $4.00. Yearling heifers averaging 797lb brought $3.51 and 15 head of black/white face heifers weighing 962lb brought $3.25.
Six head of black/white face steers weighing 302lbs brought $1825.00 per head. Some 553lb bwf/rwf steers brought $4.75, 683lb fresh weaned steers sold at $3.80. Some half-blood Corriente steers weighing 745lb sold at $3.20 and 25 head of 871lb black crossbred steers brought $3.51.
Weigh cows remained very steady as we start into weaning time. The top cows were $1.80 to $1.90 with feeding cows, heiferettes and turnouts from $2.00 to $2.75. Bulls mostly brought $2.00 to $2.30 top this week. The cattle sale had cattle shipped to Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Minnesota and of course Iowa.
Last week I went to Kansas City for an afternoon at the American Hereford Association. The young breeders conference was going on with 8 young men and women gathered for a week of learning and education of what’s all going on at AHA. It’s in it’s 3rd year now and was a part of the strategic plan while I was on the AHA board. Kevin Schultz and I spent a short time after lunch sharing some marketing ideas and our own philosophies with the group. My portion was focused primarily on the livestock marketing business. We shared ideas and thoughts about how those young breeders would be able to add value to their customers’ cattle. It was a fun day going back to the office to see several of the staff and meeting those young and progressive breeders!
The chopping crew has came and gone this week. We got a nice pile of silage put up. Colby is getting the rye drilled back in so if it rains we will have some nice fall grazing!
Luke and Cody are finishing up preparations for their horse sale this Saturday, September 13th at 1pm in the new indoor area just north of town. There is a big team roping event on Friday open to everyone and will showcase several sale horses. The roping starts at 11am. Lots of parking back there so don’t be afraid to drive back to the facility and watch the sale or the roping!
Have a dandy week!
9-1-2025
Another August has come and gone! As far as August in Southeast Iowa goes, we had it pretty good. We had one week of heat and humidity went, but for the most part we were really good. The last week has just been a peach, cooling off nice and lower humidity with mostly blue skies. The forecast looks much like the same with a chance of a shower on Wednesday this week. Otherwise, the highs are in the lower 70’s and lows are down to 50’s at night! A little rain would be good to freshen up the grass and dock the dust down again.
On Saturday’s sale saw fat hogs mostly range from $0.73 to $0.81 with better prices on butchers weighing over 275lbs. Light hogs under 250lb were $0.60 to $0.70. The sows sold from $0.85 to $0.90 for over 500lb and under 500lb brought $0.70 to $0.85. The feeder pigs sold stead on 8-10 groups of 39lb to 85lb brought $0.90 to $1.20 per pound. The demand for all classes of swine sure remain strong for now!
The sheep and goat auction had 450 head that included some nice groups of lambs and goats. Lambs weighing from 50lb to 70lb were pretty sold at $2.50 to $3.10 per pound. Fat lambs sold at $2.20 to $2.30 this week. A group of whiteface and blackface running age open ewes brought right at $200.00 per head.
The kid goats sold from $3.30 to $3.80 for almost all weights of meat type kids. A light weight set of thin crossbred kids sold at $145.00 per head. Nannies were $1.20 to $1.85 and billies brought $2.20 to $2.60 per pound.
The outside sale had good demand for hay, but not much higher prices being paid. Small square bales sold from $1.00 to $4.50. Big round bales of nicer bales sold at $35.00 to $45.00 with most bales selling in the $20.00 to $35.00. Big square bales sold from $40.00 to $55.00 for both grass mix and alfalfa bales. It seems like a few more folks were buying up large quantities of hay to have for winter supply this week. Derek had a good run of miscellaneous items again this week and a good active crowd.
The cattle sale was sure the highlight of the sale this week, featuring pairs, bred and weigh cows. Baby calves sold from $500.00 to $950.00 with a couple bigger calves bringing $1150.00 to $1450.00. We had very good interest in both bred cows and pairs. The top group of 4 black cows with month old calves at side sold at $5000.00 per pair. The bulk of the pairs were 8 years old to aged with newborn to 6 week old calves and all brought $4250.00 to $4700.00. The bred cows were for the most part third period 8yrs old to aged cows and sold for $3100.00 to $3400.00. The weigh cows were fairly steady again on 135 head.
As we start into the fall calf runs there are some pretty unique numbers and scenarios that are bringing thrown around right now. Let’s figure a 400lb steer calf selling at $6.00 per pound or costing $2400.00. Let’s use and end weight of 925lb for this project or adding 525lb to the calf. At an average of 2lb per head of gain to grown him up for the finishing yards to pay a good market price. With the cost of hay, silage, corn or by production for a ration bring less than $0.75 cost of gain. We would be owning the steer close to 260 days. We would have $2920 invested in the 925lb steer by mid may. May feeder cattle would indicate those 925lb steers to be worth $3145.00. That would give over 200lb per head in profit. That’s not bad for what folks feel like is an extra strong value in a 400lb steer calf! With the help of a hedge or LRP you can take some risk management out and get paid well for your hay and feed, not to mention if you have some grass available to capitalize on or keep your cost of gain even lower! It is an unusual and different time in the cattle market for sure! Just understand there remains very good opportunities in the months ahead!
I went through several pastures Sunday evening looking at calves. Boy, they have sure done well since the weather cooled off! I would think in a week or so we will get to weaning some off the cows. I can’t wait to see the weaning weights.
The choppers are coming this week to get silage cut. The corn sure isn’t what it was last year. The southern red rust is being very hard on it!
It is a special feeder calf sale this week, September 6th.
Have a dandy week!
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