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December 2025 12/02/25 10:14:00 AM
12-9-2025
Our weather has been jumping around the past week. We had snow a couple different days, temperatures below zero a couple times and some sleet. We warmed up today to 41 and we are melting a lot of snow and ice. The forecast calls for more chance of snow and very cold coming through next weekend. It’s hard to believe that November was so nice and then when the change hit the last couple days of November we have just had winter with snow and temperatures not going over freezing for the first 10 days of December! We will shape we get warmed up after the weekend and get into a more normal weather pattern for the last half of December!
Saturday had a big run of hogs. The pig market was steady at a dollar per pound. The sows sold lower at $0.45 to $0.58. Fat hogs also were lower with only at $0.63 top. Most hogs were at $0.48 to $0.54 this week. It sounds like the hog market may stay softer for the short term. However, you never know if the packers get caught short, they will jump right back into the auction to fill the line right back up!
The sheep and goat run was good sized again selling over 500 head. The lambs were higher at $3.50 to $3.70 for the 50lb to 70lb better kind. The 100lb lambs were up to $2.90. Ewes by the pound sold from $1.10 to $1.20. The kid goats weighing 60lbs brought $3.50 and 100lb kids sold at $3.00. Nannies ranged from $1.60 to $1.80.
The outside sale had hay selling from $4.00 to $7.50 on good quality small squares. The big rounds ranged from $25.00 to $50.00 with the bulk at $35.00 to $40.00. The big squares grass type hay sold at $40.00 and alfalfa big squares were mostly $40.00 to $60.00. No corn stalks this week. There was a short offering of outside items. There was a wedding over the weekend that kept Derek out of the sale, so Colonel Richard Yoder stepped right in and did a great job outside this week. The feeder cattle market this week, sure did a 180 from 2 weeks ago. The futures recovering and cash fat cattle gaining momentum have feeders sharply higher! Some 420lb blk steers sold at $5.10, 565lb steers brought $4.55, 613lb steers sold at $4.11 and some 720lb steers sold at $3.65. We even had some 823lb blk steers selling at $3.23. Heifers weighing in at 485lb brought $4.05, 585lb steers sold at $3.65, 685lb xbred heifers sold at $3.35 and a group of 727lb heifers brought $3.28.
The weigh cow market was still good on well over 100 head again. The top cow weighed 1675 and brought $1.78. A big heifer weighing 1180lb sold at $1.97. There were a lot of cows at $1.50 to $1.70. The big bulls were strong at $2.10 to $2.25 on the higher yielding type.
The Hereford production sale was last Wednesday afternoon. We had a bigger crowd than the past and had a very good sale. We sold 26 head of Hereford bulls and averaged $6400 and 65 head of bred Hereford heifers averaged $5120. The heifers sold to several states here in the Midwest.
The 5G sale kicked off that evening with an even bigger crowd and over 350 people watching on the internet! The second calf heifers averaged $4865 and the first calf heifers averaged $4417. We want to sincerely thank everyone that helped and/or participated in the sale. The crew had a big week moving in with the snow on Monday and the extra work hauling snow and bedding everything. They did a great job and had everything looking their best at sale time! It was an awesome day for all of our family and we are very thankful for all the support in this sale.
It took a run Monday delivering a few more and it gets me down to the last 4 head of Herefords that will go tomorrow. We moved Hereford cows out of the last summer pasture to calf the end of January. We got the heifers off grass that Luke and Cody will calve and all the older black cows are home. We just have a group of Colby’s left that we need to get relocated and we should be good for the fall. I always think things should slow down a litter after they sale, but it seems to keep moving right along!
It’s a special cow and bred heifer sale coming up again Saturday.
Have a dandy week!
12-1-2025
We have kicked winter off in Southeast Iowa. Friday overnight, into Saturday, we received 6 inches of snow and the temperatures fell out of the 50’s last week to the low 20’s. It warmed up some Saturday and melted some, but got colder Sunday and Monday. Some light snow around again today and down into the teens over night. The forecast looks like a cold night Wednesday and Thursday, then warming into the weekend with highs in the 30’s. By today, we have adjusted pretty well and we are on to normal operations!
It sure is an amazing thing to listen to the news and information leading up to these events. The media creates such a doomsday scenario on a little 6 inch snow to start December! Holy cow batman, it can snow in Iowa this time of year. There’s sure no reason to shelter in place for goodness sake. Use some common sense and get yourself moving and these events seem shorter and relatively small. I look at it like folks are going to need to eat and we need to do our part to hold the food chain together or there would really would be something to talk about in the news. Anyways, the sale did go on.
The hog market had pigs at a dollar per pound. The fat hogs sold at $0.65 and sows sold at $0.60 to $0.63. The sheep and goat market was active on about 200 head. The bred ewes that were advertised did not come, but plan on being in next week’s sale on the 6th. The lambs sold at $2.40 to $2.80. Fat lambs sold at $1.85 to $2.10. Ewes sold at $1.00 to $1.20. Kids weighing 50lb to 80lb sold at $3.20 to $3.80. nannies sold at $1.40 to $1.75 and a billy or two sold at $2.00.
The outside sale had small square of hay selling at $3.00 to $5.00. Big round bales sold at $25.00 to $50.00 on nicer bales. The rough, smaller or poorly wrapped bales brought $10.00 to $15.00. Big square bales sold at $30.00 to $40.00. Cornstalk rounds were $10.00 on the small bales up to $25.00 on a few bigger bales. The snow held off most of the miscellaneous items this week.
The cattle sale had a nice package of middle aged to short/solid mouth cows selling at $3500 to $4250. Older cows with calves sold from $2100 to $3250. There was a light run of feeder cattle. However, several weigh up cows made it in. That market continues right on a steady pace. The top fat cows, even the full kind sold at $1.65 to $1.80. Lean cows were mostly $1.50 to $1.70. Bulls sold higher with the bulk of them $2.00 to $2.20.
We were lucky this year and pretty much all of the stock was loaded out by Sunday evening and we were able to get started cleaning up for the bred heifer sale on Wednesday. The crew started early again this morning moving snow and getting pens cleaned up. By noon, they had gathered a couple groups up at the farm and walked them in a pretty heavy snow. From where I was in the nice warm truck, it was a really pretty sight with 300 black cows walking in the snow, a fog surrounded them and heavy snow with 5 riders driving them in.
It’s a big day again tomorrow, moving the rest into the barn and getting sorted up, besides all the regular chores they all do. We look forward to this week all year long. The crew takes special pride in getting the heifers ready for the sale and presenting them to prospective buyers. We feel we are presenting a group of bred females that set buyers up for an increased chance of success with their purchases. From the time we get them early int eh fall until sale time we take steps that ensure that the sale heifers will be an elite group that will be profitable for those lucky enough to take them home! We sure invite everyone to the barn on Wednesday to look through this year’s offering. Lauren has great food planned for the day as well!
We have a special feeder cattle sale coming up this next Saturday, December 6th.
Have a dandy week!
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