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July 2026 07/02/26 3:48:00 PM
7-7-2026
The weather has been cooler than last week, since Saturday. Highs are just in themed 80’s. There was some rain around northwest of us on Sunda, but not much at Keosauqua. The forecast looks about the same with highs in the 80’s and lows in the 60’s with the chance of rain on Thursday or Friday. The corn has exploded the past couple of weeks and it’s starting to shoot tassels. The crop has really come along awfully nice as the rain slowed and the heat cranked up. It is always amazing to see what that corn can do in the summer!
Saturday’s sale landed on July 4th. Vet services wanted the day off, so I didn’t have a livestock sale. We did however have a hay and miscellaneous sale. It’s really weird to come Saturday morning and it’s so quiet around here. I went to a couple pastures early Saturday morning and pulled some bulls out of the pastures. I needed something to do! I was back to the barn by 10:30 and ready for the sale at 11:00am. There was a nice crowd here despite the holiday. Jacky came in to clerk for me outside. She’s a loyal employee!
We sold over 500 small bales. The market was at $2.00 to $6.00 per bale. There was no straw, even though the wheat around was getting cut last week. I’m sure there was some straw getting baled. Hopefully we can test the market next sale. Big round bales of nice second cutting alfalfa topped the sale at $70.00. Most of the hay ranged from $40.00 to $60.00 per bale. The smallest buyer took 2 bales. The volume buyer took 50 bales. Big square bales sold at $45.00 to $60.00 this week. Miscellaneous items of a wide range sold to an active crowd. We finished up by 12:30. Everyone was able to attend all the fireworks around the area Saturday night. We ended up down by the river with Luke, Cody and the girls. They always put on a heck of a show to a very large crowd. The girls sure had a big time.
Sunday, we tried to bale some hay that got a little sprinkle on it. I got it all raked up and ready to bale by 1:30. Lucas started baling and was able to get half done and got a blast of rain on it again. It didn’t hardly rain anywhere else but the hay fields and more on the east field than the west. It probably wasn’t more than half a mile as a crow flies. We got it finished up Monday and it really didn’t hurt it too bad. The crew should be done hauling it by noon today and that is the end of the 2nd cutting for us. The alfalfa is really coming back nice and will be ready again in just a couple of weeks.
Ted and Rachelle made it home from their Texas and New Mexico trip. It sounds like they enjoyed their time out there and saw some new places with the kids!
It’s a regular sale Saturday this week. It should be a good run of everything with no sale last Saturday.
Have a dandy week!
7-2-2026
Hot and humid across the area this week. It is great corn growing weather and spending time at the pool! The corn has really responded well here with plenty of moisture and now the heat has it growing at a very rapid pace. The humidity has been 60 to 90%, making it brutal to bale dry hay very well. The grass hay that is plenty ripe is going up okay, but second crop lush alfalfa has been slow to come around. We round baled some that took a week to get dry. Hopefully we can square bale some that has only been down four days! The forecast looks hot until the weekend. Rain chance Friday night into Saturday, then cooler temperatures going towards next week.
Saturday had a couple hundred hogs selling at a steady market. The fat hogs ranged from $64 to 74 cwt. 26 head of 64-pound pigs brought $76 per head and 11 head of 79-pound pigs were at $101 per head. Sows ranged from $43 to 48 per cwt.
The sheep and goat sale had 480 head of all classes. Seven young Katahdin ewes with young lambs brought $135 count noses. The ewes bred to lamb this summer brought from $235 to 240 per head and weighed 85 pounds. Light lambs topped at $3.50 to 3.60 a pound. 42 head of fancy white face lambs weigh 117 pounds brought $2.87 a pound. Goats from 40 to 60 pounds hit $4.00 a pound. There were multiple groups up to $4.70 a pound. Cull nannies were from $2.10 to 2.50 a pound and billies brought $2.20 to 2.90 a pound.
The hay market was mostly $4 to 5 on the small squares and round bales brought $40 to 67.50 a bale. Hay demand is sure solid here in the summer. It appears some buyers are just feeding it now while others are putting it away to have for the winter. There is a lot of hay being baled again this week so it will be interesting to see how the market responds over the next month. A big run of misc. items again this week. Lots of panels, gates, a few posts, creep feeder and a big cargo trailer of new merchandise of all kinds made for a busy outside sale.
The cattle sale had a few bred cows and pairs as well as 150 weigh up cows. Baby calves topped $1700, most sold from $1400 to 1600. The top pairs were two Hereford 6-year-old cows with fancy spring calves at side for $5550. Three aged pairs with younger calves brought $4200. Fall bred cows running 4 to 8 years old sold from $3600 to 4350. A five head group of third period younger black cows sold at $4500. The aged ball calving cows sold at $3400. Weigh cows sold steady with cows going home at $2.00 to 3.15 a pound. Slaughter cows topped at $1.97 a pound. Bulls were mostly from $2.20 to 2.50 a pound this week.
The Gabe Hirst celebration of life was attended by over 400 people from the Midwest. Family, friends, co workers and some of his classmates spent the evening sharing stories and remembering his time here. It was a tribute to him to see so many people come to honor his memory. Gabe was a one-of-a-kind man that will be remembered for a very long time!
Becky and I attended the Jefferson Co 4-H and FFA sale held Monday evening in Fairfield. Kids don’t bring the livestock to the ring anymore; they only sell the ribbons and only go through one time. It looks like the numbers are up and the fair was good this year. Congratulations on the good fair and sale. Multiple fairs are coming right up in the next month. Step out and support those kids as they are the future of our American Agriculture!
NO livestock sale this week, (vet services refused to work!)So, we will sale hay, straw and misc. items at 11.
Be safe and enjoy the celebration of 250 years!
Have a dandy week!
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