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July 2021 07/06/21 6:48:00 PM
7-20-2021
We have been almost a week without rain! Actually, only five days but the ground conditions and crops have seen rapid improvement after four days of sunshine! The forecast looks good over the next week with sunshine and highs in the upper 80’s to low 90’s. The lows are forecast to be in the upper 60’s to low 70’s. The humidity is high and will no doubt be high all week long. At this point in July, it will feel more like normal for this part of the country.
Saturday had a regular sale with a balanced run of all classes of livestock. The hay sale had several butcher hogs, a few sows and a light run of pigs. The sows topped at $86, and the bulk of the fat hogs sold from $75 to 80.
The sheep and goat sale had 500 head and was a pretty steady market. The top 100# billy brought $410. The 50-to-60-pound kids sold from $150 to 175 for the fat boer cross kids. 70-to-80-pound kids sold from $230 to 250 and a couple of 100-pound wethers brought $375. The lambs from 50 to 65 pounds were lower at $2 to 2.35 and the 70-to-80-pound lambs were more in the $2.35 to 2.50 range. Fat lambs were where the most demand was this week with 120-to-135-pound lambs selling from $2.45 to 2.60 a lb. Ewes by the pound were mostly $90 to 1.13 and bucks brought from $1.14 to 1.25.
The outside sale had very steady and solid interest in hay this week. Most of the small bales were bringing from $3 to 4.50 with a top of $7 on some alfalfa grass mixed hay. Big round bales sold up to $55 and big squares of grass sold at $52.50. It seems like the hay market is pretty stable for now. The hedge posts sale was sure okay on a nice assortment of posts. Several misc. items again this week to round out the outside sale. We are still getting several flowers and plants each week!
The cattle sale had very soft interest in baby calves with the dairy calves bringing $35 to 85 and $100 to 250 on beef calves. There was a handful of fall bred cows of various ages selling from $900 to 1200. We had mostly small groups of add yearling cattle in the feeder sale. Weigh cows slipped a couple of dollars with the bulk in upper $60’s to low 70’s. The top pound bull brought $97.
The Van Buren Co fair crew is hustling around to get ready for kickoff Wednesday this week. The kids and parents alike will have a busy week. The boys will be hosting a ranch rodeo on Saturday night after the sale! It should be a good one again this year. There were 13 teams at Memphis and 15 teams at Leon, so the are hoping for 8 to 10 teams here in Keosauqua.
We mowed hay yesterday and today and hope to get all wrapped up before next weekend. We are preg checking our first round of heifers this Friday, so I am hoping to get off in good fashion this year!
There is a good run of yearling steers coming in for next Saturday’s sale, expecting to have 6 to 8 straight loads.
Have a Dandy Week!
7-13-2021
Another very wet week in Southeast Iowa, we had 6-9 inches over the weekend again. We are soaked up big time now. I put some creep feeders out a week ago on the top of hills and the calves are down almost a foot and it looks like a herd of sows have plowed the area! The erosion in some places looks as bad as it does sometimes in spring by now. The forecast looks like some more rain Thursday this week, then clear out for a little while. We have been nearly a week without sunshine as well.
Saturday’s sale was more like a fall and winter run! We had a wild hog market with heavy sows at $1.00 a lb. on some 797-pound big girls! The butchers continue to be $78 to 85 per lb. There was no real test on any feeder pigs.
The sheep and goat sale had over 1100 head and the market was solid all thru the run. Kid goats were both sides of $3.00 a lb. and a few real fancy kind could hit $3.25 a lb. Nannies and billies were steady with last Saturday. Lambs around 60 pounds sold from $2.20 to 2.75 a lb. and they sure needed to be fat. 80-to-100-pound lambs were more the highlight with most at $2.60 to 2.85 a lb. Ewes ranged from $1.00 to 1.22 a lb. and bucks sold from $1.10 to 1.25. The market may hold until next Saturday, but then may head south for a little while.
The outside sale was short on small squares and lower on big round bales. Net wrapped decent hay brought from $40 to 55 and some ordinary hay was down to $25. Several misc. items drew a nice crowd outside. Logan took over in the light rain and finished up the outside sale.
The cattle sale had 1100 feeders, most of the were 600-to-800-pound cattle including several loads of yearling heifers weighing in the 700 pound range. The market has perked up several dollars over the past couple of weeks and it really showed in the run here Saturday. The nicer packages of six weight steers sold from $1.60 to 1.70 while the better seven weights were $1.50 to 1.58 even the eight weight steers traded over $1.50 this week. The heifers sold from $1.42 to $1.47 weighing in the middle sevens. Weigh cows were selling very steady with more in the $70’s & 80’s than in the $60’s. Bulls sold from $80 to 95.
Colby loaded a couple of trucks before daylight Sunday morning, and it was not raining. I fed at my house about 6:30 and it wasn’t raining. Once I got to the barn, it rained most of the day. I was wet almost every truck we loaded Sunday. It was nasty enough I was never able to check pastures either!
I made it over to the Lee Co Fair sale Monday morning. What a huge community show of support for 4-H and FFA youth! It’s sure encouraging to see their young people be rewarded for their efforts of caring for their livestock. Sever county fairs continue this week, if you have a chance, I encourage you all to get out and support your local 4-H and FFA.
A regular sale coming up this Saturday July 17th.
Have a Dandy Week!
7-6-2021
We moved out of monsoon season and have been without rain for a week! It has dried up enough to mow some hay and get back to spraying some crops. Most of the hail damaged corn has come out of the damage. It is amazing how nature can recover from that kind of damage so quickly. The grass is still good, and second cutting hay looks pretty darn good. I am seeing leaf hoppers working in some alfalfa fields this past week. The forecast has a chance of rain on Wednesday and cooling down to the low 80’s for highs. That should be a very nice week of weather for July in Iowa.
The sale Saturday on the holiday weekend saw an active market on everything at the auction. The hogs sold very steady with top sows still in the 90’s and fat hogs at $85 to 88. Pigs sold around a dollar a pound to a high on some 67-pound pigs at $80 per head. There sure is a lot of difference in a year’s time when packers wouldn’t even take hogs for a month and drove the market under $20! I hear Covid is still around in 2021, so I’m not convinced Covid was the real trouble in 2020!
The sheep and goat markets are still very solid and sound. Lambs weighing 65 to 80 pounds sold at 2.50 to 2.75 a lb. 100-pound lambs sold up to $2.35 a lb. Ewes ranged from 90¢ to $1.15 a lb. Kids weighing 50 to 60 pounds brought $150 to 210 per head and old cull does ranged from $125 to 260 per head.
The outside sale had a larger amount of small square bales and an average run of big bales. It is the first time in three weeks that the hay wasn’t all wet by sale time! Small squares were pretty much $3 to 5.50. A couple of stacks got up to $7.50 and a couple of older or wet, moldy stacks were $1 to 3. Big bales topped at $65 on some net wrapped grass hay and $55 on grass big squares. The JD 530 baler brought $3750, and the JD 148 loader brought $2700. All kinds of items kept Logan at work until nearly 12:30.
The cattle sale had a lighter run with just 200 head. As we were getting ready to start, I heard a kitten crying underneath the scale, being the kindhearted fella I am, I had Henry, one of the boys working for us, crawl under and see if he could rescue the stranded feline! In short order he handed out a biting, scratching little yellow batch of fur and gave it to Curt who was in the ring. I figured the best thing for this critter was a new home, so I promptly sold him while Curt had him in hand! The proud owners of the $3 kitty had him pretty much tamed down after a part of a cheeseburger and some serious cuddling! Expecting a large run on new crop kittens for the next sale!
The cattle market was steady to better. Holstein calves sold from $75 to 100. There was only a couple of crossbred calves this week, they brought $200 to 250. Weigh cows sold from $65 to 78, with a $85 top. Bulls ranged from $80 to 95.
It was a pretty quiet 4th of July for us. I loaded a few things out around the barn, checked cow pastures and got home before dark!
A nice run of feeder cattle coming up this Saturday expecting around 700 head.
Have a Dandy Week!
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