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October 2019 10/09/19 10:22:00 AM
10-21-2019
This week’s weather has been pretty up and down. We had rain in the first part of the week then four beautiful days thru Saturday. It rained overnight Saturday just a tenth then a shower again this morning, but not much more than a tenth. The wind picked up and blew hard all afternoon today. The forecast looks to be mostly clear here and pretty nice for late October. The highs will be in the low 60’s and lows in the upper 30’s. Harvest will sure move ahead this week!
Saturday was a good day for a sale. It looked like we were going to be a little lighter on stock but about 9 o’clock Saturday morning the lines started getting longer and we ended up with a large run again.
The hog sale had over 300 head this week. The sow market moved up just a little more to a $49 top. Fat hogs sold from $44 to 50 and feeder pigs ranged from 65 to 75 cent a pound for most weights.
The sheep and goat sale had a big run also. The market is steady to better on both sheep and goats. The top kids at 50 pounds sold up to $140 to 150 per head. A couple of big wethers that weighed 95 pounds sold at $275 per head. The lambs weighing 75 pounds sold for $1.60 and a few 110-pound lambs were up to $1.50. I am starting to get some inquiries about bred ewes and nannies from both buyers and sellers. I expect there to be good demand for quality breeding females as we get into the early winter.
The outside sale had several small square bales and more big bales than the past three weeks. Small squares topped at $8.50 per bale on some very pretty orchard grass alfalfa mix fourth cutting hay. There was no straw this week. Big round bales of hay varied some in size and quality. The price ranged from $35 on the small poorer quality bales up to a $105 top again this week. Some folks were buying just 1 to 3 bales out of a pile while others took 55 big bales at a chunk. No big squares of hay this week.
The hedge post market was steady on a very typical selection of corners and lines. The top lines were are $18 and the top 10-foot corners sold for $37. The 1999 ole Buick sold for $1000. It should have brought $2500 as good as a Buick is, but this one failed to start at sale time! I hope mum season is over, interest just gets less every week, $3 to 10 this week and may have only averaged $5. Plenty of odds and ends out there to keep the crowd close to see what bargains they could land themselves!
The cattle sale had a seasonal run of calves and yearlings and a big group of baby calves. Holstein veals sold from $25 to 75 this week. Beef calves ranged from $100 to 325. Just a few two-way cows and we were right on the feeder cattle. Demand was just fair with fats not wanting to push higher and a lower board to end the week slowing down the optimism! A big load of black steers that averaged 980 pounds sold for $1.35 to give spark to the market. Unweaned and unworked calves were the most challenging to get sold. Buyers are not as easy to try those higher risk calves with profit margins pretty tight. Weigh cows slipped a little more this sale with a $67 top, but more cows in the $50’s than in the $60’s.
Thursday and Friday the custom chopper was here, and they made our next years feed. This year we planted corn and dwarf forage sorghum to chop. It chopped up better than it looked in the field. I was thinking it was getting dry, but the cane still had plenty of moisture in the lower half of the plants. The crew filled our bunker and made a bag and a half for Curt at Pittsburg. We are thankful to have that done and have feed again.
Sunday morning, we received our first group of replacement black heifers in the fog! Boy it was thick that morning. The heifers have settled in well already. I sure wish this weather will straighten up for them this week!
This week we are finishing up the Hereford sale catalog, so it gets mailed and delivered timely. Curt is hooked on to the grain drill getting some rye in the ground even though it’s late! We are going to build some fence and straighten up some terraces that silted in some. I hope to get the last of my Hereford heifers dehorned this week as well!
A regular sale coming up Saturday. November 2nd will be our annual customer appreciation BBQ and sale. Consign early for the best advertising. We will start early that day. The hog sale will start at 9:00 followed by sheep and goats. The outside sale will start at 10:30 and cattle at 12.
Have a Dandy Week!
10-13-2019
Frost settled in around the area Friday night into Saturday morning and again into Sunday morning. It was sure enough to take care of the weeds, late corn and beans and any flowers that were not covered up. It is a little early to tell if it will affect corn and bean dry down as most of the crop appeared to be fairly mature before the frost came. Early yields on the corn are all over the place, some is well over 200 bushels and some coming in under a 100 bushel per acre. The beans are just starting to be sampled and all I have heard so far is they are not as good as last year. It looks to be a very nice week for harvest this week so hopefully farmers can get a good week in.
Saturday was a very nice day for the sale. It was crisp and chilly to start, but clear skies and sunshine brightened things up quickly in the morning. The hog sale had more action to greet the return of our senior auctioneer Mr. Jim Utt, who was gone two consecutive weeks to attend weddings in his family. He wasn’t able to organize a Friday ceremony! Good to have him back and the market was higher as well. Sows started off at $44 for the over five weights and in about three groups they hit $50! Fat hogs also sold higher at $45 to 48. The feeder pig market was mostly steady at 60 to 70¢ a pound for pigs under 90 pounds.
The sheep and goat market were steady to higher on an average run. Lighter lambs sold from $160 to 185 and fat lambs up to $158 on a small group. Goats were getting back close to $3 a pound on the better 50-pound kids. The run had several cull dairy nannies that brought from $85 to 175 per head depending on how smooth they were.
During the sheep sale Col. Jim tried to sell three blue heeler pups. There was no interest in them at all, so we just left them for a minute. The young boy that was representing the pups was hanging around the box at ringside. In just a minute a woman with a cell phone approached the young fella and was getting all the information about them and taking pictures. The lady left for a bit and soon returned with a deal for the boy and he must have said I do, because he picked up the box of pups and followed here out the door. I kinda think he forgot to leave his 10% in the office! Both of them are on my list now!
The outside sale was active on hay and straw. Small squares were from $4.00 to 7.50 and straw from $5 to 5.50. Big round bales sold from $50 to 105 for net wrapped hay and $30 to 45 on string tied. The $105 hay was some 4th cutting pretty alfalfa hay that had been inside thru all the rain showers. A very wide variety of items were out front again this week. Everything from hay equipment, a bumper hitch livestock trailer, pumpkins, beets, mums, and hedge posts. The rabbit market slide back to just $2 to 3 this week.
This week’s cattle sale had a big run of baby calves again. Beef calves sold from $100 to 375 and Holsteins sold from $50 to 100 per head. A group of 8 black crossbred cows bred for spring sold at $1450 and a couple of little groups of pairs sold at $1550 to 1600. Feeders were steady on a light run. Weigh up cows topped at $67 and bulls topped at $90 this week.
The honeymooners have sure had a big week in Montana! They are up near Glacier National Park in northwest Montana. The first couple of days they were fishing on a big lake up there and caught some darn big fish! They said it was chilly, but they missed all the snow. They have seen buffalo, elk, antelope and all kinds of beautiful scenery that I’m sure they will never forget. They are returning home Monday and hope to get them back to work Tuesday.
Photographer is coming in tomorrow to take Hereford sale pictures. I need to have our catalog info all put together this week! I may need a little more time!
We hope to see the chopper again this week and get feed made at Keosauqua. A nice run of feeder calves this Saturday.
Have a Dandy Week!
10-7-2019
We have had an up and down week of weather the past seven days. We have had some really nice cool fall days with sunshine and then a rainy day or two that dropped another inch of rain. Sunday and Monday were nice, and the forecast is for a chance of rain on Thursday and then a killing frost coming thru on the weekend before it gets nice again next week. A killing frost will be hard on the late beans and maybe real late cornfield, but it will sure make the fescue more tender for cows on fall pasture!
Saturday’s sale saw a half dozen groups of feeder pigs that sold from 50 to 65 cents a lb. fat hogs ranged from $36 to 40 and sows sold for $30 to 34 on the ones over 500 pounds.
The sheep and goat sale had a strong goat market with top kids selling from $2.50 to 3 per lb. and dairy kids were mostly $1.75 to 2 a lb. Fat lambs sold from $1.43 to 1.47 and 50-pound lambs topped at $.180. A good-sized crowd was in attendance again for the sheep and goat sale as well as a big crowd outside.
The outside sale had a light run of hay this week as the threat of rain kept folks from bringing hay in for Saturday morning. The market was noticeably higher with small squares from $4.50 to 7.50. Big rounds ranged more from $50 to 90 this sale. Several misc. items again this week but only a very few hedge posts. Mums fresh out of the green house or used once at the wedding, sold at $4 To 11! Rabbits sold at $3 to 6 with at least 12 head this week! The Cox creep feeder sold for $1100 and the old cars brought $500 for the Jeep and $700 for the Expedition. I have been thinking of starting a weekly car auction, DOT thinks I already have one! Yikes, I need to careful or I might receive an adult spanking again! AKA a fine.
The cattle sale had over a 1000 head this week and good feeder cattle demand was felt on everything except a 350 to 550 heifer seemed more of a challenge. 340-pound black steers hit $2 a pound and a good set of 490 steers brought $1.77. A nice group of light yearling steers weighing 629 pounds brought $1.57 and a load of 691-pound medium flesh steers brought $1.49. Heifers from 600 to 750 sold from $1.30 to 1.38 and lighter heifers sold in the same range. Weigh cows sold from $60 to 67 for the better cows this week and the top bull brought $87.
Friday evening was Ted & Rachelle’s wedding. There were married south of Lancaster at Whippoorwill Acres owned by Greg & Mitzi Shipley. It’s a pretty place for the ceremony and reception. Ted’s Uncle Eric was here from New Mexico to conduct the ceremony with friends and family gathered up on the perfect evening. The ceremony went well with not protests!! It was good to see everyone there and sure glad to get them married. I was kinda afraid Ted might take too long and this fine young lady would get away! It all worked out perfect and everyone made it Saturday morning for the sale. Yes, Ted & Rachelle worked the sale Saturday! They are heading to NW Montana for a few days this week!
Sunday the boys held their annual pasture roping out at Luke’s. They had a nice group of guys in the open and 4 teams of youth in the novice. Colby ended up on the 1st place team and Luke was on the 2nd place team. Everybody came out in good shape with no wreaks! The girls had a big feed that evening and it was good to relax a little bit.
I shipped yearling heifers to Carroll, IA on Monday morning and we chopped at Ted’s on Tuesday. That field has looked terrible all summer, short of nitrogen, I think. We made 65 loads or 650 ton of feed that filled that bunker back up, sure glad to get that done. Hope to get the rest done next week.
A bred cow, pairs and breeding bull sale will be the feature this coming Saturday.
Have a Dandy Week!
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