|
|
|
June 2019 06/05/19 10:57:00 PM
6-10-2019
It’s been a gorgeous week across our part of the country the past seven days. We have seen temperatures into the mid 80’s and Sunday afternoon the wind came up out of the Northwest, the humidity dropped, and temperatures fell into the 50’s overnight. Boy, it was nice. The forecast has a chance of rain Wednesday, but the rest of the week looks outstanding!
Saturday’s sale was lighter with folks making the most of the nice weather. The hog market was lower on big sows with only a $46 top. Fat hogs ranged from $50 to 54. Pigs weighing 35 pounds sold for $25 and 80-pound pigs sold up to $64 per head.
The sheep & goat market seemed lower on lambs and steady on the goats. Lambs in the 60 to 90-pound range brought from $150 to 170. The fat Boer goats 50 to 70 pounds ranged from $150 to 200 per head. Strong demand was seen for cull billies and nannies as well.
The outside sale was really nice this week (sunny and 73°). Hay is still selling to a very strong demand even with more new crop hay in the sale. Small squares sold from $4.50 to a $10 top. Several piles of new hay were bringing $7 to 8 per bale. Big rounds and squares had a wider range with big rounds topping at $160 and ranging from $85 to 120 for most rounds of new hay.
A good-sized crowd was out front, probably larger than the inside crowd! A large quantity of items of all kinds was out there as well. The bumper hitch trailer brought $3600 and the utility trailer sold for $2100. The home-made firewood processor was a very unique piece of equipment. It sold for $800. Jimmy got finished with sheep and goats and he slipped out there and sold all the green house plants. The baskets topped at $25 and the market held good all the way thru the flower sale.
The cattle sale had a few baby calves that sold from $250 to 400 for the beef calves and $35 to 50 for the Holsteins. Bred cows and pairs were difficult to market at much over slaughter values, really not sure when that will change very much. The feeder cattle sold steady on a small test of different weights and sizes as well as a variety of kinds. The weigh cows had strong action with the market gathering another couple of dollars.
As soon as the sale was over, I had to run to a meeting at Marshalltown. We left at 3:45 and met Ben at Fairfield and was back on the ground by 5 p.m. Rachelle went with me and seemed to enjoy her first trip up in a smaller plane. The Iowa Hereford Jr preview show was going on this weekend, so after the meeting we ate a bite and walked thru the barn checking out the cattle and visiting with folks before we left. We were home by 9:30 Saturday evening.
Planters are looking to finish up this week. Lots of hay is down and getting baled up. There is a small chance of rain this week but otherwise work will continue to get caught up.
A feeder cattle special is coming up this Saturday.
Have a Dandy Week!
6-5-2019
We finally have had a drier week around here. No rain for nearly five days has let fellas start some tractors moving again. A lot of planting has been done in the last two days. Most have not switched from corn just yet if they had acres to go. Some took insurance and prevent plant but doesn’t look like very many acres like that at this time. A stray storm passed thru here Wednesday morning about 10 a.m. It dumped some rain and some darn nasty hail. It broke a number of car windows and cracked Gabe on the head leaving a nice goose egg! The forecast looks like warmer temperatures with more sunny days than rainy over the next week. Maybe we can sneak in a day or two of hay mowing!
Saturday’s sale had a couple hundred hogs again. The market has backed off its African Swine flu highs from over a month ago. Fat hogs sold mostly $45 to 50. Sows topped at $50 on a fancy group of 16 head that averaged 603 pounds. The boars over 300 pounds have fell back to only $6 to 7 per cwt.
The sheep and goat sale walked 550 head thru again this week. The lambs under 80 pounds sold from $1.50 to 1.80 while fat lambs stopped at $1.62. The top kid goats continue to get over $3 a pound for nanny or billy kids. The big does going to market brought from $150 to 215 per head. The top billy goat was 165-pound stud that sold for $315 per head.
The outside sale had a little more hay than last week. The small squares ranged from $6 to 10 a bale. Big bales sold to a $165 top with most in the $100 to 130 per bale range. I was expecting some new hay to show up by now, but nature has not provided an opportunity. They ole blazer sold for $950. Tomato plants would not get over $10 a piece and hanging baskets were mostly $10 to 15 with a $25 top. A big crowd gathered at the start, but half of them disappeared as a chilly rain passed thru at 11:30.
This week’s cattle sale had 670 head. We had baby calves ranging from $150 to 450 for beef calves and $35 to 100 on dairy calves. Cows that were bred were very flat and garnered very little interest. Pretty much if they were not third period, young cows they went by the pound. A few decent pairs sold to return home, the rest were sold as splits, calves by the head and cows got weight up. The feeder cattle had decent interest for as terrible as the feeder market was in Chicago last week! Corn has jumped and sure put the run in feeder contracts. Light cattle for sure had good interest, but cattle over 700 pounds also had support better that I was expecting. Weigh cows were higher with some in the $70’s and most in the $60’s.
Sunday was somewhat easier this week with just a couple of loads going early. The boys were able to spend the afternoon at the roping pen and I went to check cows around Keosauqua. In my tour I went past the beehive and found they have checked out on me! They were sure weak after the winter, but I did think I might get them to recover this spring. I figure the moved on to another hive. I will have to figure out a plan to start another hive and see if I can improve my bee herdsman ship!
Ted, Rachelle and I went to Kansas City on Monday and Tuesday this week to the “Brand Summit” sponsored by the American Hereford Association. There were over 200 people attending from across 36 states and Canada. We went thru a lot of speakers and material relating to marketing and promotion. Mark Core from Pleasantville, IA and marketing guru at Vermeer Manufacturing was our MC and facilitator of the two days. We covered all kinds of thinking and planning as well as incorporating social media into a marketing plan. One highlight was sure our Tuesday morning speaker. Mitch Holthus, the voice of the Kansas City Chiefs was the guest speaker at 8 a.m. Tuesday morning. He was a blast to listen to and to get his story of the rise of the Chiefs Kingdom and Coach Andy Reid’s structure of the organization.
Monday evening after as stop by the AHA headquarters, we all went downtown Kansas City to the Power and Light district. This is not a place you would normally find this small-town guy! It was interesting to see however, and they held a little auction to raise funding for the Hereford Youth. They auctioned off a portrait drawn by a man that showed horned and polled bulls looking over a Hereford calf. It was an impressive picture by anyone’s standard. It turns out the artist, Dino Conray, is next door neighbor to my sister in New Mexico!
Tuesday, we worked in the afternoon on how to use Facebook more. We spent two hours on the in and outs and do’s and don’ts to help everyone improve their skills. We got home around 8 and I was eager to use my newly acquired skills, so right away I opened my Facebook page and set in to working thru the updates. Before I got done, I’m receiving congratulations on getting married Tuesday and quitting work at Keosauqua Sales Co! I’ll be danged if I know how I did that, but I did figure out how to fix that and sure gave a big chuckle to some folks that saw it while it was up! Well anyways, we are a work in progress.
This week will be a regular sale with a few breeding bulls and a few more bred cows and pairs.
Have a Dandy Week!
|
|
