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June 2023 06/06/23 2:05:00 PM
6-27-2023
The forecast was calling for a widespread inch of rain coming into the last weekend, we were very close to getting some but ended up on the south side of it. On Highway 16 east of Douds they got as much as 1.8 inches but also received some nasty hail and winds that severely damaged corn and beans. Most areas north did catch some rain however it didn’t make it to Keosauqua this time. The forecast is once again calling for rain from Wednesday into the weekend so we will be thankful for whatever comes this way! We did stay cool Sunday and Monday which gives everything some relief anyway. Today we have the smoke giving us shade from all the Canadian wildfires. I am surprised there haven’t been any wildfires here close as dry as we are!
Saturday sale had a lower sow market as buyers are jumping in and out of the market very bad right now. Most sows sold at $40 to 46. Fat hogs were good selling from $60 to 75. A string of 27-pound pigs brought $20 to 25 per head and packages of 70-to-90-pound pigs brought $65 to 85 per head.
The sheep and goat sale run was still over 800 head. The market was very steady with 50-to-80-pound lambs from $1.45 to 1.80 and 80 to 110-pound lambs at $1.80 to 2.20 a lb. Ewes were mostly $60 to 80. Goats sold from $3.00 to 3.40 for 50 to 80 pounds better Boer kids. Nannies were $1.00 to 1.70 and big billies were at $2.00 to 2.35 a lb.
The outside sale had small squares of hay selling from $3.50 to 10. A few bales of straw brought $2.75 to 3.00 a bale. A big run of steel posts, wire, lumber, tin, and a host of other items again this week. Big round bales were good quality and set a summer high this week! The first few bales were $140, and the last big stack sold at $200 per bale. We are going to see volatility in this market. If we get into some rain, it will get lower, if we miss the rains, it will get higher as producers look to secure winter feed as they can find it.
There were nearly 800 head in the cattle sale and of that only 120 were feeders. Most of the run was made of pairs, breds and weigh cows. Baby calves sold from $250 to 500 with some nice calves coming in off cows getting weighed up. Pairs topped at $200 with several light heifer pairs bringing $2000 and stouter middle-aged pairs from 2200 to 2400. Bred cows in the third stage were over weigh up price by a hundred or two. Short bred cows that were 4 to 6 years old and weighing 1000 pounds sold from $1200 to 1300. Weigh cow market was steady with a $1.30 top on a high yielding cow. The majority of the thin cows sold at $85 to 95. Better cows were at $1.00 to 1.20 all the way through. Big bulls were at $1.10 to 1.40 a lb.
The crew was thoroughly exhausted from the heat and the amount of stock that was in. We made it through without losing anything on sale day. We had a weak cow that did not make it up the chute, so felt dang good to get everything handled without a big problem. I stayed in Keosauqua Saturday night and got the first truck at 5 Sunday morning. The first truck was loading for Kansas hauling pairs and some third period cows. On the way back through the alley to get pairs I found a new baby calf on one of the third period cows going on this truck. He was up nursing and dried off nice already that morning so the driver decided we would load her. I let the other bred cows out of the pen where the new pair was and left them alone until we were ready for them. When the time came, we needed the cows. I went to get her out and as I went to get calf moving, she wanted to argue about it! I gave her a second to relax and again went to get the calf out, I found she liked that new baby better than I did. The driver came back to see why I wasn’t hurrying along. He grabbed the gate and said, “here let me get her.” He took a couple of big steps toward the cow, and she treed him right up the guard rail! So, we worked together and got her eased into the alley without the calf and headed towards the truck. I pushed the calf out into the alley and let him get his bearing for a minute and I started walking up the alley. That little calf hooked up with me and we walked all the way up the alley, up the chute, up the ramp, in the truck and clear to the nose without me ever touching him the entire way! It is still better to be lucky than good anytime!
The Jefferson Co fair just concluded this past weekend. Layne exhibited her bottle calf Miss Roxy in the open show Sunday evening! The girls all had a big time on a beautiful afternoon and evening at the fair. That is the same arena and fairgrounds that my Dad showed in. The same one that I started in. Luke showed there and now Layne! Lots of good memories from those many years at the county fair!
A feeder cattle sale is coming up Saturday July 1st.
Have a Dandy Week!
6-21-2023
Well, we squeezed out a little moisture here last Sunday, a quarter of an inch in Keosauqua. Jimmy gets an inch northeast of Bloomfield. I went to Marengo Sunday morning to watch the State Jr Heifer shows. It hadn’t rained at home but on Highway 34 it was wet and from there all the way up it was wet. Folks were talking 6 to 8 tenths up that way. It is amazing what the good Lord can do with these small amounts of rain. Boy, did it make the crop look better by Monday! The forecast reads highs in the low 90’s thru the weekend and pretty dry for that stretch as well. Will hope that we can catch an unforecasted rain over the next week to get us into July without burning totally up!
Saturday had a short run of hogs but an explosive sow market. Big sows were back to $80 this week. That is a 55 cent change in a week! Fat hogs were higher also with the most bringing $70 to 80. Big boars brought $12 to 18. No feeder pigs in this sale.
The sheep and goat numbers totaled well over 1200 head Saturday. The kid goat market was sure solid at $3.00 to 3.60 a lb. on good meat type kids. Even a 95-pound Boer wether brought $3.55 a lb. Nannies ranged from $1.40 to 2.00 a lb. and a big 240-pound billy brought $2.55 a lb.
Lambs weighing 50 to 70 pounds brought $1.50 to 1.70 a lb. while those weighing 80 to 100 pounds sold at $1.95 to 2.35 a lb. Ewes were $60 to 80 with a nicer set of white face ewes returning to the farm at $1.10 a lb. averaging 152 pounds. Big bucks brought $2.05 to 2.20 a lb.
The outside sale had small squares of hay coming right out of the field at $4.50 to 10.50 per bale. Big round bales were $110 to 145. Big square sold from $75 to 100. More folks are calling to buy hay than sell! Lots of misc. items including the last of the flowers from spring.
The cattle sale had 800 head. Baby calves ranged from $200 to 350 and dairy calves at $100 to 150. A hand full of middle-aged cows with calves brought $2000. The feeder market maintained a steady pace in the face of a higher corn market and lower fat cattle trade last week. 400-pound steer calves brought $3.12; 8 steers averaging 509 pounds were at $2.80; 10 head of 600-pound red steers were at $2.51. A single 730-pound Hereford steer brought $2.33 and 13 red steers weighing 802 pounds brought $2.24 a lb. Heifers weighing 343 brought $2.70. A package of 513-pound heifers were at $2.51; 8 heifers at 641 pounds brought $2.25; 5 char cross heifers weighing 751 brought $2.20 and 35 red heifers averaging 793 pounds were at $2.12 a lb.
Weigh cows were slightly lower with weighing condition and quality off from the week before. The bulk of the high yielding cows sold from $1.10 to 1.20 a lb. Heiferettes were scarce with a few at $1.30 to 1.50. Big bulls ranged from $1.20 to 1.40 on the better end.
The dry old fescue has some of the cows looking for tender bits outside the pastures lately. Last night I got the call on my way home. I found them just walking out of a bean field onto the gravel road and they followed me all the way in the dark to a gate to put them back in. At 6 a.m. this morning five consecutive calls on the same cows. Put them in and had the fence repaired only to hear that there were still six pairs out. So, Luke and Colby went back down and put them in at lunch. I found four heifers and a bull on the wrong side of the fence last night and was able to bait three heifers back thru the flood gap, but the bull and one heifer didn’t cooperate. So, we went to get them back after we got the first group of cows off highway 2 this morning. We found the bull and four heifers all back where they belonged so that was sure easier than I expected! It continues to amaze me at the delight in the voice that calls me to announce, “you have cows out!” All good and much appreciated for sure.
We are working on another cow sale this Saturday. There will be nice cow calf pairs as well as fall and spring bred cows.
Have a Dandy Week!
6-13-2023
Dry weather is the story of our area the past week. We had a drizzle last Saturday into Sunday that left about two tenths. It is amazing what the good Lord can do with two tenths! It sure cleared the dust off and freshened up the crop and alfalfa. The grass is still struggling to keep growing. We have another chance of rain towards the weekend, keep believing that will come thru!
Saturday had a good run of hogs again with 200 head. Fat hogs sold from $50 to 59. Sows were still soft at $20 to 25. Pigs sold for $50 per head at 40 pounds, $61 per head at 86 pounds and $64 at 92 pounds.
The sheep and goat sales saw over 500 head thru the ring. The market is slightly better for sheep and holding steadying on goats. The lamb market was $1.60 to 2.10 for all weights with 85 to 95 pounds seeing the highest value. Ewes were from $50 to 80 a lb. Goats at 50 to 70 pounds brought $2.75 to 3.20 a lb. Nannies were mostly $1.00 to 1.35 a lb. Big billies that weighed 295 pounds brought $2.60 a lb. for a total of $767. A good market in the next couple of weeks to round out June!
The outside sale had a good sample of hay and misc. items. Philip was off this week, so Cousin Mike stepped in to fill his absence! Small squares sold from $3.75 to 6.50. Big round bales sold from $105 to 140 per bale for new crop hay. $60 on some very rough old crop that still had net wrap on. Big squares sold from $75 to 100. Several folks involved in the hay auction this week. With dry conditions and the forecast about the same, I believe the market will stay at this level at least util it starts to rain more generally. Several stacks of lumber, used metal roofing and a couple of garage or stage shed clean outs made for a good outside sale.
The cattle sale saw baby calves saw $75 to 125 for Holsteins and $200 to 500 on beef calves. A bigger run of bred cows and pairs were lower than two weeks ago as dry weather persists. The top pairs sold from $2200 to 2400. The bulk of the middle aged and older pairs were $1600 to 2000. Fall bred cows sold from $1250 on the older end to 1850 for a top. Breeding bulls were in solid demand, selling from $2500 to 4000 for the better kind. Curt & Lauren had the high seller with a Hereford yearling sired by King E33! Weigh cows continue to flow in here in high volume. 350 head of pound cows Saturday evening and 24 bulls. The market is steady this week with the bulk of the cows at $11.00 to 1.10 a lb. The top cows up in the low $1.20’s and heiferettes and even 3 & 4 year olds selling from $1.40 to 1.65 if they weighed under 1150. Bulls brought from $1.20 to 1.40 for the good conditioned ones. There is no telling how high these cull cows would be this summer if the Midwest wasn’t dry!
A special feeder cattle sale coming up this Saturday, expecting 500 to 700 head.
Have a Dandy Week!
6-5-2023
It continues to be very dry here in southeast Iowa. We have been in the 90’s for highs the past week. There were some very sparse scattered showers around on Friday afternoon, we happened to get under one and had three quarters of an inch! Thank you, Lord that saved our bacon for a little bit. At home we missed it, and it is very, very dry there. I will be setting out some hay for cows there or moving some of them this week. The forecast remains dry this week with a slight chance of showers tonight. Cooler temperatures are expected after Tuesday so that will help.
Saturday’s sale had 250 hogs, 850 sheep and goats and 1100 cattle. It was pretty warm and more humid and that made for a long day for the crew for sure by the time we finished up at 9:30 Saturday evening. The hog market had a handful of 48-pound pigs at $54 per head. Fat hogs sold from $40 to 54 with outside hogs bringing top dollar. The sow market is wanting to improve slightly as most sows were $20 to 24 and 21 head of 588 pound outside sows topped at $34.
The sheep and goat prices are also seeing some improvement in the market. Kids weighing 50 to 65 pounds brought $3.25 to 3.50 for the better end. Nannies ranged 80 cents on poor dairy types to $1.30 on boer does. Bigger billies brought up to $2.50 a lb. Lambs made up a very high percentage of this week’s run. 50-to-70-pound lambs were pretty solid at $1.85 to a top of $2.20 a lb. 70-to-90-pound lambs were similar with two nice groups getting up to $2.30 a lb. The top seller was a single 130-pound lamb at $2.39 a lb.! Ewes brought $40 to 70 cents and no big bucks this week.
The outside market had a good sample of hay and a larger run of lumber and tin. Small squares of mostly all new crop hay were solid at $4.50 to 6.75 a bale. Big rounds were $95 to 110. Big square bales were $70 to 80. Demand for hay will stay very, very good until we get more general rain.
The cattle sale had baby calves from $250 to 450 and some 280 pound black white face calves right off cow brought $850 per head. Feeder cattle continue to march higher as numbers tighten up and yards battle for possession! Now more than ever brings the biggest rewards to producers that choose to sell at auction to get full value out of their production! Black bull calves at 341 pounds brought $3.06 a lb. A pair of red steers at 393 pounds brought $3.02 a lb. A group of 575-pound steers brought #2.73 a lb. Seven black white steers at 700 pounds brought $2.32. Thirty three head of 779 steers brought $2.31 and the 33 head weighing 872-pound yearling steers brought $2.23 or $1950 per head! Upper three weight and lower four weight heifers both topped at $2.80 a lb. Four head of 589-pound red heifers brought $2.44 a lb. Ten head of crossbred heifers at 636 pounds brought $2.28 a lb. The bulk of the seven weight heifers sold from $2.08 to 2.17 a lb.
Weigh cows were steady to just slightly higher with four cows at $1.25 to 1.27 and four bulls over 1800 pounds brought from $1.50 to 1.51 a lb.! If we could see some general rain across Missouri and here and slow the numbers down some more, weigh cows will climb to historically high levels as we get to July and August. They will remain strong even if we don’t get much rain, but they will go wild if it starts raining around the Midwest a little more.
We finished up our first cutting of hay and hope to get the balance of the bales moved in off the field today. The alfalfa fields did well, grass was lighter than usual. I debated about putting fertilizer on as dry as it is but went ahead and did it, anyway, having faith that the rain will come! We had a few acres where we keep heifers in the winter that was tortured pretty bad, and we got it seeded with sudan grass just before that rain Friday.
This Saturday will feature cows calf pairs, fall breds and breeding bulls. Come take a look!
Have a Dandy Week!
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