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December 2022 12/05/22 5:21:00 PM
12-19-2022
It seems we have finally come to the end of a long pretty fall. We received a big rain early last week that dropped 1-3 inches over a very large area. The temperatures have fallen off so we have frozen up after only a couple days of wet, sloppy conditions so that was good! But as usual we might not be ready for cold weather. This week’s forecast is calling for temperatures down to 10 below a couple of days and a chance of snow on Thursday. We will hope we miss that and the wind!
Saturday’s sale grew into a big one. The hog sale led off with pigs selling over a dollar a lb. Fat hogs were $70 to 80 a lb. and sows were solid at $60 to 69 on the heavier weights. We were a little short handed on the crew with dang deer season and some Christmas parties going on. It seemed awfully slow going at start time!
The sheep and goat run was big with 850 head. The market was solid all the way thru the run. The top lambs weight 60 pounds were at $3.25 a lb. Most of the lambs were $2.40 to 2.85 a lb. The 80-pound lambs brought $1.60 to 2.10 a lb. Fat lambs were mostly $1.15 to 1.29. Weigh up ewes ran 80 to 95¢, while big bucks were up to $1.35. The goat market was steady again this week. 50-to-70-pound kids topped at $3.00 to 3.35. Billies sold from $2.10 to 2.80 a lb. and nannies were mostly $1.35 to 1.90.
The outside sale had a good-sized run of hay both small and big bales. Small squares were good with the bulk at $6 to 9. Some grass hay was down to $4, and straw was $3.50 to 5.50. Big rounds of the best-looking grass bales sold at $130 to 145. Only weedy or rougher old crop hay sold below $100 a bale. Straw and corn stalks sold at $55 to 65 a bale. Big squares of alfalfa and nice grass hay sold from $90 to 140 per bale. Demand is sure stronger than supply for good hay! The hedge post market was ok but not wild on good quality posts. Firewood wasn’t as high as I figured with the weather coming in. Good sized crowd out front on a pretty chilly day!
The cattle sale has 1120 head. Baby calves sold from $50 to 100 on dairy and beef calves brought $100 to 150. The feeder market saw the three weight steers at $2.21; 490-pound steers at $2.16; 563-pound steers at $2.04. A couple of groups of yearling steers weighing around 675 brought $1.85; 767-pound red steers at $1.75 and black steers at 797 brought $1.80. Heifers weighing 450 pounds hit $1.86; 513-pound heifers topped at $1.22; 634-pound heifers at $1.58- and 758-pound heifers at $1.57. There sure was not much for yearling heifers to test that market. Weigh cow market was slightly lower with big fat cows at $80 to 90 and the bulk of lean cows $55 to 65. Weigh bulls were from $70 to 90.
Friday was my birthday. Most days we all gather for lunch in the barn café. Some days there will be 15 to 18 and other days maybe 4 to 7. The little girls have been celebrating birthdays this fall so there is cake with candles, and everyone sings Happy Birthday for whoever is celebrating on that day. Well, Friday they couldn’t hardly wait until lunch was over to get to the cake! As Layne was helping with the duties, she figured out that I was pretty old! Birthdays are sure more fun with grand daughters around!
There is no sale this week. Merry Christmas to all of you and your families!
A regular sale on Dec 31st with some bred heifers being featured.
Have a Dandy Week!
12-14-2022
We had 3 sales in 8 days! When that happens, we are very thankful for the weather we had last week as opposed to this week. We were mostly sunny last week and dry to get everything moved in and out. Friday and yesterday brought rain across a very big area. Yesterday’s total would surely have been over an inch. We are warmer at 48 degrees this morning vs 34 degrees last night and some strong winds. It’s sunny already this morning with a forecast calling for more sun a couple days thing cooling down next week.
The crew has had a very busy last week! We got cleaned up and loaded out from the feeder sale on December 3rd. The boy’s moved all the commercial heifers in on Tuesday and sorted most of the afternoon. Part of the guy’s were bedding down pens and getting hay out for everything. On Wednesday morning we hauled the Hereford heifers in and sorted them into sale order. The good lord blessed us with a perfect sunny day, getting up to 50 degrees by sale time! A good crowd and internet bidding lead to 60 Hereford heifers avg $3224 for a very good Hereford sale. Some heifers loaded after the sale, while much of the heifers purchased on the internet were moved back to the farm to keep them until folks were able to get them.
The commercial heifers sorted up really nice! Lucas and the boys had them looking 12 o’clock for the sale that evening. Another nice crowd came for the sale and a bigger group tuned in on the internet. When we were finished in a short 2 hours 114 hd of 2nd calf heifers avg $2550 and 334 hd first calf heifers avg $2124. It was a great event and we sure wish all that participated great success with their purchases!
Before all the heifers were loaded out, cows were rolling in on Thursday for Saturday’s sale again! Saturday’s sale swelled to right at 800 hd of cattle, 250 hogs and 530 hd sheep and goats. The hog sale led off with a very active market across all classes. Feeder pigs saw 50 pounds at $65, 73 pound at $80 and some 105 pounds at $112 per head. Fat hogs ranged from $69 to 80. Sows were from $55 to 67 on the better big sows.
Sheep and goat sale saw an active market for both. Light lambs weight 50-70 pounds brought $2.55 to $3.30 a lb. Some 70 pound lambs brought $2.05 to 2.22 a lb. Heavier weights over 100 pounds were $1.20 to $1.75 a lb. Kid goats in the 40 pound range topped at 3.50 a lb. 60-70 pound kids saw a $3.60 top and 100 pound wethers brought $2.80 a lb.
Outside sale had a good run of hay and straw. Small squares of hay were pretty steady at $4.00-7.50 a bale. Straw brought $3.50-5.00. Big bales of rougher hay or very small string tied bales sold from $35-70 a bale. Good quality round bales were from $95-120 a bale. Big squares of alfalfa brought $100-120 per bale. Few posts and some miscellaneous items rounded up a shorter outside sale.
The cattle sale had baby calves at $250-300 on beef calves and $60-75 on dairy calves. A group of RWF heifers bred to angus bulls weighing 1071 pounds brought $1900 a hd. Black heifers sold from $1650-1850 a hd. There were several middled aged cows in the offering, calving from March until later. They ranged from $1500-1750. Older bred cows sold from $950-1325. A handful of pairs, mostly older, ranged from $1325-1750. This sale saw solid interest in cows to go home. There was a large run of weigh cows again, not sure when things will end, but guarantee they will drop off and values are going up in 2023! Bulk of the big, fleshy cows were $75-92. Cutter cows ranged from $50-65. Light and crippled cows were $25-45. Bulls ranged from $70-90. It was 8 o’clock when we finished again. The crew sure was thankful to get through Saturday night! They intended to do some hunting Sunday, but the little girls have been a little under the weather, as well as some of the bigger crew. I am sure there was more resting Sunday than hunting!
Last night the little girls took a wagon ride through the Christmas lights in Mt Pleasant. I tagged along for the ride. Those folks have really put forth the effort for the area! The girls really enjoyed the time and Grandpa enjoyed spending time with the girls! It’s always a really fun time to be with a bunch of girls.
It’s a special cattle sale this Saturday.
There is no sale on Christmas eve, December 24th. We will have a regular sale on December 31st, with more bred heifers and cows!
Have a Dandy Week!
12-5-2022
We have had a cooler week the past six days. The highs were only in the 40’s and a few days it stayed below freezing. Lows were down into the mid-teens a few nights and one really windy night! The forecast looks about the same for the week ahead with a chance of showers maybe on Thursday.
Saturday’s sale turned into a large run of livestock as well as a big outside sale. The hog market had fat hogs selling from $68 to a top of 90 on a few locker hogs. Sows topped at $70 on some six weight sows with most selling from $40 to 50 on those under 500 pounds. Pigs had stronger demand and I expect them to be stronger the next two weeks. 50-pound pigs sold at $58 per head and some 90-pound pigs sold at $85 per head.
The morning started off late with the computer company’s most recent update not working! We had made the switch early in the week and had worked thru hook ups and reroutes, online tutorial, practice runs, and it was functional Friday. Saturday it was not cooperating at all! Becky is a very patient person and did everything with over the phone IT service to get us going. By 9:30, I gave up and we went back to pen and paper to get going! Shortly after they did get it operating without the big screen for the crowd or the small read out for Jimmy. So, Jacky at the scale spent the day hollering the weights out on each draft of livestock. I have never experienced a smooth update of the computer system; I hope this is the last time for a while!
The sheep and goat sale had 500 head and the market was pretty steady again. Good interest was seen in bred ewes and bred nannies. The middle-aged black face ewes exposed to lamb in January brought $230 to 250 a head. The nannies exposed to start right away brought $250 to 450. Kid goats weighing 50 to 70 pounds brought $3.00 to 3.40 a lb. Big kids at 90 to 120 pounds brought $2.00 to 2.40 a lb. Nannies by the pound sold from $1.10 to 1.25 and big billies by the pound were at $2.20 to 2.40. Lambs ranged from $2.20 to 2.50 a lb. for those under 75 pounds and the 80-to-90-pound lambs brought $1.85 to 2.10. Fat lambs were at $1.25 this week.
The outside sale had a large run of both small and big bales. Small squares of hay were mostly $4 to 9.50 top. Most of the alfalfa was from $6.50 to 7.50 a bale. Straw was pretty much $4.50 to 6 with bright colored bigger bales bringing the top. Small bales of cornstalks sold at $3.50. Big bales of rougher hay sold from $75 to 90. Better net wrapped grass hay sold at $100 to 140. Big squares of grass sold from $75 to 100 and alfalfa big squares brought from $95 to 124. Big round bales straw sold at $55, and cornstalks brought $45 to 50.
Hedge posts were soft at $2.50 to 15 on lines. Corners sold at $10 to 27.50. Lumber of all kinds sold good on treated and untreated lumber. Firewood was just average, and all kinds of misc. items sold to a very large active crowd again this week.
The cattle sale totaled up right at 1400 head of cows and feeders. Baby calves sold from $50 to 300. There was no test on cows this week by the head. The feeder run had several little calves under 300 pounds selling by the head that brought $400 to 600. $2.20 was the top on 350-pound steers. The top end of the four weight steers were at $2.17 and upper five weights topped at $2.01. Not much in for yearlings this sale. Weigh cow sale had 250 head again. Heiferettes and fat cows were $85 to as much as $1.20. Lean cows selling mostly $55 to 65. Bulls brought $80 to 1.00 a lb.
Sunday marked a first for me! I slipped over to the Roberts building for a dance program put on by the local girls! Layne was in it, and the drive couldn’t get any closer for sure. Those little girls sure get in the spirit of the program! It was good to get to watch her for sure.
This is sale week for our registered Hereford bred heifers on Wednesday at 1:00. That evening is our commercial bred heifer event at 5:00. It will feature an outstanding set of black cows coming with their second calf. They are bred to our Hereford bulls due to start March 1st. They will be sorted with sexed pregnancies. There is a very fancy set of black white face heifers AI bred to Genex Angus bull Standout. A group of Angus heifers AI bred to the same sire as well as a dandy set of Angus heifers AI bred to our Hereford bull Perfecto 84F.
The boys are cleaning up the barn and trying to get everything loaded out from Saturday. They will re-bed the pens and begin to move everything in tomorrow and get sorted up for the sale. If you are not busy, slip over Wednesday, Lauren will have the café open with great food and come see the heifers!
Have a Dandy Week!
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