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May 2025 05/06/25 2:38:00 PM
5-29-2025
We have had a very cool week with a light shower or two. We have been in the low 50’s or even 40’s a few nights and back to the 60’s and 70’s during the day. It has stayed cloudy most days and threatens to rain but hasn’t done much. The forecast looks to stay dryer and get much hotter from here forward. It looks like it could be up to 90 on Saturday and higher 80’s for the next several days.
Saturday’s sale had a couple hundred hogs, 750 sheep/goats and 550 cattle. The hog market was steady to slightly higher on some really good sows getting to $0.68. The fat hogs topped at $0.65 to an Illinois locker buyer. Feeder pigs held to $1.00 to $1.20.
The sheep and goat sale was sure steady. The 70lb to 90lb lambs were the sweet spot at $2.50 to $2.85. The 30lb to 50lb lambs were mostly $100.00 per head up to $2.50 per pound. The ewes sold at $0.85 to $1.35 per pound.
Goats topped at $4.20 on 54lb on some fat boer kids. The bulk of the 50lb to 70lb kids were $3.70 to $4.00 per pound. Nannies sold at $1.35 to $1.70 per pound and billies at $2.10 to $2.35. The feeder kids weighing 20lb to 40lb brought right at $85.00 to $125.00 per head.
The outside sale had a lighter run on hay. Small squares sold at $2.00 to $5.50. Big rounds sold at $45.00 to $60.00 on new hay and $30.00 to $45.00 on cold crop hay. Big squares sold at $35.00 to $60.00 for mostly new crop hay. There was lots of miscellaneous items again this week. The trailer brought $3000.00, the boat was at $3500.00, WXR rake $3500.00 and flower baskets sold at $11.00 to $25.00. There was a very big crowd on hand and almost 2 hours of work for Colonel Derek this week.
The cattle sale had baby calves at $600.00 to $1150.00. Cows/calf pairs 3-8yrs old sold at $4000.00 to $4300.00. Older pairs sold at $2800.00 to $3500.00. The fall breds were more at $3200.00 to $3600.00 for the front end. Several breeding bulls sold from $3250.00 to $4750.00. The weigh cows and bulls were steady after the move up a week ago. The top cows sold from $1.60 to $1.75 and heiferettes and cows going home ranged up to $2.40. Several big bulls this week with 3 bulls bringing over $5000.00. King E33 weighed 2825lbs and brought $196.00. His son 20H weighed 2670lbs and brought $1.98. It’s a very good time to upgrade genetics in a breeding program!
Luke and the girls spend the last few days at a team roping futurity at Guthrie, OK. Luke won some money and the girls were able to get to the zoo, so I think they all had a good week!
We have moved some hay and hope to do some more today. The hay looks very good and we are expecting it to cure better over the next weekend! The crew finished up planning our silage corn and beans are in and the sweet corn is up! I hope to get Sudan grass and forage sorghum in over the weekend to wrap up planting for us this year.
We have the consignment machinery sale on Tuesday, June 3rd, a special feeder sale on June 7th and a special cow/bull sale on June 14th.
Have a dandy week!
5-21-2025
The good lord blessed us with some rain! It started Monday morning and dropped 2 inches by Tuesday morning! There were a couple small events on Tuesday and it looks like it’s all soaking in nicely! It was a very timely, awesome rain for the crop and the grass. It’s stayed cool with lows in the 40’s and highs up to 70. The forecast calls for cooler temperatures and a slight chance of rain again on the weekend.
Saturday was a very nice day with some wind! The crowd was big outside and just average inside. The hog sale had a butcher hog market of $0.68 to $0.75. Sows were active at $0.65 to $0.67 on the top end. Feeder pigs traded up to a dollar per pound on a lighter run.
The sheep and goat sale had 550 head and was active across all weights and classes. The lambs from 50lb to 70lb were generally $2.60 to $2.85 with 1 group at $3.00. The 70lb to 90lb lambs were just as high and very strong in demand. A fancy group of ewes with lambs brought $160.00 counting noses. That was for 5 ewes with 11 lambs! Cull ewes and rams sold at $0.85 to $1.60 per pound.
The goat market was higher on those fat 50lb to 70lb kids were at $4.10 to $4.35. Nannies were mostly $1.40 to $1.80 and billies at $2.10 to $2.40. Sheep and goats were shipped to Chicago, Michigan, Tennessee, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kentucky and New Jersey.
The outside sale had nice small squares of hay selling at $3.50 to $5.50. Big round bales of new crop hay was in the $45.00 to $60.00 range. The big square of alfalfa hay, some new crop sold at $35.00 to $50.00 per bale. A little more demand was noticed on the new crop bales. Derek had a big day of miscellaneous items again with a normal wide range of items. I sold a large consignment of flowers and plants for him. Hanging baskets were very steady at $20.00 to $30.00 each. Tomato plants that were big and blooming got as high as $20.00 apiece. The hedge line posts were $20.00 to $25.00 for the nice kind.
The cattle sale had 824 head. Baby calves sold lower at $600.00 to $850.00. The feeder cattle market was across the board very good and active on all weights and classes. A feature consignment of yearlings this week, had been purchased back in the fall/winter as lightweight, unweaned or vaccinated and very colorful calves! Producers had done a very good job growing them up and having them presented to sell and the market rewarded them for their efforts. That’s the best part of the business when we can help producers capitalize on their investment and hard work. A job well done to the Petersheim boys!
The weigh-up cow market jumped $8.00 to $10.00. This market is cooking now as the demand is picking up coming into grilling season! The top end cows sold from $160.00 to $170.00. The heiferettes and take-home cows were at $2.20 to $2.60 per pound this week. The bulls sold up to $2.05. As runs slow coming into summer this market will be forced to higher levels.
This morning we sent the last of the 5G heifers to pasture! YAHOO! That’s an awesome feeling! Heifers look good going out his spring. If mother nature treats us fair, they will be an incredible outfit coming back this fall!
I have one pasture that I’m fighting ticks and gnats in horribly! We poured with Protectus going out and that was just like spraying them with blood the way the ticks latched on to them. I gave them a doses of Ivermectin pour on and knocked them off for a short 2 weeks and they are starting back again. We are going to Permethrin this time, but I think I need some DDT! I will keep you posted on how they respond.
The boys finished up working the last group of pairs last Sunday! The granddaughters got in on working the calves! They had a big time helping for sure!
We will have a fancy cow/calf pair offering this Saturday featuring 10 1st calf heifer pairs and 30 running age cow pairs from the Kindig Dispersal. A very quiet, fancy set of cows. See the listing for all the consignments.
Have a dandy week!
5-13-2025
Warm and dry has found it’s way to southeast Iowa, the past few days. Highs are up in the 80’s most day and lows in 50’s and 60’s. It’s dry across a wide area and our forecast looks to be dry for several days ahead. Most of the crop will be finished up going in the ground this week. Several folks are starting to make first cutting alfalfa and boy does it look really good! I haven’t been seeing any blooms on ours just yet, but I would sure think it would in a day or 2. The forecast sure looks good for haying the next 10 days.
This week’s sale had a nice run of hogs. Not a big run, but a sample of all classes. Sows sold at $0.47 to $0.55. Fat hogs were mostly $0.60 to $0.68. The pig market was very active with all weights under 100lb at over $1.00 per pound. Boars were at $0.08 to $0.10.
Sheep and goat market had a very nice run also. The 40lb to 50lb kids sold up to $4.25 per pound with the bulk of them bringing $3.50 to $4.00. The 80lb to 90lb fat wethers sold up to $2.50 to $2.85 per pound. Nannies brough mostly at $1.50 to $2.00 per pound and bills brought $2.10 to $2.40 per pound.
The outside sale had a light run of hay but a lot of other inventory this week. The weather was good and the crowd was really large. The small square of hay sold from $2.00 to $6.00. Big rounds of dry hay brought $25.00 to $50.00 and big square of alfalfa ranged from $35.00 to $55.00.
Hanging flower baskets were really pretty and sold from $15.00 to $35.00. Several Mother’s Day flowers were purchase here Saturday! The little ranger truck sold at $4000. Hedge posts hit a season high of $160.00 for a stack of fancy 9ft posts! All kinds of other items had Colonel high busy till after 1 o’clock this week.
The cattle sale had baby calves selling from $500.00 to $1150.00. Several pairs and bred cows were in the sale this week. The black heifer pairs with April calves weighed 965lbs and sold at $3800.00. A really sweet set of red angus heifer pairs that averaged 1260lb brought $4200.00 to an Illinois buyer. Middle aged pairs with March calves, reds or blacks, were solid at $3500.00 to $3800.00. Older short/solid and aged pairs were $3100.00 to $3500.00. Fall bred younger cows sold at $3400.00, older fall breds were $2300.00 to $2800.00.
Pound cows and bulls were steady with 185 head in the run. Better slaughter cows sold at $1.60 to $1.70. Turnout heiferettes and feeding cows sold from $1.90 to $2.50 per pound. Over 20 head of bulls again with a $2.05 top and that bull brought just shy of the $5000.00 mark!
Monday the Mexico border was closed again, due to the New World screw worm control issues. Feeders closed at $6.00 higher and fats at $2.00 to $3.50 higher. Just as everyone thinks were have found a top, off they go again! Cash markets are perking along, as well as, fellas competing to keep inventory on hand for when cattle get really high!
Another group of 5G heifers are off to grass this week. That gets us to one group of black and some younger Herefords to finish up on the next week! I thought we were going to get some corn planted this week, but we are battling a weed issue! I hope to get that conquered and get planted by this week. It would be nice to get an inch of rain on the ground first though.
It’s a special feeder cattle sale for next week. Come out and take a look!
Have a dandy week!
5-6-2025
We were cooler over the weekend into the lower 40’s, but its been warming up to the low 70’s in the afternoons. It’s drying out some, but no field work going on near us yet. The forecast looks good with just a little chance of rain Thursday, going into Friday. It would look for a lot of planting to get going again by tomorrow.
Saturday saw a good run of hogs with an active market. Fat hogs topped at $0.75 on a group of pigs going to the locker. Most fat hogs were $0.60 to $0.65. Sows were steady at $0.50 to $0.55 on better kids over 450lb. Feeder pigs sold at $0.90 to $1.25 for pretty much all weights. A couple big boars brought $0.10 to $0.13.
The sheep and goat sale had 450 head. The bottle goats and lambs hit the bottom. Those kids and lambs were only $10.00 to $20.00 per head. The 50lb to 70lb lambs sold at $2.50 to $2.80. Cull ewes were $0.80 to $1.10. Kid goats from 50lb to 70lb brought $3.50 to $3.75, a few at 40lb still hit $4.00 per pound. Nannies and billies sold steady.
The outside sale had fewer bales of hay. Small squares were mostly $2.00 to $5.00 with one stack up to $7.00. Big round bales sold from $35.00 to $60.00. Big squares of alfalfa hay sold at $60.00 to $75.00. The way new crop hay is looking we will have some in well before the end of May!
Hedge posts topped at $100.00 per post on 15 nice straight 9ft posts. Mainly line posts were at $10.00 to $25.00 and corners at $20.00 to $40.00. There was a large assortment of items new and used for the outside sale. Derek worked until 12:30 again this week. There was a big crowd for that portion of the sale with bidders crowded up close where they could watch what was being sold.
The cattle sale had several veal calves again, over 20 head. The range for most of them were $800 to $1200. There was a 2-month-old heifer calf whose mother went to the weigh cow pen that brought $1550 by the head. Light calves were in high demand all day long! The 300lb steers and bulls dollared up from $1450 to over $1700, 400lb strs got as high as $1975 and some 524lb strs sold at $2150. A group of reg angus fall steer calves averaging 543lb brought $390.00 and a package of 34 head weighing 644lb sold for $3.51. Bigger steers weighing at 778lb at $3.16 and a load weighing 872lb brought $2.865. It seems like the higher demand was equally strong across all weights and colors.
The weigh cow business was $2.00 to $4.00 better and big bulls were $10.00 higher. Cows sold mostly $1.45 to $1.55. The top end cows reached up to $1.65 to $1.68. Heiferettes and turnouts were $1.85 to $2.20. Weigh bulls were sure good in quality and the market rewarded them with 2 bulls over $2.00 per pound. This would be the first week that we had a weigh bull over $5000! He weighed 2605lb and brought $204.50 or $5327 per head. A very significant part of cow/calf producers profit come from proper culling decisions. Keep one eye on the herd, one eye on the market and your bottom line will sure improve.
We finished up another group of 5G heifers this morning and sent them to pasture. The grass is starting to grow better since we are warming up more. Heifers sure look good going out this spring. The Ochsner heifers arrived here from Wyoming Saturday morning at daylight. They looked great even after a 14hr truck ride! They sent a bull along going to Maryland and 2 angus bulls going to Kentucky. I was able to work the Maryland bull in on a load of sheep going to Pennsylvania and got the other 2 angus bulls to Kentucky on the back of a hog trucking going to Tennessee! By Sunday morning, the bulls were all at their destination and all was good!
Three of the granddaughters are playing ball. Two of them are in T-ball and Layne is on a little league that uses a machine to pitch to the better girls. They are having a big time, as they start to learn the game. Cody is helping coach and she has got her hands full keeping everyone where they are supposed to be! On top of that 3 girls have a dance recital this coming Saturday. They are all busy and I’m sure summer will go by way faster than they want it to.
I forgot to mention the mushroom sale Saturday. We had over 30 bags a half pound or so to each. They ranged from $30.00 to $50.00 per bag. That might be the end of them for this year, but we shall see.
We have a very big run of cows, pairs and bulls this week! Come take a look!
Have a dandy week!
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