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November 2019 11/05/19 10:38:00 PM
11-19-2019
Temperatures have moderated some this week. We have had highs up to the upper 40’s and lows in the upper 20’s. This week’s forecast is calling for warmer weather but a good chance of rain Wednesday afternoon and evening with a half to an inch of accumulation. We could do without that! The past week’s weather has sure been good to catch up on some much-needed work both in the fields and just around the farms. I may have the only beans left in the field in this area! There is about 15 to 20% of the corn left to go. It sounds like yields have been very good, even over 200 bushels in some fields. Moisture is a little high, but I don’t hear anyone say they can not get gas to get it dried down. A few stalks have been baled, but several would like to get more baled if it doesn’t rain too much!
Saturday’s sale was another busy day at the sale barn. The hog sale led off with an extra-large run again this week. I guess folks are trying to get rid of their chores before more snow flies and the waters freeze up! Fat hogs sold from $40 to 44 and big sows topped at $45 this week. The feeder pig market was mostly 60 to 70 cents a pound on nearly all weights.
The sheep and goat sale also had a big run with over 400 head. The top seven head of boer kid goats averaged 57 pounds and sold for $180 per head. Most of the meat type market kids brought from $2.25 to 2.75 a lb. The best 70-pound lambs brought $1.80 a lb. Fat lambs made it to $1.54 this week. A ring full of ewes with some lambs on them brought $155 per head for ewes and lambs alike.
It was really nice to be outside for part of the sale again this week. A big crowd was around out there for hay and misc. Small squares sold high across all types of hay. This week’s range was from $4.50 to 10 with most in the $7 to 8 range. Wheat straw sold from $5 to 6. Cornstalks of small bales sold from $4 to 4.50 per bale. Big rounds of grass hay that were net wrapped sold for $85. Rougher set aside hay in smaller bales brought from $27 to 55. The first big round bales of cornstalks were in for the season and brought $47.50.
The hedge post market was steady with good corners reaching $39 and lines up to $18. The green toolboxes continue to be steady from $200 to 300. We finished up outside right at noon and went back in the barn to start on the cattle.
Baby calves led off again with beef calves selling from $100 to 250 and dairy calves from $25 to 60. There sure is not any positive change in those markets yet this fall. Not much in for bred cows this week after the big run last week. Feeder cattle had solid demand across all weights and classes with the most enthusiasm in 450 to 525 black steers and yearlings of any kind. We sold a group of cross bred yearling steers weighing 897 pounds at $143.50. A nice group of heifers weighing 744 pounds brought $143. A top set of 501 black steers brought $168. The weigh cows hit a $70 top and quite a few cows sold over $60. The top bull was at $90. There were over 100 cows in the weigh cow sale again.
Colby hurried around Saturday night getting cattle settled in for the night and took off by 8 to go coon hunting. There was a contest that night to catch the two biggest coons and he went to get them! They were able to get some but didn’t win the contest.
Sunday was busy load out and getting cows moved around to re pregnancy check the Big Bend sale heifers. Doc arrived in good time Monday morning and three of us started on the Herefords while Luke and Colby walked the black white face heifers down the road to the corral where we were working. We went to work on them, and they went back up the mile dirt road and walked the second calf cows down the mile road to the corral. We stopped thirty minutes at lunch and went right back to work and by 4:30 we had gone thru all the sale cattle and a group of cows that came home from Missouri while we were processing. The heifer sale girls all get oral Safeguard, Clean up 2 pour on, Scour Bos vaccine, pregnancy checked, and we read their metal ID tags and enter into the computer. It was awesome to get them done, but I am sure everyone slept good that night. When we would finish a group Colby and Luke would head them back up the road to the north end where they will stay until sale time. Even the horses were tired Monday night.
Tuesday, I went to weigh a light load of heifers early then ran back home to help the boys pull CIDRs in the fall cows and vaccinate the calves.
A special feeder cattle sale this week and it looks like 750 to 1000 head again this Saturday.
Have a Dandy Week!
11-11-2019
The past week of weather has been really nice. Temperatures in the 50’s, sunny and dry all week long. Today Mother Nature dropped the temperature, turned on the fan and powdered us with the third snow of the season! It is brutal cold this evening going down to 5° overnight and only 17° for the high tomorrow! The forecast calls for a nice warm up after tomorrow and dry, so we might get rid of our snow again until the next time.
Grain farmers had the best week of the fall making huge strides in getting the crop brought in. Beans are pretty much all finished up and corn is down to the last 25%. I do not see many corn stalks baled up yet. I assume weather permitting there may be a lot of baling go on as these last acres of corn get shelled. I continue to get calls of folks looking for stalks, so I sure hope they get some baled up.
Saturday was busy again. We started at 9:30 on hogs and the run totaled 250 head. Fat hogs were in the $40 to 47 range and sows topped at $44. The best pigs in the sale were a spunky set of duroc pigs from the Bates brothers for IL. They averaged 84 pounds and brought $64. They were thick backed, heavy muscled outside pigs that really showed the eye appeal that livestock needs to command top value at the auction!
The sheep and goat sale moved 550 plus thru this week. The market was pretty steady across the classes. We had a consignment of bred ewes in this week. They were white faced cross ewes that had been ultra-sounded to confirm pregnancy and they sold for $260 per head. The top fat lambs were at $1.50 and the better 60 to 70-pound lambs brought $1.80 to 1.90. Goats remained steady across all weights this week.
The outside sale had an average run of hay and some very good hedge posts. Small squares of hay sold from $4 to 8. The straw was at $5.50 to 7 for wheat straw. Big bales of net wrapped mixed grass hay brought from $60 to 75. Smaller bales of rougher quality brought $35 to 45. No stalks bales! The hedge post market was very good and the quality was high! Top corners sold at $50 to 60. The best lines topped at $24. There was a big assortment of misc. items of all kinds. Mike was on hand to help with the auctioneering duty out front and I headed back in to start the cattle sale. I did hear that the toolboxes sold at $300.
The cattle sale lasted all afternoon with over 900 cattle sold. Baby calves brought from $150 to 350 on beef calves, Holsteins brought from $20 to75. This sale had bred heifers, cows and pairs as well as feeders. The top bred heifers were black white face bull bred heifers due in March weight 950 pounds and they sold for $1350. The top bred cows were 6 to 8 years old due yet this fall brought $1200 and the sprig breds that same age sold from $950 to 1150. Feeders had good demand for being after 3 p.m. when we got to them! They were mostly unweaned calves with no work done to them. Weigh cows came out of the country everywhere this week! There were over 200 head of weigh ups. The top fat cow was $67 on an 1810-pound Angus cow. Several higher yielding cows sold from $60 to 65. The top bull brought $82.
The sale finished up by 8:30 but the crew didn’t get finished until after midnight again this week. Sunday morning, I did chores and headed back down to load out. Sure is nice to have the daylight in the morning to see what I am feeding. Sunday at noon was Layne’s first birthday out at the Lodge in the State Park. She had a big day with friend and family helping her celebrate.
Today we caught up moving cattle around and even managed to get CIDRs put in my fall calving cows after moving them home!
A special feeder cattle sale next week. There should be 800 to 1000 head for this sale.
Have a Dandy Week!
11-4-2019
Two snows last week! Three inches of heavy wet snow on Monday. Most all of it melted Tuesday. Wednesday saw another three to four inches of the white stuff! We sure didn’t need it, but it was really pretty that morning. The grass is green, the leaves are all colors of yellow, red and green and white snow all over everything made for a darn pretty morning. By Friday the snow was all gone again, but it was muddy again. Sunshine on Saturday made for a perfect day for the sale.
This week was our 32nd annual customer appreciation sale and BBQ. It sure doesn’t seem like 32 years have gone by already! The cycles of agriculture and the swings in the market can be very challenging to deal with. Those things can put a different tone to the sale from year to year. The folks we get to do business with over 32 years are what continues to be the most rewarding and constant part of the marketing business. Our family wants to say a very large thank you to all of our buyers and sellers over the past years and look forward to working with everyone in the years to come.
Saturday was a beautiful crisp sunny day here in Keosauqua. The crew had a big Friday putting 1500 cattle away by evening and Saturday morning started early with trailers lined up at both chutes with cattle on one side and hogs, sheep & goats on the other side. We made plans to start 30 minutes early and we were rolling on hogs at 9 a.m. It’s a darn good thing we got going early as we had 550 hogs this week! Sows were steady with a $44.50 top on six weight sows and a $48 top on fat hogs. Several groups of feeder pigs in the sale and they sold from $60 to 75 cents for the better-quality pigs.
The sheep and goat sale had over 400 head thru the ring and the market is getting higher. 50-pound lambs sold at $212.50 and fat lambs brought $1.50. Kid goats weighing 50 pounds brought $125 to 135 a head and heavier kids sold up to $2 a pound on 100-pound kids. The top billy brought $350 and the better nannies brought $175 to 230 per head.
The outside sale started at 10:30 and had a larger run of small squares bales of hay and straw. The hay ranged from $4.50 to 7 this week and the wheat straw had very strong demand and brought $6 to 7 per bale. Big rounds of mixed grass hay, net wrapped were steady at $60 to 70. Set aside small bales were from $30 to 40. Big squares of premium alfalfa hay sold for $100 to 115 and some wet wrapped big squares sold at $40.
There were lots of misc. items out front this week and an extra-large crowd to have lunch and enjoy the sale. The kitchen crew started serving about 11 and by the time the rush was over there were 450 thru the lunch line. Joe Noe did an awesome job of preparing the meat and I only heard one complaint! One fella thought he was coming for prime rib! Order buyers can just be abusive to market owners!
The cattle were outstanding in quality and condition this week. We sold 2140 head and the market was pretty good across nearly all the sale. The 450 to 525 black steers calves sold from $1.65 to a 1.88 top. The top six weight steers brought $1.54 and a load of 837-pound steers sold at $1.47. The heifers were about $20 back except on those 675 to 750 heifers and they were just $10 back of their steer mates. Weigh cows sold steady with a $67 top, but the majority of the better cows were $50 to 57. Bulls sold from $72 to 80. We were all finished with the auction by 7:30, but lots of trucks to load and stock to get arranged before the guys were done. Everyone but Colby was done by 10:30, but he had trucks to load thru the night. I am sure glad he lives close to the sale barn!
Sunday was busy loading out and catching up around the farm. We have started putting our commercial replacement heifers in and Luke and crew are keeping a good eye on them. We also moved the black white face bred heifers’ home for the Big Bend Ranch sale that is coming up fast on December 4th.
This week the weather is nice and gives us a needed break to try and get caught up before the cow sale coming up this Saturday. It’s looking like 250 to 300 bred cows, heifers and pairs for this Saturday.
Have a Dandy Week!
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