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September 2024 09/10/24 11:55:00 AM
9-25-24
We had a really, good rain fed cross a large area Saturday night and Sunday. We had 8 or 9 tenths, while some received an 1.5 inches and some up to 2.5 inches. It was sure a welcome soaker for all of us. It had been really dusty for a couple of weeks and this cleaned up everything and settled the dust again. The forecast looks nice to finish off September with. The temperatures have been high coming into last weekend but with the front that moved the rain through we have cooled down to the 50’s over night and lower 70’s during the afternoon. It looks much the same for the next 10 days.
Saturday’s sale had 400 hogs. The market on fat hogs was $0.48 to $0.52 except 6 hereford hogs brought $0.61. Sows sold from $0.60 to $0.64 for over 500lb sows and mostly $0.47 to $0.55 on lighter weights. Feeder pigs mostly brought $0.60 to $0.75 a pound for all weights. The market is trending lower for the time being.
Sheep and goat sale had 400 also. A little lighter run than the past couple of weeks. The lambs brought $2.00 to $2.30 on 60lb to 80lb fat lambs at $1.45 to $1.50. Ewes brought $0.75 to $1.15. Bucks brought $1.10 to $1.30 a pound.
Kid goats brought $2.50 to $3.10 a pound. Nannies were $1.10 to $1.60 and billies brought $2.00 to $2.20. A big wether brought $575.00! It seems like the market is stable and may hold until we see some strength after Halloween.
The outside sale had small square bale market at $2.50 to $6.00 on a lighter offering. The big round bales were mostly $30.00 to $50.00. The big square bales sold from $35.00 to $60.00. Very limited interest continues in the hay market at this time. Derek sold the miscellaneous items again this week and has made a great hand out front! The JD small square baler brought $3800. There were gates, steel posts, mums and heeler puppies along with all kinds of other items made for an active market out front again.
The cattle sad had 1185 head. The run was a third calves, a third yearlings and a third cows. The pairs sold from $2700 to $3100. The middle-aged cows with fall born calves and breds ranged from $2000 to $2500 and consisted of carious ages and pregnancy stages.
The feeder market was higher across all classes as fats are looking to moved up and feed costs are very reasonable. The 300lb steers brought up to $3.50, 400lb were at $3.40, and 550lb steers were at $3.15. The yearling steers weighing 800lb brought $2.51 and a group of 963lb steers brought $228.25. Heifers weighing 450lb sold at $2.86, 500lb sold up to $2.77 and 700lb heifers were mostly $2.30 to $2.35. The weigh cows were sold from $1.28 to $1.34 on the high yielding cows and bulls topped at $1.60
We finished up silage at Keosauqua and even did some earlage and still have standing corn left to shell later. Corn is really, really good! The drill has been following close behind the chopper. We weaned all the Hereford calves on Monday and Tuesday this week. The have summered well and weighed off really good. We are hoping to get the calves weaned at Luke’s again this week. (The first time didn’t work as planned.)
We will have some nice bred cows and a package of spring bred heifers in for this weeks sale.
Have a dandy week!
9-16-24
The last week has been one of great accomplishment, but a lot of hustle and organization got it done! The weather was in the hands of a much higher power and we needed a good week and he delivered! We are dry the past several days. It has been warm early in the week, but cooler when we needed it to be on Friday and Saturday. The temperatures rose to the upper 80’s early then topped at just 80 degrees over the weekend. It’s sure getting dusty now that we have missed the rains. The forecast is looking like dry and hot this week again with a chance of rain towards next Friday and Saturday.
We had some fourth cuttings alfalfa hay that needed put up so last week I started mowing on Friday afternoon and it baled on Sunday and Monday and my was that pretty hay that we put in the barns in big square bales.
The silage crew arrived on Monday afternoon and started at Pittsburg for Curt. They filled up there and then moved back over and we started Monday evening. We had fed the last drop of old silage Monday morning, so we needed some to feed Tuesday morning. They finished filling up the bunker Thursday afternoon. The corn is as good as we have ever chopped. It’s really, really heavy! We had some that blew down back in July and it was nearly impossible to get it to feed through the head on the chopper. Other than that, things went well this year!
Saturday was extra busy with the regular sale and the horse sale going on at the fairgrounds. The hog sale started things off with nearly 400 head. The fat hogs brought $0.56 to $0.61 per pound. Sows were mostly $0.70 to $0.75 per pound for over 500lb sows and the lighter sows bringing $0.60 to $0.63 per pound. The pigs ranged from $0.60 for some 110lb and up to $0.85 on some 50lb pigs. We had the biggest boar we have maybe ever had sold here on Saturday. This brute weighed 1255lbs.
The sheep and goat sale had 600 head. The market remains steady at $2.20 to $2.40 on the better kind of lambs. Fat lambs were at $1.50. The ewes ranged from $0.45 to $1.00 a pound. Kid goats sold at $2.75 to $3.10 for the fat boer crossbreds. Nannies were at $0.95 to $1.50 and billies brought up to $1.90 a pound.
Small square bales of hay sold from $2.00 to $5.00. Big round bales were $30.00 to $55.00. Big square bales brought $40.00 to $65.00. Mr. High was here to help with the outside merchandise. Some nice straight hedge line posts brought up to $42.00. Mums brought $12.00 to $14.00 on some nice pretty ones. There was all kinds of merchandise out front that kept us busy until 12:30pm.
The cattle sale had $210 head. Baby calves sold at $650 to $800 for the top beef claves. A couple of small packages of 300lb bull calves that brought up to $3.40 a pound and 5 head of blk 700lb bulls that brought $2.30 a pound. Little heifers in the 300lb range sold for over $3.00 a pound and a package of 495lb heifers brought $2.74 a pound. The weigh cows moved lower with a few at $1.40 but a lot of cows sold from $1.25 to $1.35. The top bulls were at $1.78 and most were $1.55 to $1.63. We finished just after 3 o’clock and I stepped over to the horse sale just a bit to check in on them!
The horse sale crew spent the last few weeks getting everything ready to go. Horses needed rode, the arena needed a manicured, and temporary pens needed set up at Luke’s and the fairgrounds to accommodate 95 horses. Luke held a jackpot roping on Friday at the arena starting at 11am. They had 190 runs in the first go around! It was set to as a 4 head progressive, so if you miss you are out. The second round had 87 runs, and the third round had 43. The short go had the top 20 fastest times. There was a great crowd, crew and contestants made for a really good roping.
Saturday morning at the arena was the preview of all the sale horses starting at 8:30am. All the riding horses were worked either on cattle, roped or just worked in the arena. At 11:30am everyone moved over to the fairgrounds and the sale started at 1:00pm. Cody and the girls, with a little help from Becky, Rachelle and Courtney had the set up and decorated the ring in a really awesome fall, western theme. It was pretty cool looking! The sale kicked off at 1:00 with over 500 people in attendance. Horses sold all across the US to buyers in the seats and on the internet. They had an incredibly good sale for the inaugural event here in Keosauqua!
Sunday, they cleaned up the fairgrounds and gave thanks for all that had just transpired the past few days! I loaded out at the barn until 10:30am and then I went to Macomb, IL for the Lowderman Hereford sale. There was a nice crowd, good cattle and a great crew there, which made for a good sale. There was a considerable amount of cattle that carried the influence of a couple of my bulls in this sale. It was good to se them get along with them.
I got back last evening in time to get 2 granddaughters some ice cream. Even though there were a lot of highlights in this busy week, my time with these little girls is the best it gets for me!
Next Saturday we will have several cow/calf pairs as well as 1000 head of feeder cattle.
Have a dandy week!
9-9-24
September has given us a beautiful end to summer. Sunny with temperatures in the low to mid 70’s most days and lows to the mid 40’s some nights. We have been dry for a week and the forecast looks the continue to be dry for the next 10 days. Temperatures are going up in the middle of the week to 85-88 degrees and then cooling back off. Everything is still green here as we move closer to fall. Generally, by now it is brown and burnt up until some fall rains move through. It’s been a pretty, unbelievable grass season here this summer. We are very thankful for that.
Saturday, we had a good run of hogs that sold to a higher market. Fat hogs led the charge selling at $0.75 to $0.82 per pound. Sows were selling up to $0.75 on over five hundred pounds and light sows were mostly $0.60 to $0.70 per pound. Big boars ranged from $0.10 to $0.15 per pound and light boars brought $0.32 to $0.35 per sound. Pigs sold steady to better also. Pigs weighing 35lb brought $42.00 per head. Some 65lb pigs brought $52.00 and some 80lb pigs brought $65.00 per head.
The sheep and goat market was mostly steady across all classes. The lambs weighing 60lb to 80lb were $2.00 to $2.35. Fat lambs weighing over 100lb were solid at $1.60 to $1.65 a pound. Ewes brought $0.90 to $1.00 and bucks were scarce.
The goat market had several cull dairy nannies this sale that brought $1.35 to $1.55. Kid goats topped at $3.00 for 51lb kids and big wethers sold at $2.00 to $2.70 a pound. Billies brought $1.65 tp $1.85 a pound for bigger older types. We had good interest in all classes this week.
The outside market had a pretty good-sized run of hay. Small square bales topped at $4.00 and straw sold up to $4.00 a bale. Big square bales of pretty 3rd cutting alfalfa brought $90.00 a bale. Another large stack of big square bales of alfalfa brought $50.00 to $65.00. Round bales of net wrapped grass say were mostly $30 to 45 a bale. Interest is very mediocre on round bales right now.
Young Derek high was on hand Saturday to help with the outside auction. He is a sharp you man with a lot of talent, and we are sure glad can assist us on Saturday. The mums sold at $8.00 to $13.00, a chicken coop sold for $900 and steel posts sold at $1.50 to $3.50 apiece. No hedge posts were sold this week.
The cattle sale had 800 head this eek. Baby calves sold from $150 on a tiny black calf to $850 on a good strapping blk bull calf. Cow/Calf pairs topped at $3800 for 3 pairs. The cows 3-5 yrs old and were 75 days bred and had 400lb calves at side. They were a very high quality outfit! The feeder cattle market was pretty active. With all the negativity in Chicago going on last week. The 380lb blk steers right off the cow sold at $3.30 as did some 410lb steers . Some 519lb steers right off the cows sold for $2.97. Six weight steers sold at $2.70 and 716lb xbred steers sold at $2.60 a pound. Heifer calves weighing 324lb sold at $3.15, 442lb blk heifers sold at $2.95, 604lb heifers sold at $2.57 and 700lb heifers were up to $2.32 per pound.
The weigh cow market was fairly, steady on 140 head. The top cows were still over $1.50, with the bulk of the good yielding cows $1.40 to $1.45. Big bulls ranged from $1.40 to $1.80 on 20 head. While I was on the tractor yester I was thinking about the number of bulls that go to town every week in our little part of the world. At an average of 17 head per week, it takes 884 bulls a year to replace them! It’s a good thing the market will give the producers a good check to help them purchase new genetics for the next calf crop.
The crew has a lot going on this week. We have hay to bale; the chopping crew is moving in to get the silage done and its horse sale week! Some folks are coming in Wednesday for the sale. There’s a big team roping on Friday and the rest of what we do every week is still going on. These are the kind of weeks that help build character in the team members!
I attended a meeting in Ames last week on new tagging rules coming along November 5th. There doesn’t look to be too much of a change in what is required to be tagged as of this fall. Bud cows, feeding cows, bulls going to feed and all dairy cattle are required to be tagged, which is the normal standard. The change is regarding using RFID tags, rather than the metal clips. There is no information stored on that tag, only a 12-digit number. It should be a simple transition for get services and us to make.
We are having a regular sale, to hopefully a very light sale next Saturday. With a horse sale and the wedding at the fairgrounds and we won’t have much help or much parking!
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