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July 2020 07/13/20 6:38:00 PM
7-28-2020
It has been hot and humid over the past week! We did catch a shower Sunday night or early Monday morning and today was sure more pleasant. It seems like we line up for the hottest day of the week to have a sale! The forecast is calling for mostly clearer skies, more moderate temperatures, and maybe a more comfortable Saturday to have a sale.
The county fair season returned to a normal feel for Van Buren Co the past few days. This county way out did their selves with an outstanding event this year. The crew has been on a steady pace to replace old buildings and put a new face on the grandstand and grounds. This year they hosted open jackpot junior shows for hogs, sheep, goats, and cattle. Five states were present at the sheep and goat shows! The hog show had exhibitors from across the state. There were actually two cattle shows going on at the same time on Sunday afternoon with trailers parked everywhere. The truck show Saturday evening drew a sizeable crowd of folks of all ages. The ranch rodeo had five teams from Marengo, Maryville MO, Kirksville MO, Glenwood MO, and Green City as well as the local crew from Keosauqua. It was pretty warm, but it was a beautiful evening for the teams to compete. The local team had Colby, Ted, Luke, and Jed Martsching on it, and they roped well enough to win three events and finished 1st overall! Great job men and thank you Jed for saving them!
The fair finished up last night with the sale of livestock. Wow was it impressive to be a part of merchants and individuals stepped up in a huge way to support Van Buren Co 4-H and FFA youth and their projects. Many tears were shed last night as kids parted with their projects, but most should dry up when their checks come in! Congratulations to a very dedicated Van Buren Co fair board, extension, and 4-H & FFA leaders, the kids and their families in showcasing agriculture and youth in an outstanding fair that will be remembered for years to come!
Saturday brought another huge run of livestock. The hog market is showing slight improvement with heavy sows leading the charge selling from $33 to 37.50. Fat hogs were mostly in the $20s and pigs struggled to make it to 50 cents a pound.
The sheep and goat sale had right at 1000 head again this week. The market is easing up some but still is at a strong value for the middle of the summer. Fat lambs sold $1.40 to 1.50 while 60 to 80-pound lambs were mostly $1.75 to 1.90. Kid goats were solid at $2.70 to 3 a lb. for nearly all weights of meat goats. Nannies were $140 to 225 per head and billies mostly $250 to 350. Feeder kids around 30 pounds were steady at $100 to 135 per head.
The outside sale had a smaller run of small squares selling 850 and rounds totaled just over 100. Small squares were pretty much $2 to 5 while big bales ranged from $25 on old rough hay to $70 on new crop second cutting alfalfa grass net wrapped bales. Net wrapped wheat straw in four-foot bales brought $34 a bale. The old F150 stick shift with 230K brought $1500, the case tractor brought $550 and a wide selection of other merchandise gave Logan a nice workout auctioning on a hot day!
The cattle sale saw baby calves selling from $300 to 400 for week old beef calves and 250 to 300-pound calves were at $510 for heifers and $625 for bull calves. The five and six-year-old fall bred black cows sold at $1300 to 1400. Weigh cows sold steady to a $75 top and bulls topped at $107.50 a lb.
We finished pregnancy checking Hereford cows this morning and seem to have a good conception rate started. Only six percent open and running 77 percent AI bred! That a good spring for us. We will be staring on commercial heifers next week, so I am sure our percentages will even up!
Have a Dandy Week!
7-21-2020
Saturday lined up to be the hottest most humid day of the week again. We got thru it much better than the week before as there was a nice general breeze all day long. We received a couple of rain events over the past week and it cooled off nice Monday with just 80° for the high. There were a few showers in the area today and a chance for some more coming up on the next night or two then it cranks up the heat into next weekend again with 94° projected as the Saturday high! We are lucky I think to have received nice rains to get us thru the summer!
Saturday’s sale had 350 hogs to lead off the morning. The sows topped at $23 with most middle weight and light sows in the teens. Fat hogs topped at $30 with most in ranging from $20 to 25. A lighter run of pigs and less demand with the heat cranking up.
The sheep and goat sale had 1170 head this week topping last week’s big run! The market remained very strong with the majority of the lambs under 90 pounds over $2 a lb. and even a group of fat lambs weighting 134 pounds brought a $1.60 top. Ewes sold from $80 to 1.05 a lb. and bucks were in the upper $90’s. The kid goats were over $3 a lb. for most weights and classes. Nannies and billies held steady bringing $200 to 300 per head. The market hopes to hold for one more week then it may slow back to a more normal pace.
The outside sale had 250 big bales of hay and 950 small bales. Little squares dripped off a dollar with a couple of piles only bringing $1 a bale. The majority sold from #2.50 to 5. Big round bales were just a little higher with most around $40 and some old crop hay at $46. A few big squares of grass mix hay brought $30 to 40 and some alfalfa big square were up to $50.
The heat gets to me outside on a big day, so I called in Logan Wells to help with the auction duties out front this week. He does a good job and I look forward to working with him more as we get into the fall. There were no hedge posts this week with conditions not very good to move posts around. There were all kinds of misc. items out front this week to give him plenty of practice anyway. Tomatoes arrived in this week and the market was $7 to 10 for a 10 lb. box. The Massey square baler brought $950. Used tin, rubber mats and a cattle scale were a few of the other items out front this week.
The cattle sale had a lighter run with just a 100 head and mostly weight cows and bulls. The cow and bull markets were fully steady this week.
The boys were off catching some rogue bulls for some folks today. They left in good time in the morning and didn’t return much before dark. I’m sure there is a good story to reveal how their day went!
I was in Edina for the Knox Co beef show today. A smaller number but really a great group of parents and kids in the show today. I am very thankful that most 4-H kids have been able to get their projects shown this year.
The Van Buren Co Fair kicks off in Keosauqua this week. They will have their typical county fair. Livestock in for the five days of the fair. Grandstand shows including the Ranch Rodeo on Friday evening with $1500 in added money! This has been a great event at the annual fair and Colby is expecting 4 to 6 teams in for the show Friday evening starting at 7 p.m. Come enjoy the evening and all the events at this years Ranch Rodeo. The open jackpot hog show is Friday and a big goat and sheep open show is on Saturday. A double jackpot cattle show on Sunday. They will have a great fair this week in Van Buren Co!
Have a Dandy Week!
7-13-2020
Ole Mother Summer has got a good hold on us now! It has been in the 90° most days and humid as all get out. No rain in the past seven days. The forecast looks pretty much the same over the next seven days with a slight chance of rain on Wednesday.
Saturday’s sale lived up to it billing of having two sales in one week! We had a very large run of livestock and hay and it was a hot one! The hog sale started early and finished late. 490 head and really only one larger group of feeder pigs, it was mostly sows, boars, butchers, and light hogs. The market was steady on most weights and kinds. Fat hogs sold from $18 to 30 and a few 380-pound ones brought $15. Sows were just $23 on the ones over five hundred pounds and $12 to 20 on the rest. Pigs sold about 60 cents a lb.
The sheep and goat sale grew in head count all morning and they were still in line to unload when I went outside to sell hay. The sheep and goat sale totaled over 1100 head and the market was really strong this week. Lambs sold from $2 to 2.20 on 60 to 80-pound lambs and 100-pound lambs were $1.85 to 1.95. The top fat lambs brought $1.55. Old bucks were over 1.00 and ewes sold from 70 to 85 cents. The goat market was as hot as the temperature was Saturday! Kids weighing from 50 to 70 pound brought way over $3.00 a lb. to $4.00 on a few elite kids. Nannies and billies were high as well. Big wether goats weighing up around 100 pounds sold $300 to 350 per head.
The outside sale had 1165 small squares and 425 big bales of hay. The small square market was $2 to 8. Most of the hay was $3.50 to 5. A couple of piles of year-old wheat straw sold from $3.50 to 4. Big rounds of hay brought $35 to 45. Big squares of alfalfa topped at $50. Cornstalks sold at $18 for net wrapped big round bales. The hedge post market was $7 to 15 for lines. Mostly $20 to 40 for corners. All kinds of misc. items were out front this week and it was hot! Lowell Yoder kindly stepped in and finished up for me out there just before the lights went clear out for me! It was hot outside Saturday about 12:30!
The cattle sale had 509 head and it was hot! The market was sure good for the weather and the late start we had. We had five weight steers selling up to $1.70 and six weights up in the $1.50’s. Weaned bulls from 450 to 650 pounds sold from $1.25 to 1.45 A good pen of 975-pound black steers brought $1.13. Several packages of seven weight heifers sold rom $1.20 to 1.25. Weigh cows were steady on 75 to 80 head this week. The bulk of the cows sold from $64 to 68. The top bull was at $1.08.
We finished up selling about 7 p.m. The crew was wore out from the heat and all the challenges of moving stock with pens all maxed out with head count! It was a long Sunday loading out stock that was left over waiting on trucks. I stopped and checked a couple of groups of cows on the way down Sunday morning and arrived just before 8. Gabe was coming across the parking lot headed to start loading a sheep truck. I grabbed the paperwork and headed to the north side. I was met in the alley by stray hogs in the next alley, multiple gates were open, and all kinds of hogs and sheep were out and mixed up. Gabe remained very calm and collected as we worked thru the ordeal! By about noon the five of us had everything either loaded out or back to a pen where it belonged.
Lucas bales some hay on Sunday afternoon. I went back to mow some alfalfa and the rest of the crew caught up on chores and took a deep breath to rest up and cool out!
We shipped a couple of loads of yearlings this morning and will get some more sent this week. The fat trade is sure nothing to brag about, but the fellas have faith that the next turn will be considerably better!
I am headed to Kansas City in the morning to watch some of the National JR Hereford Show. Kids and cattle from 39 states are in attendance for one of this summer’s very best shows!
Have a Dandy Week!
7-6-2020
July is living up to its reputation of being hot and humid! We are in the low to mid 90’s every day and humidity will be 95% in the morning to 65 to 70% in the afternoon. This is sure perfect corn growing weather if we don’t run out of water. Some fields are starting to tassel, many will shoot out by next week. Folks are back to baling hay this week and it looks like a few oats may be harvested by next week. Grass in the pastures has been good but, the clover has been way over the top. I never believed clover would choke back fescue in this country (I saw some that did in Virginia), but I think we are seeing it happen this year! A hot and dry forecast for the next couple of weeks, so what has looked like euphoria may quickly evaporate. It has sure been good while it lasted, and we are thankful for that.
With no sale Saturday it felt like I had lost a kid somewhere! I don’t think anyone else had any remorse but when you skip a Saturday it sure feels odd! The boys and gals all scattered to relax and celebrate the holiday over the weekend. Part of them practiced putting the boat in and out of the water a few times! The ole girl doesn’t quite have all the cobwebs out of the engine just yet. I’ll give them credit, they seem to be committed to reaching their goal of having it motor up the river and they continue to invest time and dollars in it to see it happen. The grand daughter and parents spent time at a photo shoot with Lauren that turned out really amazing! Luke and Colby went to a pasture roping Sunday. They got hot, saw some good ropers, and helped those gentlemen make their July ranch payment. At least they got their horses rode and showed them some new country that will add value to them!
Becky answered the phone “No we are not having a sale today, see you next week”. I took off to mow some pasture and got the oats mowed Saturday evening. My brush cutter tractor doesn’t have AC and its darn good conditioning for me to get ready to sell outside at 11 a.m. when it is 95 °.
The markets have strengthened up locally and in Chicago. Hogs are creeping up, sheep and goats are strong, and yearlings are $4 to 6 higher, while the futures are hurrying to catch up! This week is going to be a test for fat cattle to see if we can gain any ground. Box movement was very strong over the holiday as people ate a lot of beef! Feedlots turning in counts to soon this week may knock any strength in the head, but let’s hope we can catch a little bit of strength. The Senators bill to get 50% cash negotiated and delivering with 14 days is laying in committee and going now where right now. Chairman Pat Roberts has not moved it up for discussion. I will leave the contact information here on who to call on the Senate committee. When it is hot and your ticked off because the baler broke or you hit your thumb while building fence, look up a number on the list and give them something t6o think about besides which lobbyist is taking them out for cocktails and lobster that evening! It is going to make a difference if they hear from you. If you are quiet, the lobbyist wins, and we are screwed again. Think about it and call them!
The county fair sale in Jefferson Co was a barn burner! It was a premium only sale this year with all the livestock going home after each show. The kids had a great time and the merchants of the area stepped way up in a hug show of support for youth in agriculture. I encourage all of you to attend a fair sale in your community and support our future at whatever level is comfortable to you.
Have A Dandy Week!!
This bill S.3693 must get passed out of the Senate Ag Committee, so please call these members and have them vote YES!
Members of Senate Agriculture Committee (2020)
Pat Roberts, Kansas, Chairman: 202-224-4774
Mitch McConnell, Kentucky: 202-224-2541
John Boozman, Arkansas: 202-224-4843
John Hoeven, North Dakota: 202-224-2551
Joni Ernst, Iowa: 202-224-3254 Already a sponsor. Thank her.
Cindy Hyde-Smith, Mississippi: 202-224-5054 Already a sponsor. Thank her.
Mike Braun, Indiana: 202-224-4814
Kelly Loeffler, Georgia: 202-224-3643
Chuck Grassley, Iowa: 202-224-3744 Already a sponsor. Thank him.
John Thune, South Dakota: 202-224-2321
Deb Fischer, Nebraska: 202-224-6551
Debbie Stabenow, Michigan: 202-224-4822
Patrick Leahy, Vermont: 202-224-4242
Sherrod Brown, Ohio: 202-224-2315
Amy Klobuchar, Minnesota: 202-224-3244
Michael Bennet, Colorado: 202-224-5852
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