$1.1 million in cattle sold Saturday in Stratton

By Ken Johnston
Editor

With Old Man Winter still hanging on, the Rainy River Cattlemen’s Association (RRCA) had their hands full with their annual Spring sale Saturday in Stratton.
Normally a busy event, the colder temperatures meant that staff had to spend time keeping the water from freezing for the animals. “The staff had to work hard to keep things thawed, but we have good people so all was taken care of quickly,” said Kim Jo Bliss of RRCA.
Perhaps it was the colder weather that affected the internet as well. For the second time ever, the sale was broadcast over the internet so that buyers from afar can purchase animals from RRCA. “The internet component worked quite well other than a few issues with the internet itself. The tech guy from DLMS (Direct Livestock Marketing Systems) feels the problem is fixable,” said Bliss. Despite the technical glitches they sold $150,000 worth of cattle over the net Saturday!
That accounted for about 12% of the total sales for the day which when all was tallied up amounted to $1,173,409.26.
Cull cows, bulls, fall calves and yearlings were sold Saturday. A total of 1,357 head were purchased at the sale.
Over all Bliss said, “The sale was okay, but the market has dropped about 10 cents (per pound) so we sure would have liked to see more money for our producers.”
The next sale for RRCA is August 24th.