Improvements to barn help Stratton cattle sale run better

By Ken Johnston
Editor

While the number of cattle sold at the annual Rainy River Cattlemen’s Association (RRCA) Yearling sale Saturday was way down, RRCA president Ken McKinnon was very happy with the way improvements made to their facility in Stratton worked.
“Facility improvements were truly an asset to the sale. The lighting was like daylight in the ring. The new penning system allowed for no back up of animals exiting the ring and the new pen livestock watering bowls worked really well,” said McKinnon on Monday.
755 animals were sold at the sale. That is down from 1,204 last year, 1,350 in 2005 and 1,040 in 2004. McKinnon blamed that on the fact that an out of the area buyer heavily canvassed local producers offering to buy their livestock. “These were animals that would normally be sold through our sale,” said McKinnon.
He said that price was not an issue as they were getting as good and in some cases better than sales yards in Manitoba and Alberta.
“Good quality yearling steers were getting between $1.05 and $1.12 per pound. Yearling heifers 99¢-$1.05 per pound. Good cattle sold good poor cattle were discounted accordingly,” explained McKinnon.
While the improvements to lighting, penning and watering added greater efficiencies to the sale, there is still work to be done on the sales barn.
A Radio Frequency I.D. reader and a crowding tub and squeeze are still on the books. McKinnon said that between sales they hope to get the tub/squeeze in place. The rest of the work will likely wait until some time in the new year.
The next sales for the RRCA are a calf sale on Oct. 6 and a mixed sale on Oct. 27.
McKinnon said that the new sales manager Clayton Teeple and his family deserve a lot of credit for putting on a really good sale. “They deserve many thanks and worked some days into the wee hours to make it a success.”