Prices strong at Stratton Cattle Sale Saturday

By Jack Elliott
Correspondent

The Rainy River Cattlemen’s Association held another successful sale at their sales yard in Stratton on Saturday, April 25. A half dozen order buyers were arrayed against the sales ring while local sellers, buyers and spectators filled the galleries. Just over 1300 head were on offer, mostly yearlings, and fall calves, with approximately 120 cull cows, and bulls filling out the slate.
Auctioneer Mike Nernberg of Minnedosa, MB. Managed to coax some very strong prices out of the bidders. Good, fleshy, age verified cows were bringing strong prices, topping out around $63 per cwt with the bulk of those going to the order buyers. Yearling steers in the 700 to 900 lb range were running at $1.10 to $1.15 per pound. Light steer calves were going from $1.20 to $1.27 with one lot topping at $1.30/lb. Heifers were running 8 to 10 cents a pound less than steers.
“Prices through most of the sale were strong with local buyers picking up a lot animals to go back on grass,” said Emo area producer Kim Jo Bliss who was working the sales ring desk. RRCA president Ken McKinnon and Secretary/Treasurer April Szpara reported prices were at least equal to or stronger than other recent sales in southern Ontario and Manitoba. They also were firm in their belief the Feeder Finance program has a major positive influence on prices. Early estimates by Szpara were that about half the feeders went to local buyers. A full summary of the sales results will be available later this week.
“After locals had filled their requirements, there might have been a bit of slackening in demand, but I think most sellers were happy with this market,” Bliss added.
A new system to read the RFID tags (Radio Frequency Identification) attached to the cattle’s ears worked fairly well, although there were a few software glitches said Bliss. This system reads the identity of each animal as they are run through the receiving chute, automatically detailing it’s history and providing “age verification”, a requirement for beef animals being exported to the U.S.
Producers pay a total of about $21 per animal, which includes sales commission, feeding, and GST said Bliss. The Rainy River Cattlemen’s Association started the Stratton Sales Yard in 1961 as a method to stimulate buyer competition and improve returns to area cattle producers. It remains a major force is the District cattle industry.