Cattle sale season a success

Well we successfully finished of our Sale Season this weekend. The cattle were all loaded and on their way to their new homes by 2:00 p.m. on Sunday which is record setting. On Saturday we sold 988 head. We were expecting a few more animals but because of the nice weather some had troubles getting their animals gathered up. The weather was better for this November Sale than our October 17th Sale! The total sales were $1,028,132.13. It has been a different year for us to say the least. We were used to having a barn full of people in to watch the cattle, enjoy a burger and coffee. We had to keep the doors closed this year. We didn’t like that either, but we all agreed that the safety of staff, buyers and the business of our Sales Barn was more important. We could not risk having the barn closed. One of our main buyers wasn’t present this last sale because he had been exposed to the virus and he himself was in quarantine. He viewed our sale online and sent his bids and still purchased a lot of the animals. But this is an excellent example of how quickly our area could have been exposed. Thank you to him for respecting the rules. The staff at the Sales Barn is a tight knit bunch and maybe we are all a bit foolish as we take time off our regular jobs/farms and spend long hours day and night working at the Barn. It is something that you either love or hate. It is a bit of an adrenaline rush to have the cattle come in, keep them all in their appropriate places and then move them back out again accordingly. It isn’t always easy but it sure can be fun. It wouldn’t happen though if our staff didn’t care about what they were doing. It isn’t the pay because many don’t even get paid, they volunteer. The staff recognized that we have a steady individual that is always there to fix up something to make things easier and they wanted him to know that he wasn’t unnoticed. Dave Martin was recognized as employee of the year! Dave is just there when you need him – whether it be a broken water line, a broken pole that a crazy cow busted, or a warm cup of coffee that the far end staff people needed! Thank you to Dave we appreciate you and all your efforts!
This Thursday November 12 is our AGM for the Rainy River Regional Abattoir. It will begin at 7:00 p.m. at the Emo Legion. We are asking that only one person per farm attend, you must be wearing a mask and we are asking no children attend. We are looking forward to updating everyone on our year! We really do have some good news to report!
Sounds like our “summer” weather is leaving us again, what a bummer. Sunday was such a beautiful day!