Cattle sale another success

Another successful cattle sale is behind us!
We sold 1,450 head for $2,289,556.88 on Saturday at the Stratton sales barn. That’s nearly $1,600 across the board!
Cattle prices have never been this strong and it is long overdue for most farmers.
The data from our sale is sent to a market report with the Beef Farmers of Ontario, and they were e-mailing me back asking if the data was correct since the prices were so strong.
I must say, however, that despite the prices being so high, so are all the input costs. And we have had many years where we made no money at all.
Things can change in a blink of any eye so I still think we all are cautiously optimistic. It would be great if we could stay home, farm full-time, raise our families, and make ends meet.
Let’s hope the next generation will see this and make it a reality.
Personally, I was very happy with my prices–I just wish I had more to sell! When you get $1,600 for a six-month-old calf, it sure seems hard to justify feeding them for another year to butcher!
This is why everyone is seeing higher beef prices in the store. So we are seeing happy farmers and less happy consumers.
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The weather certainly changed quickly. Funny how a week ago Saturday everyone was in shorts and T-shirts and then this past Saturday we were looking for our snowsuits.
It made for a muddy, wet cattle sale but thankfully we have a tough, hardy bunch of workers and they made it through it.
The wet fields don’t dry up too quickly at this time of the year and it’s a tough call–do we hope for nice weather or some frost so we can get back on the land!
I know what I would prefer but it is October.
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I took my first couple of fed steers to the abattoir and have the remainder booked over the next month.
The lambs are pretty much ready to go and we are getting them scheduled in.
Maddie and Marlee are pleased with the calves that we chose to keep at home, but we still are not in agreement over the lambs.
I think I will stand my ground and keep it as I planned, however. We are only a month away from breeding the ewes again, and in five months we will see lambs again.
I can tell you one thing. It is much easier rounding up the herd of cattle than a flock of sheep!
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I really am looking forward to Thanksgiving weekend! I hope I can stay home and just do my own thing—it’s been so busy that my head is spinning.
I have so much to be thankful for, but this year I think I will be most thankful for just being home!