What a sale we had at the Stratton Sales Barn on Saturday! It was smokin’ hot. We saw some pretty impressive prices on all classes of cattle. It is nice to see the producers happy with their cattle sales and it is hard for me to not question the auctioneer on prices as I was thinking “did I hear this correctly?” I say this with reservation as well as on the outside looking in, it would appear that farming is easy and we are all rich. This is not the case. Since 2020 our major inputs have risen drastically; gasoline 94 percent, diesel 110 percent, natural gas 85 percent, nitrogen fertilizer 128 percent, potash 84 percent and packaging/containers 30 percent. We sold 1592 animals for $3,650,388.43. It was a very long day. We didn’t finish selling cattle until 11 p.m. It is a long day for our staff and I sure hope they all know how much we appreciate them. I was anxious to get out of the barn that night but after the sale there is a fair bit of work to do. Luckily things balanced nicely and I was home by 2 a.m. It was an early morning of chores and organizing as I was off to Guelph by 11 a.m.
Our last ewe lambed on Friday morning so on Friday night I was able to turn all my night time alarms off – the first time since February 18th. I can’t say I have noticed the sleep yet as it has been a little too busy. We do have some extra chores for a bit since we have some lambs that are getting a bottle supplement. Thankfully my mom helps out a lot with that.
Though it has been reasonably dry, the barn yard is messy and it isn’t so fun feeding cows. I keep reminding myself – we just have another month left and if things go well the grass should be ready early June. The sheep will have to wait until the shearer arrives which is currently set for June 8. If you have sheep to be sheared please reach out to me and I will get you on the list.
This week I will have a summer student start at the Research Station. We have plenty of jobs to do and I am actually a bit thankful for the moisture we are receiving as it will slow down the need to get out on the land. We likely were close to going last week but I was not ready! There was some grain planted last week in the west end of the district. It is a busy time of the year and farmers really put themselves under a lot of pressure during the spring plant. The weather plays such a huge factor for them and it is certainly hard on mental health. Like I have mentioned previously please be patient with equipment on the road. These people are trying to do their jobs and they are likely rushing as much as they can.
Don’t forget about the Abattoir AGM – booked for May 15th, 7:00 p.m. at the Chapple Rec Centre.
