‘Top of the line’ cattle sale slated Saturday in Stratton

Some of the best beef animals in the district will be gathered at the Stratton sales yard this Saturday for a “top of the line” cattle sale.
Pure bred and cross-bred cattle will be put on the auction block at 1 p.m., with Telford Advent calling the sale. Stalls will open for prospective buyers to view the cattle at 11 a.m.
“A top of the line sale is a quality sale, meaning we have to bring the cattle to the sale that are not shipping quality–they’re something used for breeding stock,” noted Kim Jo Calder, one of the organizers.
“It’s a 30-lot sale,” she said. “A whole bunch of us have put in a couple of animals [each]. It’s a real variety–we have every breed.
“There are a few steers entered that kids could use for 4-H stock,” Calder added.
Catalogues listing the background of each animal, including breed, are available at Emo Feed and the Stratton Community Store. Any reserve bids on the animals also will be listed.
“It sounds like we have a few people coming in from Dryden,” Calder said, noting some western breeders also might show up Saturday.
Having a variety of cattle on sale in one place makes things much easier on the buyer than just going up to someone’s farm and seeing if they have any cattle for sale, Calder noted.
“And it’s a good way to let people know you have cattle for sale,” she remarked, saying a farmer can make a lot of contacts at sales like these and invite the buyer back to their farm to see other livestock.
Calder noted the local Hereford Association used to hold these “production” sales each fall although they waned in the late 1980s. Many of the producers back then felt they were still “new in the business” and wanted to keep the good animals for their own herds, she explained.
“Now it’s 10 years later,” Calder said. “We kind of feel there’s a need for [the sale again] and a need for us breeding stock people to open it up to the rest of the district.”
Having 30 entries makes Saturday’s auction just the right size to bring an annual top of the line sale back to the district, Calder said. So far, everything is shaping up nicely.
“The nicest part of it is we’ve included so many breeders,” she enthused. “We really have a nice mix.”