Rick Neilson
A number of people were asked what, for them, was the outstanding feature of the Rainy River Cattlemen’s Association’s yearling sale held Saturday at the Stratton sales barn.
Lisa Teeple, working in the office overlooking the sales ring, said she was most impressed by the participation of local producers and the support of the community to make the sale a success.
Meanwhile, RRCA secretary April Szpara thought one of the outstanding features was how well the new handling facilities worked given the mud caused by the sudden downpours that made it hard to get the cattle down the alleyways.
She also noted how the new facilities will save on maintenance, energy, and labour costs.
“It’s an outing and a chance of paying off our loan,” remarked Trudy Reid, who runs a 70 cow calf pair herd near Thunder Bay with her husband, Jason.
They were in Stratton to sell yearlings they had bought at the calf sale there last year. They are looking at opportunities in
finishing beef and selling it directly to consumers.
For Kari Lemelin, administrator of the Rainy River Feeder Finance Corp. and Rainy River Breeder Finance Corp., Saturday’s sale presented an opportunity to explain the two programs to local cattlemen and accept membership applications.
Both programs provide financing to producers through funding from both the provincial and federal governments, and is delivered through the Ontario Cattlemen’s Association.
For his part, Kyle Sprung, livestock buyer for McSherry Livestock Farms, observed that at the Stratton sale, he is assured of getting legitimately farm-raised cattle as opposed to trader cattle.
“I like the yearlings out of here better than the calves because the health is always better on them,” he noted, adding it’s easier on the animals when they are pre-weaned.
McSherry Auction Services has been providing auctioneering services at the Stratton sale for a number of years. Along with the auction service and the livestock farm, the McSherry family also owns a trucking company and “deal with about 85,000 to 100,000 cattle a year.”
Ken McKinnon, president of the Rainy River Cattlemen’s Association, said the yearling sale had been as good as expected. He was pleased to see the prices for cull cows and bulls at higher levels, and some yearlings going “in the high 90s.”
McKinnon also said he appreciated the support of local buyers, and noted this year’s cattle were in good condition because the cooler summer had promoted good pasture growth and kept flies to a minimum.
As well, McKinnon expressed his appreciation for the support of the community in volunteering many hours to rebuild the sales barn facilities.
Aaron Kuorikoski, who farms near Stratton, suggested it was a good time to “clean up the herd while prices were good.”
Stefan Szeder, who runs 150 cow calf pairs on 1,500 acres north of Emo, had 42 animals consigned to Saturday’s sale. He was disappointed with the price the buyers were giving for a dozen finished cattle, so he took them back home.
Szeder originally had intended to finish the animals in anticipation of the abattoir being built in time for them to be processed. He now is considering sending them to Thunder Bay Meat Processors and then selling them locally as packaged beef.
It was noted by a number of producers that since the listeria scare earlier this summer, there is a remarkable increase in the demand for farmer-raised beef.
In the meantime, with funding in place, the Rainy River Regional Abattoir Inc. is now looking at tenders, but it is not certain whether construction on the plant in Emo will begin this fall.
