Yearling sale touted a success

Prices were good and numbers were high Saturday, leaving organizers very happy with the results from the annual yearling sale at the Stratton sales yard.
More than 1,000 head of cattle went through the auction ring in front of a full buyers’ row. Many of the yearlings were trading in the mid-90¢/lb range, with heifers fetching more than $1/lb.
The couple of hundred calves in the sale pulled in even higher prices, with many selling in the $1.22/lb range–the highest going for $1.26/lb.
“I think we had a very good sale,” sales yard manager Russell Richards noted. “I think our Stratton sales have made a tremendous recovery in the last three years.
“I’d like to give thanks to all the supporters and all the producers at the Stratton sale,” he added.
“I think we have something to be pleased about,” echoed Peter Spuzak, president of the Rainy River Cattlemen’s Association.
“A few producers had sent cattle to Winnipeg and we started comparing prices and we were right up there,” he noted. “If you had reasonably good cattle, you had reasonably good prices.”
One of the big advantages farmers have selling livestock at Stratton is the chance to feed and water their cattle before the sale, Spuzak said, unlike cattle shipped to Winnipeg which suffer from shrinkage.
“If there’s anything a producer should look at is the effect of a long trip on cattle,” he remarked, saying cattle can look quite skinny after spending six to eight hours in a truck.
“Cattle should look healthy [at a sale] because it’s better for the farmer,” he stressed. “They should look at the cost of shrinkage on cattle.
“If you can save a few costs here and there by doing things in the district, that’s what we’re all about,” Spuzak said.
Richards noted many of the calves at the sale went to local producers in the Rainy River District Feeder Finance Co-op. And both he and Spuzak said this could bode well for the calf sale at the sales yard Oct. 3.
“It looks like calves will be at a fairly steady price and there will be a lot of people looking for calves,” Spuzak said.
“We do have a tremendous local support for our calves,” agreed Richards.