Just got home from the auction mart...

[kato]

Holy jumpin' jackfish.... Talk about a hot commodity! Not looking to good for us buying feeders this fall. It will take some time to wrap our heads around these prices before we are comfortable with it.

Supply could be a big driver here. Usually Brandon has two or three big presorts for yearlings in the early fall. This year, one sale, 818 head. There was one scheduled at the end of August, and it was cancelled due to lack of cattle. Last spring one of the buyers told Hubby that literally every feeder he bought went south. Could they all be gone already? What will happen when they pull the plug on MCOOL? Or is that being factored in already...

All I know is that those 90 auction mart riff raff we bought last spring are sure looking like they were a good investment. May be able to pay some bills up this fall. Nice change.

To all those who dug in their heels and stuck it out through the nightmare years, I salute you. May these markets stick around for a while. They have been earned, and are much deserved.

Don't ever let anyone make you feel guilty for finally having some prosperity come your way.

[grassfarmer]

Was at our local auction today also. We were selling the bottom half of our yearlings, the big end are retained for our grass-fed beef program.
Got about what we expected - steers averaged 870lbs and $2.1475 for $1864. A good chunk of profit in that the way we run cattle.

I saw 4 little heifer calves you could have bought to background kato - 310lbs, nondescript sorts - made $3.22/lb. Don't fancy the risk on that one given fresh weaned flyweights, snow on the ground with 20C temperatures in a weeks time. Would hurt to lose them at $1001 a go.

[kato]

Our thoughts exactly. They are too expensive to lose. The profit would still be there as individuals, but a wreck could make a group into a disaster pretty quick.

I guess we'll wait for the run and see how things shake out.

[ag-boy]

true to me last week Holstein old cows over 2000 dollar! at auction in sask
one old bull little over 2900$
we had a large tour here from europa'
first thing noticed our tender long grain fed beef.
we only have grass fed beef here ,and does not tasted like alberta beef !!!
so nice to hear this about Canada beef!

[grassfarmer]

Which part of europa did they come from? Beef produced purely from grass there is such a rarity now I can't imagine that's why they preferred AB grain-fed beef. Most beef in Europe is too tough because the genetics are too lean. I was impressed with the consistency of the beef here when I first moved - the feedlot environment makes it easier to produce a more uniform product. Maybe if you'd told the Europeans the $%#& put in the feedlot cattle here they wouldn't be so enthusiastic?

[grassfarmer]

Talking about Europe I was doing the math today and Scottish fat cattle are running around $164 Cdn while our feeder steers here are about 25% dearer than they are over there.
I don't imagine that will have ever been the situation before.

[kato]

Do you think the vote has affected their markets?

[grassfarmer]

No, not at all that's just the level their cattle are at - which is good by UK standards - not a historic high but not that far off one either.
Thinking about it if the lunatic side succeeds and get a "yes" vote all bets are off on markets and everything else. I don't think there is much chance of a vote in favour of independence though.