The number of cattle heading to Manitoba’s weekly auctions has remained strong and is likely to remain so for the coming weeks, according to Allan Munroe of the Killarney Auction Mart.
For Killarney’s March 20 sale 1,468 head were auctioned.
“A big part of it was 1,200 of them were coming from the week before,” Munroe said, noting the March 13 sale was cancelled due to adverse conditions. “We’re still going to see 900 to 1,000 coming next week.”
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Overall, 8,844 cattle were sold during the week of March 17-23 at eight of the reporting auctions. For the week prior, there were 8,430 head auctioned among the six facilities that reported.
At Killarney, one producer brought in 230 steers, another sent 100 and a third sold 78, Munroe said.
“Cattle producers tend to be creatures of habit. They tend to sell when they want to sell,” he quipped.
Munroe said most of the cattle coming in have been steers and the Killarney auction as well as others are waiting for a large influx of heifers.
“I think we are seeing a shift to when they are marketed,” he said, suggesting that calving this year has been somewhat later than usual.
Prices remain strong as the supply of cattle has dwindled.
“It’s taken a big hit over the last couple of years,” said Munroe, adding that demand has been strong as well lately.
Prices for feeder steers and heifers were steady to higher for the week of March 17-23. Across the province, feeder steers in the 500 to 600-pound category had a low $285 to a high of $360 per hundredweight. The week before those steers fetched a low of $272 to a high of $342/cwt.
Among the feeder heifers, the 500 to 600 pounders last week garnered $225 to $305/cwt. The previous week they went for $225 to $323/cwt.
It was much the same story for the slaughter market with D1 and D2 cow fetching $100 to $135/cwt. during the week of March 10-16. The following week they brought in $100 to $134/cwt. Mature bulls sold for $105 to $159/cwt.
