The fall run for Manitoba’s cattle industry is fast approaching, and one of the auctions that was closed for most of the summer, Ashern, is open again for sales.
Tyler Slawinski, an auctioneer at Ashern and Gladstone, said most of the cattle at Ashern’s Aug. 28 sale were for the slaughter trade.
“I didn’t see a lot of feeder-type cattle this week, but the cattle we did see traded fairly strong and fairly steady,” he said.
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“It’s pretty tough to put a market report together when you don’t have 100 feeder cattle,” he added, noting there were fewer than the normal number of buyers at the auction as well.
At other auctions open for the week ended Aug. 29, Winnipeg sold 220 cattle on Aug. 23 and Grunthal on Aug. 27 had 68 head. Ashern had yet to make its report available at press time.
Prices for slaughter animals at Ashern were good, Slawinski said, though prices for that class of animals in Alberta and Saskatchewan “are starting to soften somewhat,” while there’s good support in Manitoba.
He credited that to good supply and demand, along with a sizeable number of cows being held back.
“With the surplus grass, the high humidity and the showers passing through this province … nobody is in a big panic to move any cattle yet.”
He said yearlings will likely start coming to auction next month and that market is still strong.
The weekly crop report from Manitoba Agriculture said a number of pastures in the province improved following recent rains, but those in the southwest corner were still slow due to heat and dry weather. Overall, dugout levels throughout Manitoba were estimated at 65-75 per cent of normal capacity, with water still adequate.
A second cut of hay is underway. Cereal silage continues, with good yields reported.
The Gladstone auction delayed its usual reopening to better test recently installed computer and scaling systems, Slawinski said.
“We pushed back further than normal the start so we can track more volume, as we need a certain amount of cattle for the initial sale.”
Heartland Livestock Services at Brandon and Virden were closed for the week ending Aug. 29. Brandon will be open on Sept. 3, with Virden following on Sept. 4. Another two cattle auctions will return to business in early September. Ste. Rose is slated to resume sales on Sept. 5, followed by Killarney on Sept. 9.
