Most cattle auction sites in Manitoba held regular sales for the last time this season during the week ended June 15.
Killarney and Ashern Auction Marts conducted their final sales of the season on June 12 and 14, respectively. Winnipeg Livestock Sales will begin a bi-weekly summer schedule on June 23, while Gladstone Auction Mart will host its last sale June 27.
Heartland Livestock Services in Brandon and Virden will take every three weeks off, but Grunthal Livestock Auction Mart will continue its weekly sales throughout the summer.
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In total, 4,217 cattle went through the rings during the week.
Tyler Slawinski, auctioneer at Gladstone and Ashern Auction Marts, said he is seeing unprecedented high prices every week.
“We’re in uncharted waters as far as this feeder market goes. I would imagine it’s going to keep climbing as demand for top-quality Canadian beef is still present,” he said. “The question and concern are how long is it going to take to find that high level for the consumers on the meat counter in the grocery store?
“It’s obvious packers were definitely making a lot more money per head instead of sharing it with fellow cattle producers and everybody else in the chain. But maybe it’s time that they do share a little more so everybody can make a little more and try to keep a reasonable price on the beef counter for local consumers.”
Feeder steers in the 500- to 600-lb. range sold for as much as $404 per hundredweight during the week, with one lightweight steer in Gladstone selling for $461/cwt. Feeder heifers in the 700- to 800-lb. range sold for as much as $314/cwt.
As for slaughter cattle, D1 and D2 cows sold for $115-$156/cwt. Mature bulls ranged in price from $105 to $179/cwt., while heiferettes sold from $130 to $220/cwt.
Slawinski said that with most auction sites closing for the summer, it will be hard to find cattle to be sold. However, if dry conditions continue, auction sites may be forced to re-open earlier than expected.
“There seems to be grass right now. Everybody’s desperate for rain and if we don’t see some timely rains in some areas, there’s going to be some sales really early,” he said.
On the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the August live cattle contract closed at US$171.075 on June 15, a weekly loss of $1.175. The August feeder cattle contract closed at $234.125 on the same day, $4.525 less than on June 8. While both prices remain high, they are down from nine-year highs set earlier this month.
Slawinski said there has been demand for lightweight feeders coming from Ontario. He added that this season has bucked expectations.
“Everybody had anticipated the market was going to dip. This year, trends have been the exact opposite,” he said. “Every week, prices seemed to get stronger and stronger…There was no real dip in the market. It was a constant climb.”
