While areas in the Red River Valley continue soaked and even flooded, cattle producers in Manitoba’s southwest are also having issues with the waterlogged conditions.
From May 9 to 15, between 40 to 50 millimetres of precipitation fell onto Killarney, 100 km south of Brandon and 20 km north of the U.S. border, according to the province’s weekly crop report.
Allan Munroe, general manager of Killarney Auction Mart, said while the grass is turning green, the wet conditions are making things difficult for growers and cattle producers.
“The ground is wet. The pen conditions are terrible and the pasture’s not quite ready to take cattle,” he said. “Do you leave them in muddy pens? Do you put them in a sacrifice pasture? We prayed for rain and we’ve got it and guys are struggling how to manage it right now.”
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More rain was expected for much of southern Manitoba prior to the Victoria Day weekend.
In total, at least 4,996 cattle went through the rings at seven auction sites across Manitoba for the week ended May 19. Heartland Livestock Services in Virden did not post its market report at press time. During the previous week, 4,849 cattle were sold.
With the exception of Grunthal, all reporting auction sites sold feeder steers less than 500 lbs. for at least $260 per hundredweight, indicating a slight increase from the previous week. For feeder heifers, four sites reported sales of $220/cwt or higher compared to none the week before.
Slaughter cattle prices “were staying very steady, but the feeder market was very mixed,” said Munroe. “You see big swings in quality this time of year. We still have some guys with good cattle and then we have a lot of people who are getting rid of the tail-enders and whatnot.
“It’s hard to quote what calves are worth because there are big swings of quality and the price of feed makes the buyers a lot fussier. As far as any harder feeding-type cattle (are concerned), they will discount them significantly.”
On the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the August live cattle contract closed at US$132.025/cwt on May 19, a loss of 75 U.S. cents on the week. August feeder cattle closed at US$165.20/cwt for a decline of US$1.325. The Canadian dollar jumped 1.38 U.S. cents from a week earlier to close at 78.07 on May 19.
“It’s always very difficult to predict (future price movement) and right now it’s next to impossible because we don’t know what percentage of crops are not going to be put in, what farmers are going to do as far as changing what crop they put in because of the late seeding time,” Munroe said. “We’re facing uncertainty yet again.”
The Manitoba Emergency Measures Organization (EMO) will conduct virtual information webinars on the 2022 spring flood disaster financial assistance program on May 24, May 30 and June 8. All webinars will take place from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. More information is available online.
