Prices at the Ashern Auction mart were “fully steady” at their April 6 sale, according to manager Kirk Kiesman. He noted prices have remained as such for the last three to four weeks, seeing little prospect of changing any time soon.
“We’re getting close to ‘hamburger season’ on the cows and bulls,” Kiesman said, which should bring fresh demand to the beef market.
As well, more cattle were heading toward Eastern Canada as demand from that region has already picked up, he said.
The lighter feeder cattle at Ashern saw steers going for $204-$254 per hundredweight at the March 30 sale; those garnered $211-$265/cwt at the April 6 auction. The heifers went for $158-$212/cwt a week ago, compared to $170-$222 this week.
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Also there weren’t any great changes among the heavy cattle, with the steers selling for $174-$214/cwt on March 30 versus $165-$203 this week. Heifers fetched $145-$181/cwt a week ago and $150-$184 on April 6.
Challenging those values for cattle have been high feed prices, Kiesman said. “The biggest driving factor in keeping (cattle) prices down is grain prices.”
Feed barley prices on the Canadian Prairies were $7.93-$9.80 per bushel as of April 7, according to Prairie Ag Hotwire. Feed wheat prices were $9.50-$13.47/bu., which together with barley has led to a large influx of corn from the U.S. It’s not only the high domestic feed prices driving the demand for corn, but also the scarcity of the barley and wheat that’s available for feed.
Despite all of that pressure, Kiesman said, “I’m expecting everything to stay the same when we open in two weeks.” Ashern will be closed April 13 for the Easter holiday, resuming its weekly sales on April 20.
Although the number of head passing through Ashern went up at the April 6 sale, Kiesman is expecting that to decline.
“We are starting to get into ‘cleanout mode’ where guys are starting to clean out their pens,” he said.
On March 30, Ashern sold 583 feeder cattle and 184 for slaughter. A week later, 921 feeders and 245 cattle for slaughter were sold.
Besides Ashern taking time off for Easter, Ste. Rose Auction Mart will be closed April 14, Winnipeg Livestock Sales April 15 and Killarney Auction Mart April 18.
