Most cattle auction sites in Manitoba have reopened after the summer break, and for some, it’s business as usual with the same upward price movement.
Heartland Livestock Services at Brandon and Virden, which conducted sales throughout the summer, on Aug. 29 and 30 put 1,721 cattle through the rings, 400 fewer than the previous week.
As the fall run approaches, rising summer prices showed no signs of slowing.
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“(There were) record-setting prices this week,” said Brennin Jack, general manager at Brandon and Virden. “The lower Canadian dollar (and) feed costs getting a bit cheaper — they just made for added fuel to the fire. It was absolutely electric this week.”
Steers weighing less than 600 pounds sold for as much as $445 per hundredweight during the week. By comparison, the highest selling price for a steer in the same category the previous week at HLS was $398/cwt. The maximum selling price for a steer weighing less than 400 lb. was $472/cwt. at Gladstone Auction Mart. One heifer at HLS sold for $345/cwt., edging out last week’s maximum price for heifers by $1.
There wasn’t much change in butcher cattle prices. The highest price for a D1 or D2 cow for the week ended Aug. 31 was $173/cwt. at Winnipeg Livestock Sales, $3 more than the highest price in the previous week. Gladstone had the highest price for a mature bull at $188.25/cwt., 75 cents lower than the previous week’s high.
“It seems like there is great demand for all types of cattle right now. (Demand for) yearlings, especially, is extremely high. The demand from Ontario, the U.S. and southern Alberta (was also high),” Jack said, adding that 50 per cent of the cattle went to Alberta, one-third went to Ontario and one-fifth went stateside.
Southwestern Manitoba saw rain during the week, but pasture conditions seemed “below-normal,” Jack added.
On the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the October live cattle contract closed at US$180.825/cwt. on Aug. 31, just 10 U.S. cents higher than one week earlier. The October feeder cattle contract closed at $256.025/cwt., $2.775 higher than the week before. The contract hit an all-time high of $257.925 on Aug. 28.
Jack believes prices will eventually come down but due to the high number of pre-sold calves this summer, “the biggest factor this fall will be the availability of trucks in mid-October.”
The pre-sales “are all going to be delivered from Oct. 15 to Nov. 15. It’s just going to be a fight for trucks and that’s what going to dictate the market… If you’ve got cattle to market, you’ve got to get them to the biggest sales because that’s where the trucks are going to go.”
Manitoba Beef Producers has announced the dates of its in-person fall district meetings, as well as a virtual meeting for producers from all districts on Nov. 7.
The in-person meetings for even-numbered districts, which will include elections, start on Oct. 18 and run through Nov. 2. For more information, visit: mbbeef.ca/our-news/mbp-fall-district-meetings/.
